This week, one of my students asked me why I teach reading.
I’ve been thinking about this question in the context of this week.
We’re getting ready. For the test. We took on testing language.
“What does that mean?” was a typical reaction to a phrase like, “draw a conclusion.”
It’s not that students hadn’t heard the words before or read texts on grade level or responded to questions.
We’ve been doing this all year. But there’s a difference.
We’ve used these words as learners. There has been approximation, engagement, not mastery. We’ve done the work in texts of choice. The questions have grown out our thinking.
Testing changes context.
The work is not learning. It is responding. It’s right and wrong.
This week, students noticed author’s point of view, made inferences, drew conclusions and found evidence in the text to support their thinking. The same thing they have done all year. But this week, it was done in a static situation with one text and fixed questions.
It’s unsettling.
One could argue we needed more practice with this kind of work.
One could spend all year getting used to this sort of language. Working in same texts, answering questions with test-like question stems. I’ve done this. But there is a cost.
If we spend our precious time teaching this kind of reading and this type of questioning, the work would be familiar. Perhaps scores would be higher. It’s a possibility.
But if we do this, students will walk out of our doors with an aborted view of reading. Reading for knowledge and pleasure will diminish. And, I believe a result could be that the resources available to them as adults will evaporate along with the richness of a life of learning.
We do students a huge disservice if we don’t give them the opportunity to access enjoyment and to learn through reading. Providing a classroom environment that reaches that potential is the challenge and craft of being a reading teacher. This is the magic that is reading. This is why I teach reading.
This week, I celebrate testing language a few weeks before the test.
This week, I celebrate knowing why I teach reading.
Thank you, Ruth Ayers, for a place to share our thoughts and celebrations each week. Read more celebrations here.
To Read To Write To Be 
Enjoyment in reading grows life long readers. This is our goal, isnt it?
Love your response to why you teach reading! Your students have a richer life because YOU teach reading.
Your complete conviction that reading should be about more than the test is commendable. I am not sure that testing is a true picture of our students because it is so contrived. Yes, we could do test prep all year long, but you’d have to shoot me first. Your students are enriched not because of test prep, but because you value reading and show that to them every day.
Growing life long readers is the goal and I am glad to know so many good teachers as yourself who haven’t been intimidated out of that goal.
I couldn’t agree more with you. It’s testing season in our district too. My celebration is similar to yours. 🙂 Your students’ reading lives are so much richer because you teach the way you do.
Test prep is not a valid way to teach throughout the year. On the otherhand, rich, student-centered teaching is. We teach and make our students ready for inquiry and life-long learning. If a school needs a mantra before test taking it should be engaging students as test-ready learners because they are young scholars throughout the year.