My teachers can tell you that I really love charts filled with data. They are all so neat and orderly and, at a glance, I can tell if we are on track as a school and where we might need to give more attention. However, I'm willing to chuck the infamous reading charts* if my teachers can guarantee a positive response on the following three questions about reading from every student:
- Have you ever secretly read under your desk in school because the teacher was boring and you were dying to finish the book you were reading?
- Have you eve been scolded for reading at the dinner table?
- Have you ever read secretly under the covers after being told to go to bed?
These questions were created by the students of Rafe Esquith who shares this rubric in his excellent book, Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire. His point is that students who are so engaged in reading that is takes a prominent place in their lives are what we ought to be developing, and I wholeheartedly agree. That's the beauty of our upcoming Halecrest Reading Challenge. I can't wait to see more and more kids get excited about books and begin to eat, drink, and sleep reading.
*OK, I won't actually chuck the charts, but I might lay off the teacher who can prove her students' worth with the questions.
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