Happy Saturday! Cleaning the chicken coop, then doing some writing today. Last week, a 10th grader checked out Diary of a Wimpy Kid because that's the last book he remembered reading. Another student (who wasn't checking anything out) tried to clown him about it.
We got over that, but I'm noticing more and more the power students have over eachother (with regard to reading culture).
I know we think (and talk, and write) about the fact that telling Ss they aren't reading "at level", then giving them something to read that's "rigorous" and perhaps inaccessible, then evaluating/judging them on their ability to perform a tasks isn't the best formula.
But more and more, it's becoming pressing for me to find ways to look at the self-protective mechanisms at work that come across to teachers as "reluctance" "avoidance" or even the intensely problematic label "defiance".
Nobody WANTS to face rejection, feel inadequate, be labeled, or recieve a grade that doesn't match their efforts given by someone who (as a professional academic) probably doesn't understand their struggles.
Lots of children still believe grades are an indication of their worth as people--and what their teachers feel about them...
So what happens when your ability to have a rich and full reading life has been compromised? What happens when you've been shamed for what you like (or don't like) to read? When your reading "muscles" have been weakened, so you don't feel strong enough to attempt it?
There still seems to be general awareness of the fact that reading, the skill, is important. 
...and a somewhat less enthusiastic view of reading as a necessary part of one's adult life.
But then there's this that we--as adults who care about the future fate of ALL kids--have to face, and figure out...
This is only a small sample of students, but I'm pretty certain it is representative of other places out there in the world like mine. Disappearing secondary libraries on the low and without the awareness of affected communities certainly...doesn't...help.
I'll be writing more in the future about this, adding my voice to the convos already out there, but we can start by asking our Ss how they feel re: reading, because it is THEIR education after all.
You can't break through barriers if you don't see (or feel too ashamed) to confront them. Liberatory education empowers and emboldens knowing at some point, children will need to read (not alongside) but without us.
Secondary students, though fiercely vocal and independent, may not need us to drop the reigns and assume their reading habits are healthy and good to go...quite...yet.
Teaching somebody to game, lots of times, is with one hand on their controller, but the goal has to be to be hands off at some point. Maybe playing alongside them...even watching somebody you taught hand it to you...😏
So let's do that. Keep developing systems and structures that will get us as educators to arrive at the hands free place. Then maybe our Ss--ANY student, not just those living in the "best" areas--will be able to take over when our time has come and gone.
