Students reading the morning of the Read-A-Thon during breakfast
(before the competition started!)
Henderson Collegiate (where I teach) is a literacy based school - we believe that, in the education world, the achievement gap is a literacy gap. This was truly manifested at my old school. A lot of my high school students could not read very well and less than 5% of my students read for fun. This creates deficiencies in vocabulary, grammar, writing, and in reality, a child's ability to learn. At my new school students are taught from day one how important it is to be a reader. Every night they read for 35 minutes (and have a parent sign off that they read, the number of pages, and then book that they read), every day at school students read whenever they have extra time. They read during breakfast, some of them during lunch, after finishing classwork and when waiting in line to use the bathroom.
Pre-competition interviews. That's right - sweatbands and headbands.Yesterday, we had a 4 hour Read-A-Thon. Students sought out sponsors who agreed to pay them for the amount of time that they read - anywhere from $1-$3 an hour as a fundraiser for our reading department. They came dressed in sweatpants (some of them sweat bands too), a pillow, and armed with a pile of books. The rules were clear - you stop reading, you're out. This included looking away from a page for ANYTHING (blowing their nose, teachers dancing and singing trying to distract them, switching positions, etc.) or for falling asleep.
Mr. Carson scanning the room for kids to tap out
A student "in the zone"
(side note - the only white student in the 5th grade)
Amazingly, over half of the students at our school read for the FULL 4 hours. Never looking away from their book, always reading (even when switching to a new book, shifting positions on the cold floor, or raising their hand for a tissue). I know you probably get tired of me saying it, but my kids are AMAZING!!!
Students reading during the Read-A-Thon - notice the hard floor
