Readicide

          When I was in elementary school I was taught to the test. As I grew up I realized I realized I knew exactly how to write the typical five paragraph essay, but that is about where my writing skills took a halt. As teachers it is our job to teach our students how to think deeply and how to explain themselves well. "I am not against teaching students how to take a test. Indeed, we want all of our students to have test-taking knowledge" (Gallagher). The students do, however, need to have knowledge about how to take a test, as Kelly Gallagher said.

The Texas Miracle or Texas Mirage topic in the book I had heard of before, but it is still interesting that a state would try to cheat on their test results just so they can have higher state tests scores. The Montessori class that was in my middle school actually gave the parents of their class the test scores and the correct answers for the WASL their students took. Now that I’m grown up I realize how wrong it was for the teacher to give the parents the correct answers to the WASL their child had just taken. It is also unfair for the students who didn’t get the answers to the WASL they had taken. This is an example of how “cheating” is going on within school districts even in District 81. Just like the Texas Miracle there was some cheating going on.

            Preventing Readicide can be done by allowing the students to read interesting pieces of text that engage them as students. The part about giving each students a copy of Newsweek having them read it and give an assignment that isn’t necessarily hard, but assures the teachers that the students read it is a good way to have the students reading frequently. It will also have the students think about what they had just read, which is a valuable skill for the students to have.