Adults AND Kids - Get off your phones and get reading this summer

As many of you know, I am also in education and an English and Reading teacher. If you have kids in school you will have also seen the same thing as I have seen lately. Kids ARE NOT reading. 

Schools have really reduced how much reading kids are doing. When I first started teaching, I had students reading 8 novels a year. In my current district, kids at the middle school level are only reading 1 novel a year. What's worse is that in many of the cases, teachers are reading the novel to them, playing an audio version, or only having them read portions of the novel. 

But this gets worse. 

You adults are not helping the issue either. Kids are coming home and telling the kids to do their homework and you are on your phones.

Not exactly the best role models I would say.

Consider some of these numbers from The National Literacy Institute:

• 54% of adults have a literacy below a 6th-grade level (20% are below 5th-grade level).

• 44% of the American adults do not read a book in a year

Or consider these numbers from Literacy Inc.:

• 56% of young people claim they read fewer than 10 books a year.
• 50% of U.S. adults are unable to read an eighth grade level book.
• 33% of U.S. high school graduates never read a book after high school.
• 80% of U.S. families have not purchased a book this year.
• 50% of books started are never read to completion.
• 70% of adults have not been in a bookstore in the past five years.

Not exactly encouraging numbers, would you agree? And yet, what will we see this summer? Kids will leave school and head to their rooms. Dive on to video games or binge watch those things they were banned from watching at school. Honestly, you know this will happen! For many parents, this is an easy way to "keep them busy." Why fight getting them to read? 

My question is Why not get them to read? 

We have made so many excuses as to why we don't read. We claim we don't have time, but wow, we had time to watch that entire season of Stranger Things. We claim we are too tired to read at the end of the day, but staying up watching Netflix or playing the latest Grand Theft Auto. Or better yet, books are expensive, and yet within walking distance there is probably a public library. 

Look people, we know statistically that if we read 30 minutes a day, "outside of work" and that would also include school, we increase our vocabulary by 10,000 words a year. If you are also upset that maybe your student in school is not performing as well as you wanted, then maybe it is time to do something about it. 

I challenge all of you. Get off the computer. Get off the TV. Get off your phone and read a damn book. Be a model for your kids and read. Get them reading a book. And I would also encourage you to not get "graphic novels." Yes, I know some teachers say, "well, at least they are reading" but the reality is that graphic novels will not increase comprehension or reading speed. Let them pick books of their choosing and topics they want. 

I DARE YOU!!!!!!!

And please share this with everyone... If you care about America's future!