"Why do we teach reading?"

My mom, the smartest woman I know, past reading & English teacher, reading specialist and principal, asked me that question this week.

We sometimes get into these discussions--on some things we agree; on others we do not. But, it is a blessing to have your mother as your professional sage and mentor

Anyway, she gave me her answer (I'll share it later). But the question got me thinking about something else she'd told me years before:

"Miah," she said "Sometimes you had to win. I knew that as your mother sometimes you had to win and sometimes you had to beat me."

"You couldn't win all the time--that's not how life works. You also had to struggle and muscle your way to success. But you also had to experience wins and THINK you were smarter than me. That was so clear to me as your mother"

My mom cooked EVERYTHING when I was a kid. Restaurants were for some Fridays & special occasions or when my dad was in charge

Mainly, she cooked (she is a great cook, also). And she cooked ONE dinner. My sister and I got ONE dinner with everything she cooked.

I can think of a few fights-of-willpower when she cooked something I just could not/would not/shall not eat. Sometimes she let me win; sometimes she did not. (and by win, I do not mean she cooked another meal. Little girl got to be hungry)

When I was an adult I asked her about that.

She said "Well, when I cooked i considered the whole house. I thought about what I liked, what your dad liked, what you sister liked and what you liked. And throughout the month, I cooked so everybody got what they liked at some time

I also knew that part of my job was to not ONLY give you what you liked. You were six. You always wanted pancakes or pasta and no broccoli. But as your mother my job was to also give you salmon and chicken and broccoli and, yes, brussel sprouts

So, I had to figure out how to balance what you liked and would eat, give you foods you needed to know, encourage you to eat them and --this is most important--not break your spirit.

So, when I was in charge, sometimes you got spaghetti and salmon croquettes (which I loved) and sometimes you got liver and onions and brussel sprouts (which I hated). "

What does this have to do with reading?

And, more specifically, the thoughtful conversation I was in this morning with @MsJasmineMN and @heymrsbond

I firmly believe that teachers are in the position to break a child's spirit and that we should actively resist doing so. We should uplift and engage and put students in the position to be winners.

That means giving them the hard stuff, teaching them how to approach it and encouraging them to conquer it.

It also means giving them opportunities to experience easy wins.

It means looking around at everybody in the room (teacher included) and crafting an experience that works for everyone over the course of the year.

Sometimes that means reading a text through a critical lens; sometimes it means reading a text with a position opposed to our own; sometimes it means reading text below grade level; often it means reading text at grade level

Sometimes it means student choice in what to read and how to express an understanding; often it means we make those decisions. Sometimes during instructional time it means the canon; sometimes it means contemporary literature (not defined on purpose here)

Because it all goes back to my first question "Why do we teach reading?"

You may be surprised at my answer. We don't teach reading so Ss know how to read classics, or learn to love contemporary texts or see themselves or don't see themselves or see others. Those ARE IMPORTANT but not THE reason we (or at least I) teach reading.

We teach reading for security. We teach reading to a 6 year old so the 26 year old knows what questions to ask when she's buying her first house and knows what questions to ask when she's presented with a stack of papers the size of a phone book to comprehend and sign

We teach reading for self-advocacy. We teach reading to the 16 year old so the 36 year old knows what questions to ask the doctor when he's given a diagnosis.

We teach reading for freedom. We teach reading to the 13 year old so the 23 year old knows his rights when he's read them by the police, knows what questions to ask his lawyer when he reads the charges.

We teach reading for economic security and freedom. We teach reading to the 10 year old so the 30 year old knows how to read a contract or a job offer and knows what questions to ask.

We teach reading for social justice. We teach reading for evolution. We teach reading for social advancement. We teach reading for liberty in the highest sense of the word.

While I enjoy the discussions about the real life day-to-day decisions that Ts all over the country have to make--should I teach something from the canon or something contemporary? Should I teach from a critical lens or how to enjoy the beauty of the text?

How much cultural context should I bring in? Whose culture? What is culture? Should I give SSR time or not? When do I push and when do I pull back?

The litany of ongoing decisions are critical and important essential for a high quality ELA classroom...

But we teach reading for liberty.

Dassit ya'll. Everything else is noise--loud, important, interesting, well-reasoned, contentious-at-times--noise.

Don't focus on the noise at the expense of the point of why we teach reading.

If you believe in the power of reading like I do, please retweet.

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