Dear Reader,
You’re probably disheartened and discouraged after observing students pass through your class who can’t read, won’t read or don't like reading and it seems nothing will ever change! Reading Boot Camp is twenty; high-intensity days of reading and writing that can be used classwide at any grade level or system-wide to transform students into competent readers. By the end of twenty days, your students will gain everything they lost over the summer and make up to +2.50 years reading progress! You might be saying that’s impossible and it can’t be done! Reading Boot Camp is not a canned program and it costs nothing except your time and effort. Believing the impossible; believing in your ability and your students' ability; and finding your own reading miracle will be a demanding journey. Alice could not slay the jabberwocky until she believed the impossible and found her muchness (courage). Muchness is easy to lose and hard to find -- and some may never find it. Do you believe it’s impossible to learn how to read in 20 days? Do you believe it’s impossible to learn how to write in 20 days? Do you believe it’s impossible to learn 2,000 new words in twenty days? Do you believe it’s impossible to read a half a million words in twenty days? Do you believe it’s impossible to get 100% of your class to read and write all day, everyday for twenty days and have fun doing it? Do you believe it’s impossible to find great classic literature that all your kids will love for twenty days? My students have accomplished the "impossible" for four years. I just never told them it was "impossible." They found their muchness on the journey they took with me through great literature. Reading Boot Camp incorporates incredible children's fairytales, poetry, fables, and award-winning books to stir their imagination, desire, curiosity, and wonderment. The Diary of a Reading Teacher “Reading Boot Camp” my free Ebook explains how students found their reading voice: 70% reading at grade level -- up from 30%; 95% passing on state exams -- up from 60%; +1.50 year's growth in reading -- up from + 0.50; ELL students acquiring English in two terms with 95% passing state reading and writing exams; and the absolutely most important result is students who can read to learn. The greatest gift you can give a child is the gift of reading. I love to tell my students that, “Reading is the keys to the fairy land kingdom.” They never get the maxim at first but awaken as they travel to all the magic lands throughout the year. Reading programs have become a billion dollar industry and they promise a failing district an average +0.50 extra reading growth in one year. Your district just has to spend $75,000 for a school license, teacher training, and materials and you get +.50 year's progress. My students have achieved the "impossible" for four years and they improved +1.50 AVERAGE in just twenty days. Reading Boot Camp serves one objective -- to teach students that to fail in reading is impossible. We refuse to let failure happen. It is time to slay your doubts and let your students do the 'impossible.' It is time to slay the jabberwocky. No gimmicks, no flash, just rigorous instruction and high goals will do. This is not the next silver bullet that will fix all the academic reading problems in your school or class. I do not have your solution. I just have what I have done, and maybe from my examples you will find your solution. We live in a time with extensive expertise in the field of reading, and almost-unlimited access to literature. Yet, we have more and more kids who can’t read or refuse to read. Why? We have transformed reading into so much boring dribble that kids can’t wait to blow it off, or they never get interested in reading to begin with. Students can learn to read in twenty days when they have an incredible desire to learn and great children’s literature. Thank you for reading my story and my students' stories. Sean readingsage.com
Turning around an entire school in just 20 days is possible. Teaching every child in your school to read in twenty days is not only radical but saves thousands in program cost. Turning the reading establishment on its head and saving a
ReplyDeletelost generation is a radical idea. Spending education budgets on great literature for
students, instead of reading software, basal readers, reading intervention programs, and
teacher in-service training is a radical idea.
Insuring that all students have a real future is just a pipe dream if we stay on this path of chasing reading rainbows. Teaching ten years in high-poverty schools, with over 85% of the students at risk, has taught me we have lost our way and the establishment is broken. We buy into every program that comes down the pike promising success, yet here we are failing our most needy students. Putting great literature, poetry, and books in children’s hands is the foundation of Reading Boot Camp, not predigested workbooks,
endless teacher-made photo copies, and needless busy work. Reading Boot Camp is back to basics with a sledge hammer to the outsider. Students find it rewarding and fantastic!
Sean Taylor M.Ed. Readingsage.com