Baiting the Reading Hook

It's an August evening, just before the start of a new school year. Students are filled with excitement and anxiety as they tour the school during freshman orientation at Eastview High School, a large suburban school outside Minneapolis/ St. Paul, Minnesota. As I stand outside my classroom door, I anticipate the dread and disdain of the students who will be entering my intervention class for 9th grade students who are behind in reading. After years of struggle, their fear of reading is now disguised as apathy and scorn toward books, reading, and teachers who ask them to read (especially aloud).

So I gear up. Dressed in my best, my classroom squeaky clean, I offer a warm welcome to my new crew. One at a time, students enter my room. One young man, hat pulled down over his eyes, looking at the floor, says, "Do I really have to take this class? I hate reading." Another, "Are you going to make us read out loud?" Still another, "Is there a way for me to test out of this class?"