Why haven't I read this book sooner?

Reading When Kids Can't Read has been both engaging and valuable. I found the book to be well-organized, theoretically grounded, and immediately applicable. I will be able to bring many of these strategies into my classroom as soon as tomorrow. I just wish I would have discovered this book sooner.

Beers' argues throughout the book that reading is a process and that teachers cannot simply assume that all students know how to do the complex work that critical reading requires. Much too often, we tend to think that if students have made it to middle school they should "know" how to read. For many of my students, however, reading is not a "lived-experience", and this is where the problem lies. I have a degree in English not in education. I was never taught how to help students improve their reading. My undergraduate coursework focused mainly on reading literature not on ways to help students use literacy as a tool for thinking, learning, and accomplishing tasks.

I don't know how much has changed since I was an undergrad preparing to teach secondary English. I hope there has been a shift in they way pre-service teachers are prepared to work with their students. Hopefully, these new, bright young educators realize that not all students know how to read critically, and they have been given the tools to help their struggling readers succeed. I hope that instead of focusing on the end product they will help their students recognize the complex processes which lead to successful reading. I hope they have already been exposed to the work of Beers, of Rosenblatt, of Vygotsky, of Mercer, of Meyers, of Applebee, of (I could go on). I've waited twelve years; I hope they don't have to wait as long.