The Missouri Reader Vol. 36, Issue 1 | Page 55

a debate as to whether Dr. Seuss books are
nonsense and merely for entertainment or if
Theodor Geisel meant the works to be
allegorical/symbolic for real life issues.
III) Literacy via Media: In the multimodal
age, integrating technology is vital to promoting a
strong context of literacy in the classroom.
Organizing Skype sessions with an author of the
text one‘s class is reading is an ideal way to
promote positive feelings toward literacy and its
processes. Or if feasible, one could have a local
author come in the classroom and host an active
reading workshop with collaborative
reading/writing opportunities. Different
strategies for active reading are process
reading/writing, response writing, and mock
writing. These various types of writing guide
students‘ response to reading and enhance their
experience with it. One becomes more intimate
with a text the longer one spends experimenting
with it. Experimenting with social media (i.e.
Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, smart phones) will
also bring a sense of excitement and urgency to
any assignment—and may even rejuvenate
―tuned-out‖ readers.
Implementing the aforementioned strategies
will illuminate a ―great improvement in students‘
attitudes toward reading, their ability to use what
they read, their understanding that literacy is a
springboard for academic success, and their
enthusiasm for independent reading‖ (Clarke,
2006, p. 69).

Conclusion
In Rafe Esquith‘s There Are No Shortcuts (2004),
he states that American school systems have lost
focus on why they teach Johnny to read. Esquith
describes how politics and procedures, power
and money, rules and traditions, and by-the-book
instruction practices infiltrate our school systems
and unknowingly create non-readers. He admits
that sometimes teachers have to ―play by the
rules‖ to keep administrators happy, but does not
compromise striving to give students more than
traditional reading strategies. He does not

compromise using literature for basal readings.
He does not compromise perseverance in the face
of a challenge. What he does is provide solutions
for the growing problem of both illiteracy and
alliteracy in American schools. First, teachers
must be model readers. Secondly, teachers
should choose material they love so that both
students and teachers can be passionate about the
text. Teachers should encourage parents to do
the same—share books they love with their
children by taking turns reading it aloud, or read
the newspaper together and discuss the news and
events. Thirdly, there must be a real world
connection to the text, such as a field trip to
Springfield, Illinois after reading Abraham Lincoln,
Vampire Hunter to compare fact to fiction; or, a
simulation of living in a micromanaged
environment after reading George Orwell‘s 1984
or Suzanne Collins Hunger Games Trilogy.
Despite attention driven toward improved
literacy in American schools, the same problem is
present: Students hate to read. They see it as a
menial task—a chore they must complete. They
often need an incentive or reward; they do not
read for themselves, for they have no
appreciation or relationship with reading. In her
book Why Johnny and Jane Couldn’t Read – And How
They Learned, Rosalie Fink (2006) presents many
effective strategies as solutions to the current
reading deficit in middle and high school grades.
Fink agreed that students should read advanced
texts about passionate interests to create
enthusiasm in reading. By reading texts in a
content-area they enjoy, they are able to build a
schema about that subject; this in turn builds
confidence as a reader.
Fink went a step further to suggest using
multiple intelligences as alternative strategies for
reading. Fink notes that in addition to the age of
the student, the gender of the student also plays a
factor in choosing appropriate material for each
student. Boys tend to be drawn to nonfiction,
whereas, girls are drawn to fiction. A teacher
should stock his/her classroom library
accordingly. It is important to mention that
gender classifications should not be used to limit
a student‘s choice of reading material. A useful
© The Missouri Reader, 36 (1) p.55