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 class-wide 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
fairy-tales, poetry, fables, and award-winning books to stir their
imagination, desire, curiosity, and wonderment. The Diary of a
Reading Teacher “Reading Boot Camp”
My students found their muchness: 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
Sean Taylor M.Ed.
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