Ever since sixth grade, reading has never been the same. Growing up my Mother, who is now a reading teacher, encouraged me to read lots of books. I started to love reading because it was rewarding to me. Spending so much time reading and becoming interested in each story made finishing a book and knowing how the story ended was an exceptional feeling. In fourth and fifth grade I joined a reading club at my school, spending my lunches discussing books I read in my free time. I loved to visit the bookstore and looking at the top ten books for young adults, wanting to challenge myself. I also went to the library often and loved to participate in the summer reading programs. My love for reading was only beginning to flourish when things changed when I entered sixth grade.
In the beginning of sixth grade my teacher, Mrs. Hotchkiss, was determined to get our class to love reading. She told us that for each book we read we could take an Accelerated Reading quiz, my sixth grader self has no idea what Accelerated Reading was. Puzzled I raised my hand and asked, “What the heck is Accelerated Reading?” Mrs. Hotchkiss then proceeded to explain that Accelerated Reading, AR, was used to track our individual reading progress. We each would take a quiz on a book that we choose to read, and based on how well we did, we would get points for each quiz. Then at the end of each month the class that had to most AR points would win a pizza party or a prize. I was excited and loved to succeed, I thought Accelerated Reading was going to be wonderful. Little did I know that Accelerated Reading would change reading, something I loved to do, for the worse.
I couldn't wait to finish my books, so I spent my breaks and lunches buried in my book. Every afternoon I came home excited to start reading, I never stopped reading it was my favorite thing. Reading made me feel relaxed, it took me to another world, I felt accepted like I was part of the book! Each time I finished a book I would sit impatiently still until break, the time when we could take Accelerated Reading quizzes, when break came I rushed to the computer to take a quiz. I was doing well on all my quizzes, my skills improved, I started to read at a higher level, and most of all I loved all of it.
Another student in my class, named John, had also been doing well and we both were reading at the same level. At the time John and I were reading the same book, The Hobbit. To my surprise we both finished the book on the same day, the day before the count for the pizza party. Our class only needed forty points to place first and win the pizza party.
John told everyone how he finished his book yesterday. “I cannot wait to get one hundred percent on my AR quiz,” he said to me as I sat nervously at my desk waiting for break. When break came John got to the computer first, forcing me to sit and wait for him to finish. He was calm, cool, and collected. He knew what he was doing, then five minutes later he finished. He got everything right. “Good job!” I said in shock. One hundred percent! The pressure was on. How was I supposed to compete with him? I had to get one hundred percent to get the pizza party for my class.
I sat down at the humming computer, the monitor was old and distorted, I knew that this would distract me. I began to take the quiz, I questioned myself on each answer, I was not sure anymore - it was like I had never read the book. I clicked the ‘Done’ button with defeat in my eyes. I had failed myself, “Sixty five percent? How is that even possible? I was so close to reaching my goal of one hundred points and The Hobbit is my favorite book!” I thought to myself in shock.
Devastated, I asked to use the restroom; I had to get out of that classroom. As I walked to the bathroom I could feel my eyes starting to water. Entering the bathroom I’m struck with a brisk draft, I became cold and lonely. I could only think about was how I let my class down, because of me we would not have a pizza party. Not to mention how terrible I did on the quiz. I had spent the last week reading a great book worth 20 Accelerated Reading points, only to receive a sixty five percent on the quiz. John did better than me, it felt like all my hard work and effort that I had put into reading was ruined. On top of that, I felt as if I let myself down, I had always done well and I lost my confidence in my reading ability.
I could not wait to get home and tell my Mother what had happened. As soon as I got home we talked about AR and started to recognize all of the negative side effects of Accelerated Reading. I started to realize that AR was limiting me, I only read the books that were on the Accelerated Reading list. I stopped going on my weekend outings to the bookstore and library that used to be the highlight of my week. I started to skim the books, only to I would be able to read more in a shorter period, just to get more Accelerated Reading points. Focusing on the details of the stories, not the important character relations and the outcomes of the story Books lost their self-rewarding pleasure, I finished books just to get Accelerated Reading points, not to finish a book to find out the ending of the story. After I realized this, my love for reading dwindled. From sixth grade on, reading was a chore, something I had to do.
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