As a teacher, I often differentiate between willingness and ability when it comes to the effort of my students. Sometimes students with academic challenges do everything asked of them, but they aren’t as able to succeed as other students. Students who are capable of doing the required work but choose not to, have a willingness issue. The students who set the bar for their classmates are those that are both able and willing when it comes to working.

The same terms might be said for reading. In the recently published book, The Book Whisperer, author Donalyn Miller identifies three types of readers: developing readers, dormant readers, and underground readers.

Developing readers, also labelled as struggling readers, may exhibit the following lack of ability:

• don’t read at grade level
• have great difficulty in understanding all types of reading
• often have participated in supplemental reading instruction or tutoring
• receive low standardized test scores, possibly even failing at least one state assessment
• believe they are unable to be a strong reader.

Dormant readers (also known as reluctant readers), though able to read, show a lack of willingness when it comes to reading. They may:

• read in order to pass their classes
• generally do well on state tests
• never read outside of school
• only read when they “have to”
• view reading as work rather than pleasure
• see no joy in reading
• not see the magic in books the same way they do in video games or tv programs
• have never connected with a book that magically takes them away, offers an escape into an unknown world, or allows them to vicariously experience characters’ lives.

Underground readers, sometimes referred to as gifted readers, show both willingness & ability when it comes to reading. They are usually capable and avid readers, however, they:

• see required school reading as completely disconnected from reading they prefer to do on their own
• just want to read and have teachers get out of their way
• finish an class-wide assigned book in days or a week, while it is assigned and taught in weeks or months
• find most of the assigned reading texts are well below their reading level – or perhaps, interest level
• finish classroom work quickly, so they can read an independent reading book.

All these types of readers should be a concern to us. Studies have shown that developing readers spend significantly less time reading, thus widening the gap even further as each school year progresses. Similarly, if dormant readers only read when required to do so during school hours, they also run the risk of falling behind other students who read more than they do. If underground readers do not stay challenged, they may become bored and be less willing to continue reading, an activity that they innately enjoy, and may come to view it as a chore.

What can we do as parents? First, determine where your child falls on the spectrum of readers.

Quite simply, developing readers need support in learning reading strategies, along with the chance to feel success as readers. Most importantly, they need an opportunity to read and read. When such children are given the opportunity to self-select books and read independently, paired with explicit instruction in reading strategies, they can transform as nonreaders into readers.

Similarly, dormant readers should be given the freedom to make their own reading choices, and ample opportunity to read.  They also need to see reading for pleasure modeled.

Underground readers rarely give teachers trouble. Strong readers tend to be high academic achievers. Therefore, depending upon your child’s age, you should either intercede on your child’s behalf or coach him or her on being a self-advocate. See if the teacher is willing to compromise: As long as the student’s performance does not slip, is it acceptable during class to read a self-selected book while other students are finishing up work? May the student read ahead in class-wide novels as long as he or she agrees not to spoil the story’s outcome for the rest of the class? May he or she choose higher-level reading material that may contain more adult content as long as parental consent is communicated?

Fortunately, there are ways to help our children enjoy reading without requiring legislative changes or increases in already-tight school budgets. As parents, we can encourage our kids to read. Better yet, we can read with them or alongside them to model how reading can be pleasurable. We can take our children to the library and peruse the bookshelves, guiding their selections, but ultimately letting them self-select their reading material. When they express interest in certain titles, we can give them books as gifts.

In our fast-paced lives, what better way to spend some “quality” time than curled up on the couch with our children, reading a magazine, newspaper, novel or whatever we enjoy reading for pleasure?

As an English teacher, I feel fortunate that I actually get paid to read and write. I have the pleasure of reading, discussing and responding to literature, as well as writing assignments, feedback, assessments, blogs and tweets. One of my students commented that my assignment instructions are sometimes as long as the expected assignment length. I prefer to think of it as practicing my craft.

I have always been an avid reader and a somewhat avid writer. I’ve intermittently kept a journal for almost 40 years. I’m sure when I was in middle school (or junior high as it was referred to “back then”) I had typical teenage angst and for some reason, I found writing as a way to relieve some emotion.

I don’t recall if someone suggested I do this, if I read about a character who did this, or if I was perhaps copying one of my older sisters who kept diaries – the small, leather hardbound book that had a clasp and a small lock and key to keep all of one’s thoughts private (perhaps especially from nosy little sisters). I never had that type of diary, so I began writing in a simple spiral bound notebook. Maybe because it wasn’t a regular recording of my daily activity, I called my practice journaling. I may have started writing to model my favorite grandmother who kept a written account of her daily activities.

In any case, once I started, it stuck because writing has always been a way for me to work through my issues. When I begin writing, I don’t know where my pen will lead me; I only am certain that by the conscious act of putting my thoughts on paper, I can begin to make better sense of them.

I still have all my filled notebooks. I rarely go back and read them, but when I do I see patterns in my life. I come a bit closer in the discovery of who I am. My writing also helps me not to take myself too seriously.

Just as I tell my students that writing is a process that is more circular than linear, writing is intertwined in my life. I write to discover who I am, to make sense of my world and my world is partially defined by the fact that I am a writer.

Nancy and I, the co-founders of Vint Hill Academy, come to this work from years as classroom teachers. A teacher’s day is a complex thing, involving meetings, lesson planning, assessment, duties like monitoring the parking lot and lunch room, taking attendance, sponsoring clubs, paperwork, and (oh, yeah, I almost forgot!) teaching. There are so many teachers out there with excellent content knowledge, teaching skills, and intentions—not to mention herculean work ethics—but somehow there always seem to be students whom we “can’t reach” or “don’t have enough time to fix.” The truth is that today’s classroom teacher is, in most cases, responsible for so many students and standards that he or she must focus on what will serve the needs of the many. We don’t see this as a failure on teachers’ parts; many of them are excelling within the demands placed upon them by the educational system. We wondered, though, what might happen if the teacher were to be taken out of the classroom and freed to become the master of his or her own time. Could we serve a smaller number of students better? If so, how? Would we miss the hustle and bustle of the school environment? Would we be able to make ends meet without our school salaries?

While we are still in the process of answering these questions, some things have become clear in our first few months in business. First, while we suspected this all along, we are now certain that education is not one-size-fits-all (or even most), nor is it scalable. We have had our best successes when we have listened carefully to parents and student, applied our teachers’ brains to the student’s needs, and developed an individualized plan for instructing the student. In fact, we now begin our relationships with families by consulting with the student and his or her parents for at least half an hour. Having the chance to take an educational history of each student and to truly think about the approaches that might suit the student’s goals and learning style has led to more authentic instruction and deeper, more fulfilling relationships with students and parents.

We have also enjoyed the flexibility of being a small organization. We have been free to experiment with how various technologies, such as blogs, Google Video Chat, and iPod flash cards, might be productively used in instruction without having to provide technical instruction for an overwhelming number of students and colleagues. These technologies can be incredibly powerful when deployed at the proper moments with students who are ready to receive them. They can also be too much for some students, who are still struggling to master the basics of reading and writing, skills which are most effectively built through face-to-face interaction among student, text, and teacher.

Most of all, given the slower pace and lower volume of our teaching, we have become much more reflective practitioners of our craft. We are able to do much more professional reading than we ever could as classroom teachers. More importantly, however, we can spend much more time considering each student as a whole person, not just as one of 25 students in our first period American literature class. We think less about whether the student will pass next week’s test, and more about what seems to ignite the student’s intellectual passions and what skills the student is developing. As we proceed with our work with various students, we find ourselves wishing that every student could receive such attention from a teacher in his or her life. We intend to do our best to offer such attention to as many students as possible over the coming years.

Vint Hill Academy (VHA) is an innovative college preparation and academic tutoring institution serving Virginia’s Piedmont region, including areas such as Warrenton, Gainesville, Haymarket, Manassas, Culpeper, and Centreville.

VHA helps today’s middle and high school students enhance their academic skills. We help students prepare for college, by integrating 21st century technologies with proven instructional techniques. Our comprehensive curriculum is delivered both in-person and online by educators with advanced degrees and experience teaching at the college level.

VHA’s unique technology-based approach to tutoring and enrichment in core educational disciplines leads to improved student performance as well as success in non-academic endeavors in today’s fast-paced world.