A very sensitive area tied to equity is found in how many CI classes are made to read “class novels”. If thirty five kids have a wide range of reading ability, because of their background down to elementary school, availability of books throughout their childhoods, family wealth, etc. then many of them will be odd-man-out in classes that “challenge” the class, which is code for “only teach to the top kids in the class”. We don’t want that. So what we choose for reading materials is a big deal. We want everyone to be able to read, especially because it is input and input drives the CI train. Kids should never be made to feel behind in a reading class, and yet as we speak most do in classes that use classroom sets to try to read a novel “together”. That is why six years ago I went to the 10′ individual free choice of books – any level, the student chooses what they want to read – sessions to start class and why I condemn the reading of class novels during class time. Reading should be individual, not as a class. It also saves a lot of money since we only need to purchase 2 or 3 titles of each book instead of 35 classroom sets. The books offered to the individual readers should be easy. If those four kids out of the thirty five want to read “up”, fine. But don’t make the class do it.
