"I Hate Reading"

Justin Stygles has served readers as an intermediate and middle grades teacher for nineteen years. For many years he taught grades 4-6 in rural and coastal Maine schools. His other experiences include working in summer literacy programs in rural, suburban, and private schools. He currently teaches fourth grade in Portland, Maine. Justin is from a military background and graduated with an associate degree in harness racing before becoming an educator. He’s served on committees with the International Literacy Association and National Council of Teachers of English. Previous publications include articles Literacy Today, Voices from the Middle, and Hoof Beats. I Hate Reading is his first professional book.

• IntroductionChapter 1: Disrupting Pedagogy: Prioritizing Students in the Shadows of ShameChapter 2: Mentoring Readers: Why You Matter Most of AllChapter 3: Getting to Know the Reader: Identity, Experience, and MirrorsChapter 4: Reading for Themselves: Helping Students Claim their Reading IndependenceChapter 5: Pathways Toward Comprehension: Using Reader Perceptions StrategicallyChapter 6: Rethinking Intervention: When It’s Time to Go “Eye to Eye, Knee to Knee”Chapter 7: Finding the Reader Through Writing About ReadingAfterword

In this wonderfully honest book, Justin Stygles shows how our traditional ways of teaching reading—our use of scores, labels, interventions, judgments—are shame-inducing for many students, who retreat to avoidance behavior ("reading is boring!") or learn to fake it. Stygles is open about how, for a time, he went along with these practices but broke free to pay attention, build relationships, ask questions, become a model, and provide the support students need. It’s a stirring journey.