Oh, for the love of..... reading!

One of my favorite quotes in the whole world comes from a wonderful writer (and fellow sarcasm lover), Mark Twain, who once stated, "The man who doesn't read is no better than the man who can't." 
Think about that for a minute.... it's really true, isn't it???
In 2003, 14% of American adults (defined as those age 16 and older) had BELOW BASIC literacy (National Center for Education Statistics).  Below basic literacy is defined as the most simple and concrete literacy skills - such as signing a form and adding the amounts on a bank deposit slip.  14% of a million is...140,000, correct?  And how many million adults are in the United States?  Approximately 211 million as of 2000.  So, since I love math and I am math literate, let's see...that's 29.5 MILLION adults at the below basic proficiency level of literacy.  whoa.  That figure makes my head spin.  These are really the people who CAN'T read.  (The bigger question here begs an answer...why can't they read?)  Others can, but don't.  Why don't people read?
I know what you're thinking.  Life gets in the way.  We're so busy!  We'd love to read, but... we just can't squeeze in the time. 
But let me ask you a question:  would we accept these answers from a kindergartner?  I'll be honest, we do actually accept these answers from adolescents - getting an eighth grade boy to pick up a book is pretty hard to do these days.  But what about an elementary school-age child?  Study after study shows that early literacy habits have a direct correlation to success in reading.  And those who are good at what they do usually LIKE doing it.
We implemented the Schoolwide Enrichment Model in Reading this year at Harriet Bishop.  One of its goals is to bring back the love of reading - and how does it do that, you may ask?  By actively and purposely engaging students in texts that are approximately one level above their current reading level while in school.  In other words, students aren't just reading in school; they're getting BETTER at their reading in school.  It's a pretty logical concept, really, when you think about it.  Children are actively engaged in self-selected texts in school that are at their instructional level.  So the book is something they WANT to read, and they're learning skills and strategies while reading it.  Schoolwide Enrichment Model in Reading (SEM-R) helps students become active partners in their own reading.  It focuses on the development of self-regulated readers. Students are exposed to a wide variety of texts and text structures, purposefully selected by teachers to develop skills and strategies, and stimulate interest.  It's not simply about the love of reading, but I reiterate what I said before - people will do what they're good at.  And they'll LIKE what they're good at.  The other two goals of SEM-R are to encourage students to pursue independent reading of appropriately challenging texts, and to improve fluency and comprehension. 
If one wishes to look at this subject economically, illiteracy is a HUGE drain on resources in the United States.  Alone, approximately 70% of current prison inmates would be considered illiterate.  But not only that, the POTENTIAL resources for the United States are drained as well.  Fields such as the sciences and technology NEED proficient and advanced readers.  Food for thought.
I know that I will never get all students to love reading as much as I do.  (I can try...)  But if I can get students to love reading enough to continue reading, to grow as readers, and to bring reading into their adult lives, then I've done something worthwhile.