Happened to be in the public library this week while watching my three year old nephew, Ashur. He was assembling puzzles faster than I preferred. I was trying to read a few chapters in Choice Words by Peter Johnston while he worked ambitiously. I then overheard a lady with her pig-tailed granddaughter asking the librarian where the 300 lexile level books were. She didn't ask for an author, a book about animals, a book on someone's life. She ask for a number.
Undoubtedly, the grandmother was trying to be the best grandma ever and get the lexile level that matched her young reader. The school gives reading tests that result in much valuable information about a student as a reader/writer and the test also gives a lexile level for the student as a reader. This number is often shared with the parents/families.
The librarian sauntered over to a large white notebook, looked up a 300 lexile and proceeded to tell the lady that her granddaughter was reading in the range of 2nd grade and that she was in between picture books and chapter books. The grandmother said she just wanted to see where the 300's were. At this point, I restrained myself from the teacher in me and continued to observe (and...help Ashur on his 12th puzzle.)
Casually, the librarian pointed in the direction of various bookshelves and said the 300's were mixed in with all the other books. She said they didn't categorize the books by lexiles in the public library, but by authors and content. Oh my! The lady and her granddaughter then proceeded to have to look at the books for interest and content, opening the books up and discussing their value. Isn't that great? They worked at it and came up with about 5 books that seemed to be of interest to the little girl and then they wandered out to the check out lane.
While it is certainly very helpful to know a lexile range, the goal of reading should not be simply to read a number. Many teachers, parents and others can get too consumed with a guided reading letter or a lexile number and forget that these are simply tools to ensure appropriateness of books. The BIGGER DEAL is to find a book that not only is in the range of the student's reading lexile, but also to find a book that is meaningful to the student/child.
I worked in a HS counseling office for 12 years. One of the student helpers and I were talking about reading for fun. He hated reading. I told him to look for books that were easy to read and held his interest, then as he read more, try to level up. He took my advise and one day told me that he found he enjoyed reading. Why do people tell students/children that they have to have such difficult reading material and then can't enjoy it or even understand/comprehend what they have read. HL
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