Confessions of an English Teacher: All About the Teaching of Reading in the High School is intended to position English teachers primarily as reading teachers.

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Reading and writing are how one becomes literate. Anyone who has known a literate person knows that they read a great deal. I wrote this book to make English teachers aware that their job is to improve their students' literacy, not to worry about turning them into little literature lovers. The English teacher's job should be to act as a cheerleader for reading. They need to advocate for reading as the vehicle for literacy and knowledge. Teaching English is not about creating hurdles students cannot overcome; rather, it is about helping students love reading and improve their literacy. An English teacher cannot be punitive; rather, they should be supportive in helping students become more literate from the moment they enter the classroom until they leave. This book provides English teachers with the tools to improve students' literacy through a well-planned reading program. English teachers emerge from college knowing nothing more than what they learned about the literature they were taught. I call them little literature professors because that is what they are. They are not reading teachers, nor are they writing teachers. They also don't know how to teach their students about grammar. So they rely on their literature and steep the students in it. Their focus is too much on teaching literature and not enough on improving literacy. This book demonstrates why English teachers should be advocating reading as the goal for an English class and not so much about teaching literature to students. Learning to be a lifelong learner through reading is perhaps the greatest gift that an English teacher can give to students.

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Confessions of an English Teacher: All About the Teaching of Reading in High School

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