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I have two little girls, and one little boy like that in the classroom with which I am currently working. Three kids, out of 23, who are excited (hell, scratch "excited," just plain interested) enough about reading to bring in favorite books to share.
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I have two kids in elementary school. From what I have seen, it's a combination of assigned reading and free choice. I am okay with that - I do want my kids to enjoy reading for its own sake (and they do, both of them) but at the same time, I'd also like them to stretch a bit, too. Left completely to their own devices, the oldest would read nothing but nonfiction, and science fiction/fantasy. The younger one would read Magic Tree House and Star Wars adaptions. But, they have both enjoyed a lot of the books they've been directed to read, that they wouldn't have chosen on their own.
And this is the entire point, exactly. If you're not helping to encourage students to expand their knowledge base and interests, you're not really doing much as a teacher. And that's one big reason why the "schools should just let students choose what they want to read, and never make any reading assignments," school of thought is flawed.
I think I got into reading because my parents read and I got way more books that toys as a child.
While many parents today turn on the TV to pacify their kids, my mother would turn off the TV so I had the option of going outside or reading. Reading fueled my outdoor activities and vice versa.
School really had little to do with my reading habits.
And this is the entire point, exactly. If you're not helping to encourage students to expand their knowledge base and interests, you're not really doing much as a teacher. And that's one big reason why the "schools should just let students choose what they want to read, and never make any reading assignments," school of thought is flawed.
Giving students some choice in what they are doing is just as good as anything else at expanding their knowledge base and interest. Giving students some choice does not exlude making recommendations, guiding the students, introducing new books (and kinds of books), and even limiting their options when appropriate. It is a discussion and exposition of choices, rather than a one-way set of demands.
Let's not pretend that mandating everything for students always helped everyone.
It is also quite possible to have a discussion as a class on which book to read (which may include a certain set of options that the teacher would find appropriate for learning), and come to a consensus as a class. But how often does that happen in English classes?
My point wasn't to get into an argument of Hobbit vs Steinbeck. My point was that in High school kids should be given a more broad range of books to choose from, which includes modern literature. That way it is more likely that they will enjoy reading. Maybe things have changed since I was in HS 12 years ago but my English teacher was a Shakespeare snob and our required reading list consisted of 10 books. There was no way that I was going to get into reading with a 10 book selection, each of which was in the same genre.
So, because your HS English teacher pushed Shakespeare, you're extrapolating that schools at large do not include contemporary lit in their curriculum?
So, because your HS English teacher pushed Shakespeare, you're extrapolating that schools at large do not include contemporary lit in their curriculum?
She was "pushing" the district approved reading list.
At my kids' high school, there are a variety of a English classes for students of varying literary bents. If you like Shakespeare, you can take a semester long course on Shakespeare. Similarly, there is a Science Fiction course. You can take a Humanities series and read historical fiction all year.
As for summer reading, here are some examples of books on our district's middle school list...
The London Eye Mystery
Fever, 1793
Wonder
I Funny
Chasing Lincoln's Killer
The Hobbit
And Then There Were None
And the High school list...
Last Days of Summer
A Separate Peace
Cannery Row
Into the Wild
Tortilla Curtain
The Life of Pi
Who Goes There
These are books that turn children off to reading? Really? I think our schools do an absolutely fantastic job of presenting options that engage readers. Yes, they still read Dickens & Shakespeare, but they also read books they would probably pick up completely on their own wandering through the bookstore or library on a Saturday morning. I think our schools do a marvelous job of catering to a wide variety of student tastes and interests.
randomparent, your school is an exception, not the norm.
I do not know your school so I can't speak with certainty, but I would also bet that, even at your better school, the students often do not have enough say in what they are reading and some students are turned off by this. Have you spoken to a large amount of the students or are you just assuming that the students magically enjoy it all?
Oh, for goodness sake, our schools bend over backwards to accommodate kids' various reading preferences. Every summer, our middle school publishes a list of a dozen or so books for middle schoolers covering a variety of genres. The kids pick one. Sometimes two. There is something for everyone.
The high school has specific requirements, because, unlike middle school, there is a purpose other than just getting kids to read. The point of high school English Lit is actually not to inspire a love of reading in our teens. Students can read what want on their own time, but the classroom setting requires that everyone read and discuss the same thing at the same time whether or not they enjoy it. Reading your own thing is not conducive to the study of literature. It's just reading, which is great, but it's not the study of literature.
In any case, while the books may not appeal to a student's specific bent, sometimes that's the way it is in education. Do we hear similar complaints that Punnett squares turn kids off to science? Sometimes we just have to suck it up and get on with things.
Last edited by randomparent; 08-18-2014 at 09:24 PM..
Once again. Allowing some choice in determining what the students will read is a part of encouraging a love of reading and literature. It doesn't mean students just blindly pick whatever they want. It means guiding them to make choices and coming to a better consensus.
If your argument is that kids "just gotta do some things," I will continue to respond that this is discouraging a lot of students to read or care. In high school a lot of students are turned off by set reading lists. You may think prescribed reading lists are OK, but I'm telling you, and people who have been through it will tell you, that it's not the most effective way to get people to read and learn literature.
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