Here's another news article that I found interesting. We're Teaching Books That Don't Stack Up by Nancy Schnog, which was in today's Washington Post. Here's a snippet to entice...
Every June, when I asked my students at a previous school to write about a favorite book of the year, they mostly gushed over two: J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" and F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby." For years, "Catcher" served as a successful icebreaker for my juniors, exciting debate while eliding the gender divide. Whether they admired Holden Caulfield's quirkiness or disparaged him as a jerk, both my male and female students were eager to argue about him.
So imagine my dismay when "Catcher" was demoted to the eighth or ninth grade. Apparently it wasn't sophisticated enough for 11th-graders, its language too facile, the plot insufficiently complex. That many 17-year-olds identify powerfully with Salinger's 17-year-old protagonist was a fact cast by the wayside.
But here's what a former student wrote in an essay about this book that knocked her socks off: "To my twelve-year-old self, the book didn't seem to move anywhere. I didn't understand why Holden couldn't just try a little harder at school. By tenth grade, I had been drunk for the first time. I knew rebellion against my parents, the difficulties of teenage romance, the fakeness of social interaction. As a reader in the eleventh grade, I grew close to Holden; he was a friend who understood me." In adults' determination to create sophisticated teen readers, we sever them from potential fictional soulmates.
I love the idea of kids (or adults for that matter) being inspired to read for pleasure. I could have used a bit more of that myself. Although this article is quite the opposite, discussing how academic curriculum is killing the inspiration.
I'm grateful for a mom who I remember reading often when I was growing up and I worry that I won't be setting the same example for my own kids. But besides that, Ms. Schnog also makes mention of the gender gap that prohibits some kids from enjoying their reading assignment. I remember reading an article about this before. It's interesting to think how absolutely critical it is to put more thought into how kids are trained to approach reading.
4 comments:
Reading is SO great! Growing up I remember my mom making my brother and I read for ONE hour each day! She would set the timer and we were to read for that whole time. Not comic books either, it had to be "mom" approved. I always loved this time to read, but my brother always had a fit and just hated every minute of it! It's funny! To this day I love to curl up on the couch and read. In fact I have read two books this week already! I LOVE books and reading for enjoyment. I want my kids to love to read like me. I notice Derrek is more into books now, he even has been known to shut off the TV and actually read! I am so proud of him for that, it makes me feel good to see him enjoy reading
I also think that kids can have too many toys, but NEVER too many BOOKS!
I noticed this when I was teaching English. It is so hard to get kids to really identify with their assigned reading, and when we push them to harder and harder texts at younger and younger ages, they miss out on so much. I love homeschooling for that reason. I plan to read the harder texts to my children out loud. They still get exposed and they are not feeling like it is torture. Of course, I will have them read books that challenge them, too, but I want a lot of their reading to be fun for them so that they develop a life-long love of reading, like I have.
Kainoa, I think that's so great that you are having that kind of influence on Derrek! Sometimes I wish I was more dedicated to reading so I would do the same for Shane. But I think he reads more than me nowadays. He's really into reading all those books on the founding fathers that have been coming out lately. I tend to borrow a bunch of non-fiction books from the library and just browse. I'm really trying to change though.
Johanna, that is such a great idea to read the more advanced books! I can't wait for the day that Caleb will actually sit still and listen to a story. Even when I'm reading him a bedtime story, he is bouncing all around. And I hate to yell at him about it all the time. I suspect it will take some real planning and thought to help him grow to love books. But it will certainly be worth it.
You know, my cousin and I have been talking about this. I get so sick of the same ole same ole books being taught to kids. Like Charles Dickens books. I was forced to read Tale of Two Cities in high school, and DID NOT GET IT. I read it twice more, after I had kids, before I actually got it.
So I basically thought Chas. D. was all junk, other than A Christmas Carol, which I had read in Junior High and loved.
Anyhow, my cousin was trying to figure out which books to teach his high school juniors, and I recommended Barnaby Rudge or Martin Chuzzlewit, two of my favorite CD books. He said he'd think about it, but his recommendations on Dickens were either ToTC or Great Expectations.
*sigh* Oh well. I am still hoping he'll pick a better book than those two. They are so dull and difficult, and the other books deal with greed, and BR is all about a mentally challenged teen!! Very cool, at least I think so. And if I had read either of those two books first, I would not have had such a hard time with ToTC!
But anyhow, that is my long long long winded two cents!!! LOL (Sorry!)
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