here on FYA, we use the label “required reading” to indicate books that are SO AWESOME THEY MUST BE READ IMMEDIATELY BY EVERYONE WITHIN AN INTERNET RADIUS.
obvs this is a twist on the required reading we all knew and loved/hated back in high school, which i have mixed feelings about. as a nerd, i actually loved most of the books we were assigned, but i realize that not every kid gets excited at the thought of diving into a book about, you know, slavery or ladies that write lots of letters or weirdos in the future who take soma.
obvs it’s important to teach kids WHY they should read (don’t EVEN bring up the recent cancellation of “reading rainbow” cos i will cryyyyyy), and i believe, for some students, this process necessitates the use of gateway drugs, i.e. books based on video games, tv shows, sparkly vampires, etc.
if you agree with me, you’ll probably find this recent ny times article, “a new assignment: pick books you like,” interesting and (nerd alert) EXCITING! basically, teachers are daring to give their kids a choice about what they read in class. here’s an excerpt:
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But literacy specialists also say that instilling a habit is as important as creating a shared canon. “If what we’re trying to get to is, everybody has read ‘Ethan Frome’ and Henry James and Shakespeare, then the challenge for the teacher is how do you make that stuff accessible and interesting enough that kids will stick with it,” said Catherine E. Snow, a professor at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. “But if the goal is, how do you make kids lifelong readers, then it seems to me that there’s a lot to be said for the choice approach. As adults, as good readers, we don’t all read the same thing, and we revel in our idiosyncrasies as adult readers, so kids should have some of the same freedom.”
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DOUBLE TRUE, CATHERINE SNOW!
obvs i’m not a teacher, nor a librarian, so i can’t speak to the difficulty of balancing choice with, say, requirements for standardized testing. the article definitely touches upon the difficulty not only of working within a rigid curriculum but also of dealing with kids who, even when they have freedom, totally don’t give a shizz.
any teachers and librarians out there, feel free to dish it up! this IS the girls’ bathroom, after all, where nothing is sacred and freedom of speech runs all over the walls.
SO if i *were* a teacher, and i was lucky enough to give my students a choice, i would definitely follow the lead of the teacher in the article and offer some “hints,” such as:
hunger games (DIZZ-uh)
king dork (this is probably why i’m not a teacher, cos do they even allow this book in schools?)
it’s kind of a funny story
the truth about forever
the disreputable history of frankie landau-banks
sweethearts
(and you can bet yr sweet pants that all of those books are gonna show up on le blog under “required reading” in the v. near future cos i’m like, ali larter level OBSESSED)
and now i turn to you, dear reader(s?): what books would make yr list?
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
It is late (for me) and I have been in a computer lab with elementary aged children all day, so a more thorough comment will come later. However, I did want to chime in quickly to say that as a librarian, I endorse this post.
I am fortunate to work at a school where reading workshop allows for independent reading and independent choice. However, some teachers still manage to take things like reading levels out of context and make them the end all be all. Choice in reading is what the real world is all about. If you go to Barnes and Noble, the cashier does not force you to prove that you can read the first page of the book before she lets you purchase it. If you go to the public library, the librarians do not follow you around telling you that a book is not on your reading level. So why then do some teachers create such unrealistic reading scenarios in the classroom?
And the truth is, children’s and YA lit is much more prolific and brimming with well written text that rivals, and often times, outshines the “classics” that so many people are die hard about (and don’t even get me started about how we usually give these “classics” to kids way before they have the life experience to understand or enjoy them).
The beauty of my job is that I can let kids check out what they want, when they want and how they want.
(and now I’m re-reading and seeing that this is a very disjointed post, but I think you’ll get my drift)
Katie
We sort of had a program like that in high school. Well, we had a list of “optional reading” that would have more fun stuff like Pat Conroy or possibly King Dork (KING DORK!!! Every kid, adult, human is REQUIRED to read this book, IMO), but you had to choose at least one book off the optional list and right about it every semester. But also my favorite teacher ever, Mr. Mitchell, once went around and asked everyone what book they last read and whether it should be required reading, and we all voted on the top 3 and he added them to our curriculum. Mine got in! (The Bell Jar, you’re welcome, high school boys who hate me now!)
katie, YOU WIN. i really wanna send you a “best librarian” ribbon in the mail, but i don’t have one at my disposal at the moment.
meredith, bell jar?! oh man… i love you.
ITA that hunger games and frankie landau-banks SHOULD be required reading in school. School needs more books about kickass young girls.
I like this idea as long as it is supported with a core of required cirriculum, much like in Meredith’s school. I am an avowed bibliophile, but there are some required books which threatened to change that (I’m looking at you, Moby Dick). But the fact that everyone has had to suffer through some form of literary torture unites us, and it gives us a common language. I may hate Moby Dick, but at least I and everyone else I meet knows what a “white whale” is.
A few more thoughts now that I have had time to read the article all the way and look at the pictures:
First of all, I had to laugh that the assistant education secretary wondered what would happen to Moby Dick, and even admitted that no one would voluntarily pick it up. Why then, oh sage one, should we then force children to read it? I never had to read Moby Dick (although there was an unfortunate encounter with one of his short stories called Billy Budd: Sailor) and I feel that my education was still a solid one.
Secondly, I guess that I don’t agree that everyone should suffer through torture via an outdated literary canon. That said, certainly it takes a highly-qualified and well-read teacher to run a reading workshop classroom. Kids are like sponges-if they see their teacher reading, are read to by their teacher, have books recommended to them by their teachers, then they will read and read a lot. I see it all the time in the library. I can tell exactly who a student’s teacher is based on the books he/she asks for and how excited he/she is about coming to get more books.
I am also totally jealous that the teacher in the article got to meet and work with Nancie Atwell. Her book, In the Middle, completely changed how I taught writing. It is amazing how well kids can and will write when you give them choice.
I believe the same goes for reading. A lot of the issue behind giving students choice really doesn’t lie with classics-should we or shouldn’t we-or even test scores. It lies with giving students control. By giving a student control, the teacher becomes a facilitator as opposed to a disseminater of knowledge. And I’ll be honest-the thought of giving control over to a bunch of 7th graders made me break out in a cold sweat more than a few times.
But when the teacher becomes a mentor-modeling, nudging, encouraging-and takes the time up front to establish the procedures necessary for success-I think the workshop approach is best.
I am super excited about this blog and all the discussion it will generate.
and *i* am super excited about getting insight from an awesome librarian/teacher like YOU, katie! thanks so much for taking the time to share yr thoughts, cos comments from folks in the trenches (i.e. schools) like you are gonna give this blog a breadth and depth beyond my constant swoons, gahs and, you know, general blabbing.
and, to everything you said, i reply: double true. and also, amen! which is like, a super endorsement.
The Book Whisperer blog touched on this very subject! Check out the link-
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/book_whisperer/
My list of books would include two non-fiction books:
- How to Read Literature Like a Professor because then you can know “how” to read the classics.
- Beowulf on the Beach because then you will “want” to read the classics.
Then I’d pick some YA books that re-imagine themes from classic literature in pretty cool ways:
- GONE by Michael Grant (which one reviewer said is like “If Stephen King had written Lord of the Flies).
- King Dork for sure. (Actually this book made me love that I don’t have to feel guilty about not going back to re-read Catcher as an adult when I’ll “understand” it… and it made me laugh a ton.)
- Troy High by Shana Harris (because who understands Homer for real? and I want to give something “girly” on the list).
- Something Rotten or Something Wicked by Alan Gratz (although by putting that as an “or” then I really earn an extra book on the list).
I’d also maybe throw in Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford for the sheer fact that I have never read anything half as funny as this (although David Yoo’s books come really close). This book alone could restore any reluctant reader’s hope that there are good books that are entertaining (and have a little ability to “teach” at the same time). Hilarious!
(Sadly, this doesn’t include Disreputable History…, Looking for Alaska or Abundance of Katherines, anything by the great Chris Crutcher. Too many great YA books, not enough time.)
thanks for the recs, literaturecrazy! i haven’t read most of those books, actually, although i can assure you that king dork, frankie banks and john green will ALL be appearing soon on FYA cos LOVE.
the rest i will be adding to my library queue!