Reading for Intermediate and Advanced Learners, Fall, 2011

Since I already agree with the premise of this article, I began to wonder what is keeping English teachers from teaching modern young adult books that are compelling and relevant to their teenage students. It got me thinking about the standards that teachers are held to. Is there a standard that requires teachers to use deadly classics from the canon? I looked it up, and found (oh my!) that there is. North Carolina adopted the Common Core standards for English Language Arts. I read over the high school requirements. The standard says students should be able to, “Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics.”
I also began to realize that sometimes advocates of this idea of using young adult novels can be their own worst enemies. I was thinking specifically about the quotation from the student about why he liked a certain book. The student said, “when he decapitated a guy because he killed a girl that he liked, I could visualize the picture in my mind.” That quotation in the right hands could prevent the use of these books in schools. My first reaction to it was simply “Ick.” Then when that passed, I laughed out loud because I was thinking of all the books that are approved for use in classrooms that get challenged and banned. No one is decapitated in "Huckleberry Finn" or "So Far from the Bamboo Grove." And both of those books have been challenged and banned. I think that on some levels, any text could be challenged, banned, resisted, refused or denigrated.
I have had students refuse to study the Bible as Literature. I have had others who refuse to read the excellent volume, "The Bible’s Greatest Stories," during the same unit. These students will generally only read the King James Version of the Bible. The issue of reading selections is complex, and while I think teaching more compelling young adult novels would help. I don’t think it is a cure-all.

I really enjoyed this article. I have been guilty as a parent trying to get my children to read "classic" books. When my children wanted to read graphic novels for the first time I laughed.I like what the article said:"I'd like to see "the love of reading" listed as the # 1 goal of the English curriculum at every grade." Sometimes I feel like middle and high school languare arts teachers do not try to promote reading as enjoyment. I know when I was in highschool, I never invisioned the "book" as pleasure reading rather I need to know the irony, the plot etc. so I can answer the questions and pass the test!

I loved how this article started off by asking if you loved certain books when you were a young adult. It went on to list several books that I remember having to read in high school. The article then went on to say if you really did enjoy these books, then you might have a hard time understanding why some of your students don’t. For me, I hated reading because I was never good at reading. If Spark Notes or Cliff Notes were available, that is exactly where I would go. Those classic type of books were way over my head, and I felt like I was a “reading zombie” when I was in class. It was almost like a foreign language at times. Books to me were just like how the author stated that they felt- they were dull. I was never interested, but I was always an obedient student. Unlike the author’s home, I had books in my home, but didn’t care to read them. My parents read to me, and would try to make me read, but then they would give up on me because they realized how frustrated I got when reading. I “survived” just as the author did. I passed the tests and papers with B’s and C’s, and barely got through. The only reason why teachers liked me is because I would always try to overachieve on big projects that were hands on because I knew I could do those. My life turned around in college, just like the author’s life did. My turnaround was a bit different, but along the same idea. The author talked about how he was just not into the classics when he was a teenager. He was into teen stuff, and the books he had to read had nothing to do with teen stuff. This goes back to letting kids read books that are interesting to them, and the huge effect it can have on a student if you force them to read the same “classic” type books the whole time. You have to expose them to all different varieties of genres and styles of books for the purpose of reaching all different types of learners. The state requires teachers to teach the classics as part of the curriculum, so that is why teachers really have no choice- however, I think they can work around that schedule and try to plan a time, at least once a month or so, to let their students read a young adult book of their choice. They could really get into some rich discussions on their books, and you could even have them make connections to the “classic” type books and compare and contrast them. No wonder so many students stop reading as much once they get to high school.

I currently tutor a high school student, and it is not so much that she is a bad reader; she just doesn’t get the classic type novels and needs someone to help explain what is going on in the story. We also spend our tutoring time reading books that she won’t ever get a chance to read. This would be the young adult love novels, novels about animals, and other books that are interesting to her. She is a very bright student; she just doesn’t connect to the classics like a lot of students.

How Classics Create an Aliterate Society

As a teenager I did not enjoy reading. I did not enjoy the many works that I had to read in high school and college. They did not appeal to me and I did not relate to the books at all. Like the author said in the article I was also an obedient student. I read my assignments but I did not enjoy them. I did the work only because I had to. I remember struggling with comprehension when I read many of the books that were required for middle and high school. I remember rereading many of the chapters because my mind would wander while reading.
As I have gotten older I have come to appreciate some of the classics that I once read in school. I think the problem with classic literature is that it is required by the standard course of study. As usual someone is making the rules that look good on paper. While it seems that students should be exposed to many different types of texts from different centuries, is it really making a difference in the lives of those who read them. The characters often are not teenagers and they have no personal connection to the text.
I think the author is right in that teens are looking for ways to be entertained as they read. Entertainment is the goal of teens and our current generation, and we have technology to thank for that. As a teacher I find it difficult to “entertain” my kindergarten students at times. I can’t imagine what it takes to entertain a teenager in class. There is so much to compete with for a teen’s attention. They have video games, cell phones, iPods, and the world in the palm of their hands with internet access. It is hard enough just to get them to read much less like reading.

One of my favorite points made in this article touches on the fact that classics are designed to provide a message, although most of the time that message is one that the teacher has to reveal to the students. How does that make sense to teach then? I don’t want to mistake anyone into thinking that I am not a fan of some of the classics by posing this question…but really why? We are asking our students (adolescents) who, physically and emotionally cannot control what they are thinking or feeling from one moment to the next, to step outside their realm of adolescence and make sense of a phenomenon or instance that most likely doesn’t even occur to them as an issue. I remember that my 6th grade teacher felt that I was reading at a higher level than the other students in my class and so she decided to challenge me, and you’ll never believe with what novel: The Scarlet Letter. Now I feel that while I was reading this article I could relate to what the authors point was: as a 12 year old I was in no way, shape, or form capable of understanding why this woman was being tortured, what wearing an A even meant, and why the author spent 5 pages giving me details about something that didn’t make sense to me anyways. Needless to say, I didn’t understand it, and it was not until my Junior year in high school, when I was in an AP class that I finally was able to even come close to understanding what was going on, and most of that was with the prodding of my teacher. How is that effective? One adolescent novel, with moderate details, light but meaningful vocabulary and a plethora of ‘hot topics’ (like religion, shame, or pregnancy) can have the same, probably more lasting effect on a student. And the beauty of it, to me, is that then a student doesn’t have to wait for someone to think for them. Why? Because YAL is created to allow the student the capacity to learn and make connections through meaningful experiences.

I did not enjoy reading in middle school or high school, but to be honest with you I am not sure if it was because my teachers required us to read the classics. I don't remember reading much of anything during that period. All I know is that we had a pretty extensive CliffsNotes collection at our house.

As I reflected on this article I found myself thinking about the novels that I read with my fifth graders. I know that I teacher fifth grade and they aren't teenagers yet, but have you had a conversation with a 10 year old lately? They are dealing with issues that I know I dealt with as a teenager or older. Boy, here I am doing the same thing to my students that was done to me. I now am going to make an effort to improve my classroom library, making sure there are books that would be of interest to them and that real life issues that they can relate to.

I remember reading the classics (Romeo and Juliet, The Scarlet Letter, Hamlet), and I disliked every second of it. I didn't "get" the language it was written in (escpecially Shakespeare's work). Now, I can't really recall what these "classics" were about. The classics didn't make me dislike reading because I never had a passion, love, or even like for reading. I guess I was never taught to read for enjoyment. I have always read because either a)it is an assignment or b)I am seeking information. That is it. I don't even pick up a magazine to read while i'm waiting in the doctor's office- I just sit there and stare into space. Had I been introduced to contemporary young adult literature in high school, things may be different. I'm really enjoying my book club book, so maybe a change is about to take place! We will have to wait and see. :)

I loved that the article brought out the point that if we don't tell our students about these interesting, contemporary, young adult texts, how else are they going to find out about them? We need to do small book talks with these texts and "sell" the books to the students. In order to do this, we need to read them first. The article also made a good point regarding our classroom libraries. We need to change out books often, and let the students know about books they can find in our own classroom library.

The title says it all. I truly believe that forcing the classics has turned many students away from reading. I myself could not relate to the characters of Beowulf and Macbeth so I found reading these stories to be quite arduous. In fact, I found myself trying to memorize story elements and plots instead of making connections. This article really makes me wonder how my educational experiences could have been different if teachers had used young adult literature in class. My initial reading experiences at home with my mother had been wonderful. When I think about my love of reading as a small child, it saddens me to think I lost that excitement along the way. I simply did not find the majority of the reading material interesting. Reading became something I HAD to do. Perhaps this fact explains why I did not develop a rich vocabulary as a teenager.

Fortunately, pleasure reading has become a very important part of my life today. I love to read the works of a variety of authors, but just like students, I will finish a book only if it holds my interest.

Looking back, I feel that my teachers taught the way they were expected to teach, but I cannot help feeling that I was cheated. It's my hope to take and use the message in this article to become a stronger and more productive teacher.

I agree with the author that you can teach reading and analytical skills with less challenging literary works than the classics. The sample openings of more contemporary works that the author cited grabbed my attention. I wanted to read more. It follows the same premise that we employ when teaching the standard course of study in math or science. Teachers select the learning objective and design the lesson to meet learning targets using a variety of materials.
I identified with the author’s opinion that there should be a time devoted each day to reading for pleasure. For me, the joy of enjoying a book is quickly killed when an assignment is attached to the reading. I do not want to reflect, dissect, or analyze what I read. It makes me feel “less than”. At the school where I teach, Accelerated Reader time is supposed to be the time where students enjoy reading self-selected books. The catch is the self-selected books must fall in a prescriptive range, be on the Accelerated Reader approved list, and the students are tested on the book.

When I began to read the article, I related to it very much. I was not one of the highest achieving readers in middle and high school, but not average either. I read what was asked of me and analyzed it the way the teacher wanted me to. I made good grades, but did not relate to the assigned reading. I remember parts of The Scarlett Letter and MacBeth caught some of my interests, but not enough. It left me with no desire to read for pleasure in my adulthood.
The interests that my peers and I had about our social life and teenage turmoil would have been so much more engaging, memorable, and relevant to read about. I do agree that most middle and high school students are not ready for the classics and their adult issues. Teaching students to love reading, so that one day they can relate and enjoy the classics is a better goal to have.
I loved the idea of carrying the self selected reading into high school classrooms. This article is a wonderful resource of authors and titles to start with. I hope we can meet "the reading needs and interests of today's students" soon.

I completely agree with everything in this article! I think it is sad that children stop reading when they get to a certain age because they are required to read books that they have no interest in. When you read my literacy autobiography you will see that this same thing happened to me. In elementary school I was in the battle of the books and I was ALWAYS reading. Unfortunately, I stopped reading in middle school and high school because of the required reading lists. I found my love of reading again when I was doing my undergraduate studies in college. All reading teachers should read this article!

I was an avid reader as a teenager and a lover of classic literature. Based on my personal book choices as an adult, I am beginning to wonder if I simply thought I was a lover of classic literature because I had an idealized perception of what it meant to be a good reader. There are certain classic books that had a profound effect on me (Les Miserables and To Kill a Mockingbird are two that come to mind) and I still love rereading Jane Austin’s books. For years, I firmly held to the belief that there are certain books that everyone should read once in the lives. Now I feel that most of the books I read in middle school and high school should be postponed until adulthood.

Teenagers who do not enjoy reading are less likely to become lifelong readers. My youngest son is an avid reader, but I have never heard him talk about classic books the way he does about the books he reads for fun. The other day he came to my school and our media specialist helped him choose some books that he devoured in a couple of days. To help teens find books they are going to care about, teachers need to be knowledgeable about the wide selection of YA books that are available. They need to think about how they can use the books kids want to read to teach literary concepts. Students will not learn unless they are engaged and emotionally connected.

AMEN! This article describes how I felt about required readings. But I will always wonder that if I had grown up with educated parents that had time to read to me and my three siblings (all close in age) and instilled in us the importance of education, would I have tried to understand and like them more? Both my husband and I wanted our children to excel in school but also enjoy it as well. We often from an early age discussed the importance of a good education and pointed out that many children such as us did not have that luxury. So we were very fortunate that our sons always did their best in school. Even in HS, we did not push them to take AP classes, but they chose to in certain subjects and the others they took honors classes.
When I started going back to community college to get elementary ed basics out the way I took World Literature as one of my English classes. We had 3 thick Longman Anthologies from the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. I guess I enjoyed a few of our readings but for the life of me I cannot understand how someone could enjoy reading this stuff. I just didn’t get it.
I love the quote by Pennac in this article:
It is the nature of living beings to love life...
But vitality has never been listed on a school
curriculum. Here, function is everything. Life
is elsewhere. You learn how to read at school.
But what about the love of reading? (92-93)
Besides pleasure reading, which I have not had the privilege since my life became so hectic, I find myself wanting and desiring to “know and understand” some of classical literature as well as history that I didn’t care so much for in school. For the past 20 years, I have also sought knowledge of about any subject for which I had time and/or interest. I would much rather look through a book learning about the wonders of the world etc., than watching a tv show. I found that amazing after reading the meaning behind my name “Lisa” even though my real name is Melissa, I’ve always been called Lisa. But both describe me closely.

I have never thought about it before, but all the way through school I never once had a teacher recommend a book to me. Luckily, I enjoyed reading so I was able to find plenty of books to entertain myself. Recommending books is something I have made a habit of ever since reading The Book Whisperer by Donlyn Miller several years ago. Making recommendations is something I do every day with my sixth graders. I, like the article suggests, often read aloud to my students and hope they are hooked. Most of the time, they are. If I never had a book recommendation from one of my teachers, it is likely most of my classmates did not as well. I can’t imagine the implications on someone who is not a reader. I guess the biggest implication is they will probably remain as so.

This is my favorite quote from the article: There are
still too many teachers who kill any book by the way
they teach it, asking students to recall picky and insignificant
details, testing everyday,removing whatever
joy a kid might have had in reading the book in
the first place.

That being said, I do agree with the article...even though I have to raise my hand as guilty when it comes to loving classics. I read "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott in the 6th grade and moved on to Jane Austen, Sir Aurthur Conan Doyle, etc. However, I also enjoyed lighter, easier reading. I just loved to read and I still do. As a teacher, I am also cognizant that this does not come naturally to all students, probably for the very reasons mentioned in this article. I do not teach older grades, but I like to think that if I did I would use all available resources (especially excellent YA fiction) to help them become readers in the truest sense of the word.

I enjoyed reading this article. This very much related to the previous article, The Relevance of Young Adult Literature, and how we should try to incorporate YA literature into our classrooms. Classics are just that, “classics,” and are as the author said meant for adults, about adult issues, to be enjoyed not analyzed. No wonder students are turned off from reading being forced to read these books that they have no way of relating to or understanding at their current age. As I mention in my other post, tweens and teens are extremely egotistical. If it doesn’t have any way of relating to them or their lives they are more or less uninterested. Classics are above their understanding and difficult for them to comprehend, let alone enjoy. I liked the one quote: “My experience in high school with the classics was similar to dissecting a frog: it was tedious and it stunk.” I agree with the author and although I love reading, I love reading for pleasure and hate being told what to read. For me, it’s that factor of self discovery and then being able to share about the book with others. A question arose while reading this article, perhaps the classics are so classic there is no room for new classics? I know this isn’t the case, but many teachers and curriculum think you can only get certain literary elements or teach certain ideas with a classic. These students need our help in guiding them and we can start by getting them involved in books that relate to them, even if it’s just a character the same age. YA books give students the opportunity to explore avenues and consequences without physically going there. The article also mentioned that “there are still too many teachers who kill any book by the way they teach it…” and this is extremely sad. These teachers don’t need to be teaching. Teachers should be excited about what is being read and taught and that excitement will pour over into the classroom. Classics are in a sense overrated in the classroom and should be set aside for a different time and place making room for books that can make a difference and still teach what needs to be taught.

The following quote sums up the entire problem with using the classics in middle grades classroom:
"The classics are not about TEENAGE concerns! They are about ADULT issues. Moreover, they were written for EDUCATED adults who had the LEISURE time to read them. They were also, not incidentally, written to be ENJOYED - not DISSECTED, not ANALYZED, and certainly not TESTED."

I completely agree with this article; however, it took one of my undergraduate courses to open my eyes to the relevance of YAL instead of using the classics, because of the fact that I pretty much only experienced reading the classics when I was in school. I believe this is part of the problem with the classics - teachers feel they HAVE to teach them because that is what has been taught for years...too many years! After taking the course Adolescent Literature a couple years ago, my eyes were completely opened to a whole new way of teaching my middle school students with RELEVANT, INTERESTING, and still CHALLENGING literature that would engage students while still teaching them the important qualities of literature. I also learned how to pair the classics with Young Adult novels to help make them more relevant and explore similar themes. Like several students in the article explained, the books they have to read at school are boring and useless, whil YAL is about things they waent to read about! Because of this overwhelming opinion and data, I still don't understand why teachers don't open their eyes and shit away from the classics. I understand it might be a little more difficult for High School teachers, and the fact they have to leave their comfort zone, but if the teacher's main goal is the student's education and helping them become life long readers, then using YAL is the way to go!