One of the biggest problems with assigned reading in an English class is that it just doesn’t get done. Studies show that assigned reading takes a back seat to other forms of homework, and students site a lack of interest in the material as the main reason. There’s a teacher who keeps a blog that offers some great insight into this problem titled Mr. Sale’s English 10 Blog, which attempts to understand and share ideas about his students’ reading habits. Each of his current students has placed a comment about their own reading habits and/or thoughts about reading in general; their posts are extremely telling of the impact the school system has made on the way they read.

There’s a lot of debate about what texts deserve to be in the curriculum and which ones don’t. Too often the canonical classics of literature are imbedded into courses on the supposition that if the teachers don’t offer them, they won’t get read. While that is indeed a perturbing thought, the reality is this: just because a teacher offers a text, it doesn’t mean the students will read it, and it may just lead to students keeping literature at arms length. Just listen to what Mr. Sale’s students had to say:

Jessica M. said… “I love to read books that I have chosen. Reading for school can become very boring.” Kyle said…“I read only when i am interested in a book. i really hate reading for school because i usually am not interested in the book.”

Many of the other students echoed this thought in so many words. For some reason, these kids just aren’t responding well to having books jammed down their throats . . . I can’t imagine why? They are the classics after all. If Kyle can’t get psyched up about The Scarlet Letter then there’s something wrong with Kyle, right? Wrong. Just because Kyle has a hard time identifying with the 17th Century Puritanical Bostonian Adulteress Hester Prynne, it doesn’t mean he’s a poor student of English. It simply means that he needs a choice in the material to engage him. But that’s not the way English class works, is it? The fact is, Kyle will be handed a copy of The Scarlet Letter sometime in his high school curriculum, and chances are he’ll float through the lesson plan without really engaging with the text. My question is, how does that help Kyle understand or appreciate literature in a lifelong sense? Even more interesting is What Lacey C. had to say:

“I used to love to read. I still do, just not for school. It isn’t even that the books are bad. I assume that when a book is given to us at school it is going to be bad. I love to read on my own and the books that I choose.”

That entry really grabbed me. She simply “assumes” that when she is given a book in school that it’s going to be bad. Wow. What does that say about how kids are relating to what they are being taught? So how do we win over those types of students? Here’s a thought: give kids some options. Let them choose their own literature, or from a list of selections, when it comes to what texts they will read for class.

It’s easy to say that giving kids options like these are the answer, but giving kids options is only a the first step in fixing the problem. For example, if teachers allow their students a little more flexibility in choosing which texts they read, how can they be sure that the students will choose appropriate or intellectually challenging texts? What are some of the ways that teachers can reconcile those notions of “boring school reading” and “reading for fun” while maintaining their critical literary aims?

One method is to find interesting ways to relate those ‘old chestnuts’ in the literary canon to newer works that offer insight into similar plot structures or themes. The Great Gatsby is book that most students are force fed at some point in their high school experience. It’s a little bit like broccoli at dinner time—not too aesthetically appealing, but undoubtedly an important part of the dietary whole. So how can teachers get them to lap it up? Teaching Gatsby alongside the contemporary young adult novel Jake, Reinvented is one method of adding cheese to the broccoli. Jake, Reinvented parallels the plot and themes of Gatsby in a way that students will find more immediately relatable and accessible. That way, students aren’t left with a bad taste in their mouths for literature, and teachers might just find them eyeing the original Gatsby with a whole new appetite.

Sources:

 http://sale5th.blogspot.com/ – Mr. Sale’s English 10 Blog

GVSU Eng 311 – Professor Rozema Class Instruction