Comments on: To teach the love of literature, let students choose their books

By: David

David — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:55:37 +0000

Paul,
I think allowing the kids to choose the books they wish to read is a great approach in encouraging kids to read! But before I could even implement this idea with my own kids, I had to teach them to read first, which was a challenge in itself.

When I first taught my children to read, I used a method of phonics, but quickly realized this worked for my eldest but not my youngest. She didn’t grasp reading. So after trial and error I began to realize she was a visual learner who needed both elements to learn to read. She only became successful in learning after the sound and visual were combined. And now she is reading at a higher grade level than her fellow students.

I have seen a huge improvement, and suggest for anyone whose kid is struggling with reading to try using both sound and visual to help their kid overcome it too.

By: Silviamg

Silviamg — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:27:47 +0000

I don’t think I would have acquired such a wide knowledge of literature if I hadn’t been “forced” to read certain books. I think a mixed approach would be best (some required books or a list of required books from which to pick plus your own “free” choices).

Then again, I was also taught Latin and Greek, French and English. It was simply expected in my country.

By: Nancy Jane Moore

Nancy Jane Moore — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:30:04 +0000

Wow. It's fascinating that two books I absolutely loved -- and read for myself, not because they were on a reading list -- are on other people's "deadly" list. I read To Kill a Mockingbird when it was a relatively new book. (Perhaps it spoke to me more than you, Paul, because I knew the culture it was set in.) And I've read One Hundred Years of Solitude in both English and Spanish for my own pleasure, though I probably couldn't read it in Spanish now and I still can't talk about it intelligently. What I remember as being deadly dull was Dickens's Great Expectations and the Lamb retellings of Shakespeare, which were dreadful, particularly since I'd already read a few of the plays. Early on I was reading far above my grade level, and I was lucky enough to have parents who let me read anything I wanted, so I read everything from Nancy Drew to Aldous Huxley. I recall an English teacher who wouldn't let me read a John Steinbeck book for a book report, since Steinbeck was "too advanced" for high school readers. Recently I had to read The Scarlet Letter because I was teaching a class through a low-residency MFA program and my student chose it. I'd read it in high school and found it boring. The re-read was a great revelation: the book is funny! It's mostly a satire. That aspect of it was completely lost on me as a teenager, and I don't think any teacher ever pointed it out. In fact, I suspect people assign The Scarlet Letter with the idea of teaching about morality. I'm now working on Moby Dick, which is also funny as hell and full of biting social commentary. It's given me a whole new perspective on 19th Century American literature -- interesting, because one of the reasons that I wasn't an English major is because I didn't want to take courses in 19th Century American literature, which I thought was tedious in the extreme. The thing is, novels are written in the style of their day, and those styles go out of fashion. Frankenstein is a great novel, but like all novels of the period, there are about 100 pages of set up before you get to the real story. That's hard on the modern reader. 19th Century American literature often hides its humor in complex sentences that must be read carefully -- a difficult task for a teenager. Though it occurs to me that if teenagers knew The Scarlet Letter was written to mock the Puritans, they'd be reading it on their own and passing it around to their friends.

By: Chad

Chad — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:07:27 +0000

I’m all for letting them pick their own books. I hate the classics to this day. It is much more imortant to get them reading and learning how to read, than forcing them to buy the Clif Notes. Which everyone does. T

I thought Heimingway was a joke then and still do. I just don’t see the genius in writing like a 4th grader. Forcing me to read him added nothing to my education or life. How come everyone that has read and remembers all the classics is usually ungodly boring?

By: Anthony

Anthony — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:01:15 +0000

I definitely agree that encouraging them to read, but letting them pick the books (with some guidance) has got to be a better practice towards keeping them life-long readers. Perhaps a required assignment here and there (Tom Sawyer, Shakespeare) is okay, but letting the student pick is the best way, IMO.

There were a number of classics that I enjoyed greatly – the Illiad, the Oddessey, and the afore-mentioned Tom Sawyer. But there were other readings that were just deadly dull – I’m looking right at you, Hundred Years of Solitude!