1. JONESBORO, Ga. — For years Lorrie McNeill loved teaching “To Kill a Mockingbird,” the Harper Lee classic that many Americans regard as a literary rite of passage.

    But last fall, for the first time in 15 years, Ms. McNeill, 42, did not assign “Mockingbird” — or any novel. Instead she turned over all the decisions about which books to read to the students in her seventh- and eighth-grade English classes at Jonesboro Middle School in this south Atlanta suburb.

    Among their choices: James Patterson‘s adrenaline-fueled “Maximum Ride” books, plenty of young-adult chick-lit novels and even the “Captain Underpants” series of comic-book-style novels.

    But then there were students like Jennae Arnold, a soft-spoken eighth grader who picked challenging titles like “A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest J. Gaines and “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, of which she wrote, partly in text-message speak: “I would have N3V3R thought of or about something like that on my own.”

    The approach Ms. McNeill uses, in which students choose their own books, discuss them individually with their teacher and one another, and keep detailed journals about their reading, is part of a movement to revolutionize the way literature is taught in America’s schools. While there is no clear consensus among English teachers, variations on the approach, known as reading workshop, are catching on.

    –

    The Future of Reading - ‘Reading Workshop’ Approach Lets Students Pick the Books - Series - NYTimes.com (via oliviaisferosch)

    I love that there is a “revolution” in literature, but 10 years ago (ugh) when I was in the 8th grade, we were allowed to choose our own books too. We used this same approach, the reading workshop. But you know what else? We still read To Kill A Mockingbird, among many other classics.

    These were the years of my life that changed literature for me forever. It’s when i started reading Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Steinbeck, my favorite authors, of my own accord. It’s also when I read Frankenstein, A Day in the Life of Ivan Denosovich, and countless Greek myths and epics, all of which I still count among my favorites. These years are why I became an English major.

    I love that some students are choosing to read newer “classics,” but there has to be a way for modern books to intermingle with the classics without bastardizing the program. I’m also all for letting students read what they want, but putting away the classics, as she did later in this article, and replacing them with thrillers and chick lit, is ridiculous. It’s even upsetting. Twilight and Captain Underpants are not literature.

    In a world where students speak in text message and barely even learn how to write in cursive, there has to be some sort of balance. We had balance. In my classes, we both read what we wanted and read what was required. Sometimes we enjoyed the required reading, sometimes we didn’t, but I continue to reap the benefits of those years of class well into my Senior year of college. I hope this “revolution” doesn’t sacrifice a higher quality of learning by allowing the students to choose. There would be no English majors left.

    11 months ago  /  19 notes

    1. sumilove reblogged this from kaytee
    2. downwithkickball reblogged this from thebronzemedal
    3. jinxlovesmax reblogged this from kaytee
    4. thebronzemedal reblogged this from kaytee and added:
      bar talking with a high school english teacher about what books should be assigned...AP...
    5. kaytee reblogged this from oliviaisferosch
    6. oliviaisferosch posted this