I love nonfiction, which is something not many English
teachers proclaim. They presumably admire Shakespeare, cherish traditional
novels, and value plays. I enjoy reading most literature, no matter its form or
age, but I don’t favor “the classics.” I prefer nonfiction but I can respect
the fact that a balance between the two is necessary. It may not come as a
surprise that I was torn between History and English when I was choosing my
content area for my major. Since I declared English, people assume I have a
favorite author or that I admire Shakespeare. I don’t and I don’t. When I
imagine myself teaching high school English to seniors, I imagine preparing
them to understand real-world literature. Literature like lease agreements, news
stories, reviews, or manuals. I want them to be prepared for college books, a
job, and/or independent living. I don’t think textbooks prepare them for the
literature that they will encounter outside of high school.
Therefore I appreciate that Daniels and Zemelman advocate
for more nonfiction texts in classrooms. The amount of information is growing
so fast that it would truly hinder a student if they only learned how to read
from a textbook or novel. Real world information is not solely presented in
textbook or novel form. I believe it is very important to introduce students to
some of the other formats they will encounter as adults. It will make them become more independent as readers
instead of feeling like they need an interpreter to understand English.
One thing I had a hard time agreeing with is that Daniels
and Zemelman state, “kids don’t always have to read the whole thing. Dipping in
for a chapter or two works just fine . . . ” but I disagree. Maybe the word is
not “disagree” because it is not clear what they mean. For example, if they
mean it’s ok to use just one chapter from a book to excite students about an
upcoming unit then I understand and agree. But if they are referring to a
student who picks up a book, reads a chapter, then gives up and that’s ok
because something is better than nothing, then I don’t agree. It’s hard for me
to permit a student to give up on a text. If it’s a challenge for them, I would
like to help them work through it instead.
Personally, I didn’t get to read that many nonfiction texts
in high school. We had a library in the school and computers in our classrooms
but we never used them to search for nonfiction texts. I did not encounter a review, manual, or
contract until I had already graduated from high school and was in the
“real-world.” It took time to understand the language in these texts, recognize
the format, and decipher its purpose. I hope to prepare my students better for
such encounters.
Hey, Cassandra. I think it is awesome that you want to help prepare students for the real world in your class. How often does Shakespeare come up outside the classroom in relation to lease agreements? And I like that you want to incorporate nonfiction in your classroom. I think a lot of students get scared away from reading when they have to read something that they find is "over their heads," or "not useful."
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to reading just a chapter of a book, I think that maybe one benefit is for students to be able to get a glimpse at many different works and authors, and maybe be able to pursue reading the rest on their own. Do you think that it could be a way to inspire some students to start reading on their own for pleasure? For example, in an English class I had to read one chapter to the book "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" by Sherman Alexie. After reading that one chapter, myself and some other students in the class read the rest of the book because we were interested by that one chapter. That being said, other students read different books they were interested in after our teacher had us read one chapter. it kind of allowed for a guided-form of student choice relating to books. Just a thought.
I really enjoyed reading your post and I think its great that you are so passionate about teaching your students real world skills.
I'm glad you provided an example where you decided to read an entire book based on a chapter. I guess I have had similar experiences and I kind of doubted that high school students would do the same thing. I shouldn't doubt students. Thanks for the insight!
DeleteI definitely agree that being able to read in the real world is something that needs to be taught in high school. Like you say, Shakespeare is nice, but it does not help a student get ready to read contracts, medical reports, or anything else that could come up in their lives. When D&Z talk about a dipping in for a chapter or two, I took it to mean just cherry picking certain chapters out of a text, but I know what you're saying that as teachers we should not be happy with a student going some of the way then giving up. I feel like as a student I would be much more engaged if we got away from the giant Lit book, so I like your ideas. Are there any specific types of outside sources that you know you would like to use in your classroom already?
ReplyDeleteI think real life examples would be very cool. Examples such as the actual movie script from a popular movie (Dark Knight?) versus a Shakespearean play. A contract between an author and a publisher versus a writing rubric. And current events are always interesting. Newela is a website for students to find articles based on their interests, reading level, or topic.
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