Is July the 4th really the middle of summer? I always considered it to be. There is much of July left, and much of August before it's time to return to the vinyled halls. I have books to choose for the middle schoolers, and I'm looking far and wide for good suggestions from the American (North) writers of literature. Any suggestions? Besides To Kill a Mockingbird and The Crucible and Of Mice and Men and House on Mango Street.
I had a great conversation yesterday at a Malibu beach party with someone about the level of reading one should shoot for with middle schoolers. She said her stepson came home with A Room of One's Own this last year, and that surprised her, but he got a lot out of it. I didn't read that until college. In fact I ought to pick it up again.
But I've been having this debate within about what kinds of books to expect kids to tackle. I know they need help with more difficult material, but I fear turning kids off of reading even more than they already are by assigning books that are way above them.
I scan Amazon for books about this argument and have so far only found Carol Jagoe's title about the importance of teaching the classics. And there are many around me who have very contemptuous attitudes about Young Adult fiction.
The fireworks yesterday were fun and pretty, but I couldn't help thinking about An Inconvenient Truth which I haven't even seen yet... but there was all that smoke in the air and then of course the simple symbolism of the bombs bursting in air and the current crimes against humanity that our president is committing in Iraq and elsewhere.
I have more than a dozen books around the house written by teachers for people who want to become teachers. I keep looking for new titles the way I scan tabloids at the supermarket, looking for some kind of promise of easy success with this job. It makes me want to take a nap.
The view of the backyard from my mom's house
That light fixture is now gone, sadly.
3 comments:
I hear you--there aren't enough good pedagogy books out there that can answer specific questions about practice. The problem with working in a profession that's predicated on lore is simply finding the lore!
I digress. Since you don't want to turn them off to reading by giving them books that they think are untimely and boring, do you think contemporary books with important themes, like The Poisonwood Bible or Life of Pi would work? They are exciting and readable, if not classic literature.
Sorry to hijack your comments. I just love talking about books, and I go nuts when (implicitly) given the opportunity, although it should not be overlooked that I have no qualifications in the area of secondary education!
I guess PB and LoP are more high school level books.
I liked Of Mice and Men, but I liked most books. I suppose it's hard to really catch the attention of middle-schoolers.
Is it hard to get them excited about books in general?
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