My
placement middle school, as well as others in the district, has a book
challenge that students are expected to participate in during the course of the
school year. Students at my school are
expected to read eighteen texts in addition to any reading done for their
classes. At some schools the requirement
can be as high as twenty-five books per student.
Personally,
I adore reading and professionally I understand the value in literacy as well
as benefits reaped by not just reading, but learning to read well. But I also see a struggle here. The collective groan and grimacing faces in
our classroom were a clear indicator of how the vast majority of our students
felt about having to read eighteen books plus needing to do a one page book
report or a quiz on each one. As a lover
of books, an avid reader and a teacher this reaction was impossible to ignore –
the students did not want to do this and the majority was openly disgruntled
about the task.
My task
became clear – find out why the response to the book challenge was
overwhelmingly negative and find ways to have students become excited at the
prospect of choosing their own reading material. Why are our students not interested in
reading materials of their own choosing? Is this happening across all grade
levels and all classes? How we change student attitude about book
challenges? What resources are available
to implement change?
In an
article titled “Literature Is” published in a 1974 English Journal, G. Robert Carlson proposed five stages of
developing readers (23-27):
1.
Unconscious delight: the typical response
of elementary to middle school readers. They read for enjoyment without analyzing why; they
have not yet developed a vocabulary for discussing
emotional responses.
2.
Living vicariously: Action and escape
seem to dominate for middle school and junior high
readers – horror, mystery, romance, fantasy and true adventures.
3.
Seeing oneself: The typical response
of readers in junior high school into high school is more egocentric. Now readers are concerned with what’s
happening in their personal and
social lives. YAL has a strong appeal at
this stage.
4.
Philosophical speculations: Upper
level high school students shift from focusing on self to an interest in others,
looking for relationships, examining why. Some are still reading
stories of adolescent life.
5.
Aesthetic delight: In late high
school to adulthood, readers have acquired critical awareness
and begin to recognize universal themes.
By this stage readers have developed the vocabulary to
describe literary elements. They can
delight in, recognize, and
appreciate the qualities of writing.
1974
may seem like a long time ago, but read the above and tell me you do not see
some of this reflected in your students.
I know I do. I think there is a lot of relevancy in what
Carlson says about young readers and what appeals to them as well as what they
glean on their own. I’m not considering
what we give them to read or guide them to through in class – but what a student will
inherently get from a text if they are reading without guidance. If we can find where they might be on the
above list we might be able to give them better suggestions on texts or even
genres they might enjoy reading for things like book challenges. Pure observation of my students would put the
vast majority at number one or number two and we (I) should be guiding them to
books that fit those categories.
I had the
good fortune to use Pam Cole’s Young Adult Literature for the 21st
Century for a class on Young Adult Literature this summer. I’m already an avid Young Adult (YA) reader
in my own right, but knowing how to shift that enjoyment of literature to my
students is much trickier. In Chapter 2,
Cole discusses the various attributes that turn tween and teen readers on and
off of reading, but one thread that ran through much of what she had to say
here and in other chapters was the emphasis on the social aspect of reading;
that teens need their reading to not just disappear into a one person
void.
Here’s
what I see happening: students are given the assignment to read a large number
of books with deadlines for each one established by the due date for a book
report or book quiz. They read on their
own at home or during selected class time for independent reading (every Friday
in the case of my 8th graders) and eventually, per the due date,
they turn in their assignment or quiz and move on to the next book. I see very little community in this process. I see a lot of deadlines and pressure to
move at a particular pace with little positive interactions involving their peers or teachers to talk about what they
have read.
On top
of that, the students resemble deer in the headlights when trying to choose a
book. All those spines of books lining classroom shelves and I suspect many students have no idea where to start trying to find
the right level book with an engaging story.
The frustration of students in my class when choosing books or reading
what they have chosen is palpable, but I think I can help ease some of their
frustration.
I opted to do a book talk on Friday on a book that might appeal to my students (Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins who also wrote The Hunger Games). I picked a book already on the classroom shelves and one I happened to have a copy of myself (so we had 2 copies to check out students if they were interested). I also did some informal book conferences with 7 of my students to ask about what they were reading, if they were enjoying it and if it was a genre they like to read. I’ll continue to do weekly book talks and the informal conferences, compile that information and see if I can formulate a better picture of student reading interests. With this information, I hope to set-up some books of interest around the classroom for students to peruse.
I think we can do a lot more to make book campaigns a less solitary endeavor. Have students give book talks on the book
they have read or write a comprehensive book review instead of a quiz or book
report that they can share with their peers. Put them up
in the classroom or build a binder of book reviews that students can look
through to find something they may want to read. Or do like the bookstores and have students
pick suggested books that we can highlight with a few pertinent notes about why
the book stood out to them.
I think
the book challenge can be a powerful purposeful tool to building lifelong
readers and I hope I can find ways to turn those early grimaces into something
more positive for my students. If you have
such a program at your school or have
input I’d love (LOVE) any ideas or suggestions you might have or resources for
making this a positive experience for middle school students!
References
Carlsen, G.
Robert. (1974) “Literature IS.” English
Journal 63.2, 23-27.
Cole, P. (2009). Young adult
literature in the 21st century. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Gallo, D. (2005). From Hinton to
Hamlet: Building Bridges between Young Adult Literature and the Classics.
Greenwood Publishing Group.
