Jed on Reading
// August 8th, 2008 // 3 Comments » // Comments
Here are thoughts from Jed. You may remember him from episode 3. He talks to us about his concerns and solutions about engaging young readers.
This summer, Jarred, Dale and I have been engaged in a professional development book club. We’ve read Hemingway, Morrison, Fitzgerald, and others. We’re trying to accomplish a familiarity with a broader range of literature. Attempting to dig deeper into the heart of the canon, and basically throw around some ideas on exactly how we should teach this stuff. The experience has been most beneficial to me, but not really in the ways I was anticipating.
When we started I was mostly just pumped to be reading. The hustle and bustle of the school year always clutters my life to a point where reading simply doesn’t fit. I was glad that I would be reading with friends and I was hopeful that we could find some teachable books.
There are several concerns that we all share in regards to our future as teachers. How will we come up with enough material to teach a whole year? How do we keep things original and fresh? What happens when we fail? How do we get students to want to learn like we are right now? How do we achieve…well, this?
“This” is basically a place I have come to realize is the only place I want my students to be. “This” is a place where there aren’t necessarily answers, but questions that force us to become better at who we want to become. “This” isn’t safe. “This” is often difficult. But, “this” is entirely necessary. Why? Because “this” is where learning takes place. It’s a community, a backdrop, and a chance to be better.
So how do we achieve it in a classroom? Well, if I knew that I would certainly sleep much better at night. So would Dale. So would Jarred. So would all of you probably. Something that is close to my heart in regards to my profession is the attitude of adolescent males toward reading. There is a lot of research out there suggesting that we need to feed male students books with drugs, sex, and rock and roll. I see the point, and I see the logic behind it, but isn’t this like trying to engage a female student with Gossip Girl novels. Let’s give these students a little more credit. I certainly think that as teachers we need to be intentional with our curriculum selection; however, maybe our approach is the problem, and not our students.
Every student has a desire to feel included. Whether it is on the football team or the D and D club. Why shouldn’t my English class feel more like a place they want to come, as opposed to a place they have to come? Community is a big deal, and students want to feel a part of that. Each student brings their own talents into the classroom, and subsequently has tremendous value to that community. As leaders of the classroom, it should be our number one goal to attempt to utilize each student’s talents in the best way possible. Why do we choose to ignore the student who is an excellent artist when we can use her to illustrate a class written graphic novel? Why push the star quarterback to the locker room when he should be reading ‘The Things They Carried’ so he can understand what real sacrifice and leadership is all about? Why can’t that artist and that quarterback be equally valuable as citizens with the future Yale attendee?
Are teachers doing this? Are we really attempting to make our classrooms a microcosm of what the “real world” is like? In the words of Hemingway, “Isn’t it pretty to think so?”
For me, “this” was a place I thought I would become a better teacher. “This” is actually a place I have become a better learner, and a place where I now realize I’ve always wanted to be. Students want it to. And so, “this” is what we’ll give them.
