Readicide: Chapter Three

(Page 65) “I am not advocating that we allow students to self-select everything they read. If I did that, none of my students would read Hamlet. Every student should read Hamlet.”
I was so thrilled when I read these words from Gallagher (the first sentence, not necessarily the last) because there seems to be some sort of movement by some for teachers not to use one novel with an entire class; the proverbial they think students should be able to choose what they want to read. The thought is that we choose what we want to read as adults, and if we want to develop lifelong readers, we should have them start the practice in school. There was an article on the front page of the New York Times back in August spotlighting a teacher who allowed students complete choice. (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/books/30reading.html?_r=1&emc=eta1)

Y’all know I’m all about some choice for students, but I had wondered if there wasn’t some benefit with kids reading the same text—and sometimes a text that students wouldn’t tackle otherwise. I think Gallagher makes the point when he writes that none of his students would read Hamlet if he didn’t have them read it. I read Hamlet my senior year of high school (in addition to Macbeth…I think my teacher was of the Gallagher thought that every student should read Hamlet, so we got to read two Shakespearan plays). The thing is I actually liked the play, but I certainly would not have read it otherwise. As students, we were even excited when the Mel Gibson version came out in theatres that year and we went to see it (for five bucks in the evening, I might add). And I was much better able to appreciate the Gilligan’s Island episode when producer Harold Hecuba is stranded on the island, so the castaways create and perform Hamlet: The Musical. It's absolutely one of the greatest episodes ever. (God help us all if any of you young chicks have never seen an episode of Gilligan's Island!)

I think the key to all of this (as is the key to most thing in teaching) is the delivery. If the teacher has a genuine interest in a text, I think she can get the students excited about it as well. I swear if the opportunity presented itself, my literacy coach friend Sonya could make me love The Scarlet Letter. On my own, I don’t see that happening. Was I supposed to read it in high school? Sure. Did my American Literature teacher do anything to make the text accessible or relevant to me? Absolutely not. Other than the general symbolism that “everyone” is supposed to know about the scarlet A on Hester’s chest, pretty much the only thing I remember about The Scarlet Letter is watching the movie in class and Pearl (Hester’s daughter) having a meltdown in the woods. So, if we choose to teach a difficult text (read: most classics), we must find that balance of making it understandable to students without beating it to death!

Readicide: Chapter Two

Do-do-do-do-dooooo. I’m lovin’ it! I swear if I was smart enough to know how to get that McDonald’s theme song playing on here, I’d do it. This book is just awesome!!! I have so much highlighted in this chapter, I’m finding it difficult to narrow a quote down! Let’s just go with this one…

(Page 40) “Novels are not part of the problem; the problem lies in how the novels are taught.”
Who can tell me who Atticus Finch’s first two clients were when he became an attorney? C’mon, most all of us have read To Kill a Mockingbird. Surely, having that information about Atticus is important, right? It gives us information about Atticus’ abilities as an attorney, right? Ugh! WHO CARES??? I think this is the kind of stuff Gallagher is getting at with the problem of how novels are taught. Sometimes we get so caught up in teaching the novel itself instead of the theme or what we learn from the novel. When teaching a particular novel, ask yourself this question: What do I want my students to get out of this book? By focusing on the theme, we can relate it to students’ lives and make the book more relevant (particularly those books written by the Dead White Men who did not write for a teenage audience). Once we know what we want our students to get from the book, we need to make sure our final assessment reflects that. If we want students to realize the signs of abuse when reading Breathing Underwater, then why ask them who Nick’s best friend is? (Sidebar: I’ve read that book at least a dozen times, I can’t think of the name of Nick’s best friend off the top of my head.) Also, by focusing on the theme instead of the details of the book, I think it helps with students who don’t necessarily love the book. It’s not very often you’ll find a book that absolutely everyone loves, so if it’s approached as using it to examine a theme, then it becomes more of a tool for analysis than just reading a book because it’s supposed to be good. Also, with the classics, there needs to be lots of teacher support for instruction. Again, these are not novels that were written for teenagers, so why would we just have them read the pages without much help? Would you want to read a tax code book without any guidance from an accountant???

Oh, and just in case you’re dying to know about Atticus Finch’s first two clients…they were the last two men hanged in Maycomb county. And just so ya know, I’ve read To Kill a Mockinbird several times but didn’t know that about Atticus. I had to break out the book to come up with that question.