Clockwise from top left: student-designed shirts promoting books for an outside reading festival, book cover projects, tallies in the May 2009 outside reading competition, the reading corner of one of my former classrooms
Hearing the Call
When I first began teaching English, I didn’t have time for
outside reading. It was all I could do just to get through my actual
curriculum, staying up late into the night planning lessons to make the canon
appealing: choral readings, outdoor play performances, multigenre projects and
poetry slams. My students were just as busy, pleasure reading pushed aside on
their nightstands by coffee cups enabling them to stay up studying, practicing
their instruments, and taking preparatory SAT tests. When I left Appleby
dormitory every Tuesday night at 11 pm, many of them were still working.
In my second
year teaching, I faced off with my Honors American Literature students.
“Why are all our books about murder, suicide and adultery?”
they asked.
“I don’t know,” I replied, wisely.
It was a question I had asked myself since college. For some
reason, the brightest literary minds through the generations have often chosen
to grapple with the topics of death and betrayal, exploring them to reveal the
human condition. Fed on a diet of only such literature, would my students learn
to love it as I did, back when there was time to read before bed, and in the
car, and on the weekends? Back when I had to use a carrier bag to get my books
home from the public library? My students spent their time in the library on
computers or chatting in hushed circles. I never bumped elbows with anyone back
in the fiction section, on those rare occasions I made it there myself.
These questions were still on my mind when I arrived, two
years later, at my new job in Sofia, Bulgaria. Faced with some of the brightest
young minds in the country, I wondered how to hook them on English language
literature. Would The Crucible and The Canterbury Tales cut it? In search
of answers, I ordered Nancie Atwell’s The
Reading Zone. Soon I was reading stories of students in love with
literature, ever eager for a new book. Atwell’s message was a call to armchairs
– get the students books they love, sit them down, and let the magic happen.
I was ready for magic.
Modern Opinions
As a teacher, I often trust my instincts when it comes to
what will help my students learn. After all, I remember what it’s like to be a
teenager: always sleep-deprived, always busy, never doing enough to suit
everyone. But my personal history is not my only resource when it comes to
outside reading. Free choice reading curriculum is showing up all over the
press.
Though other teacher-writers like Richard Kent have used
free choice reading effectively as part of a student-centered curriculum, most
in the educational community regard Nancie Atwell as the commander-in-chief of
reading workshop.
In The Reading Zone,
Atwell calls for an English classroom in which students define their own
reading curriculum, guided by their teacher’s advice and mini-lessons. “I could
no more pick the book that would invite a whole class to make friends with
reading than I could decide who my students should grow up and marry” (Atwell
27). Her focus is on finding a wide variety of good choices for her students,
helping them learn to get into the reading zone, and teaching them the skills
they need to read and write well.
Donalyn Miller, “The Book Whisperer,” writes for Education World on encouraging reading,
and takes a similar approach to Atwell. She lists four components of a
successful program: proving reading role models, giving students plenty of time
for reading, allowing them to choose their own books (with advice when wanted)
and having access to a wide range of appealing literature (Delisio 1). These ideas match pretty well with
Atwell’s, though they don’t necessarily demand as full a shift from the
traditional curriculum. All these components provide a challenge to busy
teachers with crowded curricula, but they are not really complicated. It all
boils down to this question: is there time for a different kind of reading?
The New York Times once ran a controversial article called “A New Assignment: Pick Books You
Like,” by Motoko Rich. It features
a teacher, Lorrie McNeill, who has embraced the free choice curriculum. McNeill
built a classroom library and mimicked Atwell’s program of poetry mini-lessons
and plenty of time for reading, then saw a big improvement in her students’
performance on their state reading exams. Though it was a well-balanced look at
the ups and downs of this new trend in curriculum, Rich’s article sparked
controversy across the internet, including a backlash against Atwell’s ideas.
Some people worry about what will happen to common knowledge, to appreciation
for great literature, if students can just read whatever they want. The
Times is no longer accepting comments on the article, but they put up 433
before cutting off the conversation. Sarah, of Long Island, wrote “I’m all for
democracy in the classroom. But Captain
Underpants? ‘Text Speak?’ I’m a member of ‘Generation Text,’ at 22 years
old, but having these sad excuses for a handle on literacy is frankly
embarrassing.” Greg, of North Carolina, wrote “…If we aren’t going to consider
the quality of what is being read, then a love of reading is no more or less
beneficial than a love of television-watching, slot-car racing, or
pizza-eating.” It seemed to me these angry responses looked at the lowest
common denominator: the student who read only the easiest literature, refusing
all guidance and recommendation, never searching for something more as his or
her skills improved. I needed to see for myself if this would really be the
trend among my smart young students, but I doubted it.
I settled upon my own path, more like Miller’s, influenced
by Atwell’s reading workshop, but without giving my classroom over to it
completely. I would incorporate what I loved about Atwell – free choice of
literature, book talks, and reading time in class – as one part of my
curriculum, just as I had incorporated other interesting pedagogies throughout
my career (Harkness discussions, literature circles, electronic portfolios).
Every teacher’s classroom is a combination of what she discovers in the educational
world – I might not be as extreme in my method as Atwell, but that was no
reason to be angry with her.
Selling the Magic
I started my program small, requiring the students to read
one free book first semester. I gathered a few of my favorites from the school
library – Ender’s Game, Little Women, The Hobbit – the books I remembered loving as a teenager. Soon we
were spending one afternoon a week curled up in the school foyer, reading.
Students showed sparks of enthusiasm; one combat-booted boy
greeted me most days with “Are we reading today?” It seemed a good sign. At the
end of the semester we held a reading festival. The students ordered pizza,
decorated the room with posters about reading and presented a variety of
artistic book-related projects. Everyone seemed happy with the way things were
going, but I wanted more. I had already committed to the one book per semester
phenomenon, but what would happen if I pushed the edge?
In May, I decided to tap into the competitive nature of
modern school life, and announced the first class-to-class outside reading
competition. Of my two sections, whichever read the most in the month would
earn a day off from class, with a party to substitute. The top three individual
readers would also receive prizes. By the end of the first week, battle lines
had been drawn. While one class was full of consistent readers, the other had
two shooting stars competing for number one status. One student went over five
hundred pages in the first week. Others turned eagerly to my shelves to replace
their first book with their second, then their third. By the end of the month,
both classes (of less than fifteen students) had surpassed ten thousand pages,
with the top two individual winners reading over three thousand pages in just
four weeks, while also keeping up with their other work at the most competitive
school in Bulgaria. Suddenly new options opened to me. If kids could read three
thousand pages in their second language in a month, just for fun and pride, I
had been setting my sights too low.
I felt the
magic at my fingertips, and began crafting next year’s assignment and
considering my book buying options. Over the summer I picked up a few sure hits
at bookstores and combed the library for more. I began constructing what I
hoped would be an irresistibly tempting reading wall at the back of my
classroom. I spilled books across tables and shelves, hung suggestion lists and
posters, and put up colorful sign-out sheets to help me keep track of my
library.
Things took off on the first day of school, as I began
pitching books like a used car salesman. The titles I promoted left my shelves
immediately, while the others languished. Most kids wanted guidance; they
wanted sure things at first.
“Will this be impossible to put down, like Harry Potter?” asked one student,
holding up a copy of Dracula.
“Not exactly like Harry
Potter – it’s a challenge, but I think you’ll like it if you like to be
scared.” He took it.
As I got to know the students’ tastes, my recommendations
became more tailored, and the students began doing their own book talks, making
their own recommendations. Nick Hornsby’s Slam,
a story about a teenage boy whose girlfriend has a baby, passed quickly from
hand to hand. So did The Hitchhiker’s
Guide to the Galaxy. Students pestered me to know when various titles would
be back, and who had the sequels to the books they were reading. They asked me
how they could find more English books in Bulgaria, and I told them about the
English shelves at bookstores downtown and online delivery. I began asking the
librarian for special orders: more L.M. Montgomery, more Phillip Pullman, and
could she find the budget for Rocket Boys
to please my young scientists? Before and after class, I joined students at
the shelves or watched from my desk as they guided each other toward great
books.
It was so easy to incorporate outside reading into our daily
routine. The students had no trouble reading multiple books simultaneously: our
joint curriculum, their individual curriculum. I knew how it would be from my
own reading – one book is read sitting up, at a desk, the other, sprawled on a
couch or a hammock or in the car on the way to visit family. But what I knew
and they didn’t, was how much that car and couch time would enhance the desk
time. I could see it happening already, as students began choosing harder
books, books with increasing depth. A leap from Anne of Green Gables to The
Unbearable Lightness of Being, a realization in a book review that The Vampire Diaries was alright for a lazy
Sunday, but totally predictable. My students were discovering the multiple
possibilities enfolded in different kinds of books: escape, knowledge,
philosophy, empathy, entertainment, stimulation. As I explained to one student that the Paolo Coelho in his
left hand would question his priorities in life and the Phillip Pullman in his
right would sink him into a world of fantasy, his friend tapped the Coelho with
a knowing “this one.” My students were proving right the high expectations I
had for them back when I wondered over the negative comments on The New York Times article.
These days, the outside reading program seems to run of its
own accord. Every few weeks I bring a few unpopular books back to the library
and search for new ones to both suit and stretch my students’ tastes. Every day
the books rotate as students return new favorites or rejects and take out
something else. Occasionally, I invite students to pitch a great book they’ve
just finished, or I make my own plea for a favorite. Still no takers for Watership Down, but I know I’ll succeed
someday. As my students read their vocabulary, grammar and reading
comprehension improve, and so does their love of literature. I hope, when they
step out the doors of my classroom for the last time, they’ll find their way to
the library for the rest of their lives. Out of the small pond and into the
sea.
In the end, for me at least, the public debate over the
canon versus personal choice is a fruitless one. Why can’t we give students
both? If we can capture their
imagination with one, soon there will be room for all. Students who already
enjoyed the canonical texts of the English curriculum will fall for Tolkien,
Rand, and Rowling; students entranced by Asimov, Pullman and Alcott will
suddenly find Orwell and Dickinson a little easier, a little more
interesting. Every book
helps.
Assessment and
Posterity
In Bulgaria, I am not allowed to weight “outside
reading” as more than five percent of final grades. Students don’t care. I
spend as much energy and enthusiasm on this minor part of the grade as I would
if it were worth fifty percent, and so dothey. It’s not about the grade.
But of course, to keep outside reading a vibrant part of the
curriculum, teachers need strategies to keep track of student progress. One
easy way is to check in every other week on a simple class chart. Ask students
to write their names, the books they’ve read and are reading, and the total
pages they’ve read so far. This simple check-in system lends itself well to
honoring top readers. I create a top ten readers chart after each check-in, and
students race to the bulletin board to see which student is “winning.” I offer
a prize and certificate to anyone who gets into the “One Thousand Pages Plus
Club” over the course of the term.
When the quarter ends, students submit a reading log of the
books they have read, signed off on by their guardians. For each book, they
write a one-page review, focusing on what they did and didn’t like, favorite
characters and the author’s style.
After giving them their grades, I compile the best reviews into a class
binder or turn them into posters, so students choosing their next books can see
what their classmates thought of them. Almost everyone earns an A – their
enthusiasm for their books carries them on to read the required five hundred
pages per quarter with no trouble, and to write about them enthusiastically and
thoroughly. Maybe next year I’ll make it one thousand.
Conclusions
Whether Atwell and her ideas terrify or delight you, there
is surely some benefit in students reading what they love. How much they read
what they love, and how much they read what English experts love, is up to
every teacher. There are a bevy of strategies to promote literature to
teenagers, and the best salesman is someone who loves to read – you.
Sources:
Atwell, Nancie. The Reading Zone. New York: Scholastic,
2007.
Delesio, Ellen. “The Book
Whisperer: Inspiring Kids to Read.” Education World Online. 5/11/09.
<
http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/chat/chat242.shtml>
Rich, Motoko. “A New
Assignment: Pick Books You Like.” The New York Times Online. 5/11/09.
<
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/books/30reading.html>
Popular books to include in your class library
Science Fiction
- Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow, by Orson Scott Card
- The Foundation Series, By Isaac
Asimov
Fantasy
- The Harry Potter Series, by J.K.
Rowling
- The His Dark Materials Series, by
Phillip Pullman
- Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr, by
Christopher Paolini
- The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R. Tolkien
Popular Fiction with Girls/Women as Protagonists:
- Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood,
by Rebecca Wells
- The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan
- Memoirs of A Geisha, by Arthur
Golden
- Persepolis, by Marjane Satropi
- Chocolat, by Joanne Harris
- Anne of Green Gables Series, by
L.M. Montgomery
- Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
Popular Fiction with Boys/Men as Protagonists:
- Slam, by Nick Hornsby
- Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben
Mikaelson
- The Things they Carried, by Tim
O’Brien
- The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand
- The Alchemist, by Paolo Coelho
- Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
Nonfiction:
- Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer
- Anne Frank; The Diary of a Young Girl,
by Anne Frank
Fun Ways to Promote Outside Reading to your Students
- Invite
teachers, parents, or other community members to do guest book talks
- Create
a tic-tac-toe or Bingo card with book titles, and offer a prize to anyone
who reads all the books in one row
- Have a
competition between several classes to see who can read the most, or an
individual competition among all students
- Put up
certificates in a wall of fame for anyone who reads over 1,000 or 5,000
pages
- Put on
a book festival in which each student creates a project about his/her
favorite book – have food and music, invite other classes
- Create
a “Favorite Reads” blog and post student reviews of their favorite books
for future classes (see ours at www.acsreads.blogspot.com)
- Compile
a “Favorite Reads” binder with top student reading logs
- Spend
a whole class period in the library encouraging students to explore every
area – fiction and nonfiction
- Connect
outside reading books to the curriculum, giving short book talks when a
book relates to the class material. For example, pitch Into the Wild while reading Walden, The Things They Carried while reading A Farewell to Arms, Slam while reading The Scarlet Letter. If you’re having students create graphic
novel pages from a text or as an autobiographical project, pitch Maus and Persepolis on the day you introduce the assignment.
- Assign
or invite students to interview parents or teachers about their favorite
books and create recommendation posters to put up
- Bring
in the Book Review section of your paper for students to browse
