“I don’t like to read unless it’s something that I’m interested in,” he said almost apologetically as we browsed the stacks looking for a book about — I don’t remember now — about hunting or dirt bikes or football. He seemed surprised when I answered, “I’m the same way.”
“I only like certain kinds of books,” she said, looking for something with vampires that she hadn’t already read. Remembering my own days as a picky reader, I left her to her friends, and they found something she later pronounced “good.”
I’ll confess to making it through all of the Harry Potter books, but mostly I’m just not interested in reading the books my students enjoy. Lately my taste runs to nonfiction. As a result, I don’t recommend books I like to my students. I might get a few of the more sophisticated readers through a chapter of Superfreakonomics, but Malcolm Gladwell? Nah.
So while I have a professional familiarity with, say, the Twilight series and Ted Dekker’s thrillers, I haven’t read them. I am learning to make crowdsourcing work for me, instead. Give the kids a way to discuss their reading, and they’ll guide each other. (I use the forum module on Moodle and am about to embark on a high school version of literature circles.)
How do you feel about reading the books that interest your students? How do you maintain a working knowledge of what interests them? What are you reading now (nonprofessional) just for yourself?
Hi Carla. I’m responding to your post because I often feel insecure about my ability to be an effective middle teacher who prefers to read adult literature and a non-fiction. I’m not sure I have much advice for you, other than to say you’re not the only one facing this conflict. I’m happy to see that I’m not alone with this sentiment. Thanks.
Several years ago, I made a commitment to recommend a book a day to my classes. To that end I began reading a lot of YA – and I have in turn opened my students to many great books that speak to them. Brent Crawford’s “Carter Finally Gets It” is a must for all freshman, and all of John Green’s books are worth the time. I also throw in a fair amount of non-fiction that they might find interesting. Gladwell’s “Outliers” and “Tipping Point” are favorites, as is Leavitt’s “Freakonomics.”
As a middle school librarian who had her job displaced by district budget cuts, I miss pleasure reading desperately! Now, as a 7th grade language arts teacher, I find my “free time” spent grading papers and planning lessons. I still get a thrill when my class visits the library and I get to recommend reading to them, but I definitely have lost touch-already-with the current hot reads. I will hope that my students can make up for my disability and be strong advocates for the books they love.
I teach Grade 10 English. Last year I made a commitment to read YA literature. For every YA book I read, I read a book in another genre more my taste. What I have found is how profound and deeply “adult” some of the topics in YA books are – drug abuse, sexual abuse, suicide, etc. Some that come to mind are: exit here, Tweak, Hate List, Suicide Notes. It opened my eyes greatly to the extent of what is available and marketed/targeted for the YA audience. I actually find I enjoy the YA books more than other genres I use to choose. I am still struggling on how to incorporate more YA and more student selected texts into my classroom; however, I do believe they hold incredible value and we as educators should be more vocal in encouraging students to select them.
Reading books is a habit. It is really hard to read books
that is not your interest but for the sake for your student’s
interest. As a teacher, we are facilitator of learning and
we must go down to the level of student’s understanding.
So we must know what interest them.