Don’t ask high school students to read books written by long-dead white men.
That was just one of the takeaways Iola High School English teachers learned at a recent education conference.
Students must feel engaged in order to read a novel. And they’ll feel more engaged if they get to read books they enjoy, especially if those books allow them to explore various types of diversity.
“Students are beat to death with the classics,” freshman English teacher Catherine Dean said. “I can have a student look me in the eye and say, ‘I read that.’ I ask them, ‘Do you comprehend it?’ No.”
Dean and Laura Schinstock, who teaches senior English classes, attended the “Write to Learn” conference in Missouri in February. They planned to use the skills they learned at the conference to teach new programs starting after spring break, but the coronavirus pandemic threw a wrench in their plans.
They reviewed the highlights at Monday’s USD 257 school board meeting.
THE TRADITIONAL teaching model asks students to read a book, take a test or write a summary about it and receive a grade.
“That’s not authentic and everyone knows it,” Dean said.
New teaching styles promote a culture of reading. Students in Schinstock’s class, for example, spend the first 10 to 15 minutes each day in silent reading.
Students are given the freedom to select books that appeal to their interests, even if they aren’t considered classical literature or fit traditional expectations of a novel. An example might be a comic book.
Diversity is encouraged. That means books written by authors from various backgrounds about various subjects. It includes racial, gender, economic and cultural diversity, among other types.
Teachers and students are encouraged to form book clubs. Students gather in small groups to talk about a book on a topic of shared interest. Schinstock planned to do that after spring break, and said she was surprised by the books students selected. One group planned to study a book by comedian Kevin Hart. Two groups planned to study “Mein Kampf” by Adolph Hitler.
At the end of the assignment, the groups would have created a one-page illustration about the books.
Those plans were canceled when school changed to distance learning, because of logistics of organizing book clubs and getting all students to participate.
“My kids were so looking forward to it. I was looking forward to it,” she said, disappointed.
