Madison Karnes, a sophomore at Iola High School, doesn’t like to be forced to read books.
“I’m a slow reader, so I like to go at my own pace and absorb the information,” she said.
“I don’t like being forced to keep up with other students.”
A new English Language Arts program at IHS gives students more freedom to pick and choose books to read.
The goal is to empower students to read and write about subjects they find interesting, so they’ll continue to develop those skills throughout their lives.
It seems to be working, according to the five students who spoke to the Register about the new program.
Zoie Hess, a freshman, discovered she enjoys reading horror stories.
“Last year, I didn’t even read a lot of the books the teacher assigned. It just got boring,” she said.
“This year, I’m actually reading books because they are interesting to me. And my reading skills have gotten better.”
ALSTON Nelson is the only freshman in a short-story class filled with sophomores and juniors. He scored high on state assessment tests in reading, so he was placed in a higher-level class. He’s been reading classic short stories like “The Masque of the Red Death’’ and “An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge.”
The class started by reading Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour.” He enjoys finding analogies and hidden meanings in the stories.
“I like having the ability to choose. It makes classes feel more personal, like we have a say in what we’re doing,” he said.
“It feels like there’s a better connection within the entire class. Everyone is more engaged and more thoughtful. And I think everyone is getting better grades than last year, from what I’ve heard.”
BRENNEN Coffield made a similar observation.
“We have smaller classes this year, so everybody talks more and gets involved in the discussion,” he said.
