Make It Matter, Make It Make Sense - Blog Post #2

     In all my years as a student, I worked diligently at whatever task was assigned to me. Maybe my quietness or my eagerness to please was the cause, but learning more about the education profession has begun my critical thinking about what activities I did and why. Unfortunately, that was one thing I wish I had asked back then: Why? Why am I doing a project that does not connect to the book we read or the concepts we discussed? What am I being prepared for when I make a sketch of a scene to show the class I know who the main character was and that his eyes were blue? We all used the same information with yawn-inducing results. When the bar was so low, why would we ever go for a high jump?

I know I had a privilege in that I had enough skill to make good grades and a borderline unhealthy interest in reading - things that still serve me well, thankfully. I cannot help but wonder how meaningless English class could feel for other students. Namely, how dull their texts seem and how they wonder what they are even doing it for. My heart goes out to these kids because they do not have experiences that show them meaning and enjoyment in the form of reading. However, I know they can be readers. I just need to figure out what interests them enough to pick up a book, flip through a magazine, or find an article that will tell them what they want to know. 

Like Bomer in Building Adolescent Literacy in Today’s English Classrooms, I feel  it is too often the case that teachers (or districts) are worried about “[making] sure they read good things; the result is that they don’t really read anything” (71). Instead, I would rather them read work that connects to their own interests and the world. 

Now my previous blog post touched on multiple literacies and elevating what a student already brings to a classroom, but here I think an appreciation for introducing new material is in order. Book talks! We know and love them, and I hope my future high schoolers will too. This is a great way to introduce them to material that they probably would not have looked into themselves, but might find intriguing when a teacher reads a particularly dramatic passage. In addition, this can tell your students “Hey, I read too!” and model that curiosity we love to see in them. This also allows me to display readings that depict minorities and/or those that tackle controversial topics of the time to grant them either a mirror or a window to look through depending on their life experiences. 

    This brings me to my final point: We have a problem in what I like to call our “school canon” where it seems that predominantly white male figures are writers, readers, and characters. In a time where we are becoming more diverse and more aware of diversity, what’s up with that? The classics are great and all, but let’s read retellings that highlight a similar story with modern sensibilities in mind. For instance, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is a retelling of the Iliad that includes feminist and LGBTQIA+ themes that I think would be a fantastic alternative. It keeps the drama of the first, of course, but it is easier to understand than the original and more relevant to the issues that students face without the cultural barrier. This is especially important in schools where there is a large population of minority groups. After all, “always to be seeing someone who is not like oneself in the texts in the classroom argues strongly that one’s group is not as good as the one all the books are about,” and everyone should be equal in the classroom (77).

    What are some other retellings that you think would be powerful as alternatives to classics? Let me know if you have any! Thank you for reading!

Bomer, Randy. Building Adolescent Literacy in Today’s English Classrooms. Heinemann, 2011.