Speaking of school, I'm interested to hear other people's opinions about reading for school. One thing that seems to have changed since my own school days is a shift to letting students pick their own books rather than having assigned reading. In my day, in elementary school we had a textbook for reading, and then in middle school and high school we read many books/plays as a class, as well as (I believe) still having a text book.
Where my kids go to school, in elementary school, other than the occasional short story, and reading passages for test prep in later elementary school, reading seems to be 100% based on student choice. Kids pick books either from their classroom, the school library, or from outside of school, and usually are required, as part of their homework, to spend a certain amount of time reading a night. At the elementary school level, I actually love the idea of letting kids pick their own books rather than reading from a textbook.
What I hate is the fact that most teachers require kids to fill out reading logs, which are the bane of my existence! Kids are usually required as part of their homework to do a certain amount of minutes of reading a day. And since they no longer seem to be required to do book reports, the way most teachers keep track of whether kids are reading is having them fill out a reading log which, depending on the teacher, can be as simple as filling out the date, title, author, or require them to also write down number of minutes read, how many pages they read, whether or not it is a "just right" book for them and why or why not, genre, or more. Parents then are required to sign the log either nightly or weekly. I understand that teachers want to know that the kids are actually reading, and what they're reading, but what I hate about reading logs is that they completely suck the joy out of reading, and turn it into just a time-based task to get through. My daughter was a voracious reader who would seriously read forever during her free time - but when teachers gave her a reading log and told her she had to log 30 minutes of reading a night, she would read for 30 minutes and then stop. And my son hates reading logs so much - not just the timed reading (which believe me also generates many complaints) but also having to cram his not-so-great handwriting into the little squares on the log - that I actually asked his teacher last year if he could stop logging and just report to her when he finished a book. Thankfully she agreed and there was a lot less complaining in my house!
But what's even more interesting to me is how different my daughter's experience in middle school English class was than mine. We read tons of books as a class in English in my middle school years, and we even read a Shakespeare play a year. In 6th grade, Allison's class read a single book as a class ("Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli), a single book in 7th grade ("The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton), and two books in 8th grade ("Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck and "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee). Other than that, they continued to just pick their own books and do independent reading which they had to log, plus the occasional "book club" in class where small groups of kids would be told to select a book to read, either from choices provided by the teacher or of their own choosing. It sounds like in high school they do a little more reading as a class, but Allison has just started 9th grade so I can't really report on that yet!
At the middle school and above level, it strikes me that reading books as a class should be more important than assigned independent reading. I get that at all levels, letting students pick their own books is supposed to encourage them to enjoy reading more - but when it's required for school, doesn't that make it less enjoyable anyway, since it becomes just a task to be completed rather than something you would choose to do on your own? Plus, I think there is a lot that you get out of reading and discussing books as a class, including learning more about literary techniques, symbolism, etc., that you're just not going to get if you read it on your own.
And how many people are going to choose to read classics on their own if they're not assigned at school? People can certainly disagree on what classics should be required reading in schools - and I'm all for broadening this to include more modern classics and sure-to-be future classics - but I do think there is something to having a common body of knowledge taught in schools. For example, Shakespeare's characters and plots still influence much of modern literature, television, and movies - and I doubt many people are going to read Shakespeare on their own and get much out of it without a teacher guiding them. From "Moby Dick" to "The Scarlet Letter," there are many books I hated reading in school that I still hear allusions to all the time and so I'm still kind of glad I read them.
In a future post, I'll talk about some of my most memorable favorite and least favorite books I read in school. But today, I'll just leave you with these musings, and definitely want to hear others' opinions as well!
Part of the idea of independent reading is to get kids to read more than the would otherwise, and to read in between class books. Also, I read Call of the Wild in book club, which is a classic. A lot of this stuff really depends on the quality of the English teacher. Last year in English, many kids read classics on their own at the recommendation of my English teacher. (The Catcher in the Rye, Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Pearl) I think giving kids a choice in reading is a great way to encourage reluctant readers and also gives class a chance to go more in depth on fewer books.
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