I must say, after reading this chapter, I did not really agree with all of Jago's opinions. Now do not get me wrong, she has some great ideas when it came to "Choosing Which Books to Teach," but some of her concepts are not my style.
I will be nice and start with the postive. I agree with Jago that we, as teachers, need to look for books with literary merit. I also found her list of text critera on page 47 to be very helpful. I also agreed 100% with her quote, "Great literature deepens our experience, heightens our sensibilities, and matures our judgement." Reading good literature can do wonders for students, I know it has done wonders for me and for many others.
Sadly, besides taking apart Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to prove it is a great piece of literature to use in the classroom, I did not find much else helpful. There were several instances in the chapter where Jago talks about the students reading more. At the very beginning of the chapter, Jago says "I argue that students should be twice as many books as they currently do." She did bring up good points, but she came off as almost crazy. She said that she has her 10th grade student read 20 books a year. If I had to read 20 books for just 10th grade when I was in high school, I probably would have cried myself to sleep every night. (This is coming from someone who LOVES to read.)
At one point, Jago says "I am forthright with my students about the fact that they are going to have to give up some of their TV and telephone time in order to complete their reading." I might sound rude, but I wanted to slap Jago for saying this. I, personally, would NEVER tell my students that. I would never want to intentionally try to ruin their free time and then tell them about it. If I were a student, I would lose all respect for my teacher and would block out whatever she tries to tell me. I just think that teachers need to respect students in order to receive respect back. I might be totally wrong, but it is how I feel.
I think what really upset me most of all is that last semester in my Principles of Teaching class, I was told to not give homework, unless I absolutely have to. Wouldn't making the students read 20 books a year give them unnecessary homework? I guess I feel confused. Am I supposed to be obnoxious about the students reading more or should I try to be fair and give students a reasonable amount?
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I agree with you Anna when you say that you are confused about giving students unnecessary homework. I feel like 20 books is a bit crazy as well. I mean, I think that students should read more, but teachers do have to remember that all students have 4-9 periods a day and most require homework.
ReplyDeleteExactly. I know that, to me, English is the most important subject, but like you said there are other classes the student's have during the day. I feel we as future educators need to remember that students will have homework in other classes and chances are they might be on a sports team or even work after school.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the homework aspect, Anna. I definitely think there's a fine line between the "required" amount of homework and what could be considered as excessive. Getting students to read more would be excellent, we just have to keep in mind the workload we're giving them.
ReplyDeleteAnna – this was an interesting post. As teachers it seems like we are constantly given advice about how to teach, manage our classroom etc… (from other educators, principals, parents, the media, the government etc…). As a professional (I personally think) it is important to be critically reflective and thoughtful about the decisions we make in the classroom. To me, the question is not “do I assign homework or not” – the question is why are you assigning homework. What is your rationale for this instructional decision? I think you should ask questions like: Who are my learners? Why is this assignment important? How will this help them grow as learners?
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