Barbara, I can certainly understand how you feel about the classics given your
background. Mine, however, was exactly the opposite. I was reluctant to read the
"classics," but fortunately, I had wonderful teachers who brought them to life and
helped me appreciate the artistry with which they were written. I am forever
grateful for that. Do I sit around reading the classics now? Not very often, but I
do have a great affection for many of them. The bottom line is this: the way you
teach is just as important as what you teach. What a thrill to engage a student in
something they would not have selected on their own and open their world a little
more.
Marsha ReddLibrarian, Kelloggsville High School Grand Rapids, MI
marsharedd@hotmail.comEducation is not a goal; it is a life-long process. Everyone
is a student. Everyone is a teacher.
----------------------------------------
> Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:37:15 +1000
> From: barbara.288@BIGPOND.COM
> Subject: Re: [LM_NET] One-Size -fits all (was VENT: Teacher Joke)
> To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
>
> Dear Debbie and others who are interested,
> I have had heaps of offlist correspondence about this. to which I have responded,
> but your message
> has sparked a response to the list.
>
> You say you feel ignorant because you have not read the books that "everyone else
>read in high
> school" and that you are now catching up.
>
> How important is it to have read "the classics"? As Ron asked, "[Is there] any
>literature that
> should be common knowledge, and therefore required reading?
>
> I have not read "a classic" since I was in high school in the 60s (in one of
>those Grade 10-Oliver
> Twist scenarios) and many of the books that are mentioned on this list as
>must-reads I have never
> heard of, let alone have access to or the desire to find them (your "Native Son"
>is one of them)
> -but I am never without a book close by. I believe that neither my education (I
>have two Masters
> degrees in a country where one is exceptional) nor my ability with the English
>language (albeit
> being a Kiwi/Aussie mix) have suffered. I reached the top of my profession as I
>chose to take it
> and have many articles and several books published and current contracts for
>several more.
>
> One of the reasons I have not read "the classics" is because we were forced to
>read them in a
> one-size-fits-all situation and because I did not have the maturity, life
>experience and background
> knowledge of the times in which they were written, I did not understand them and
>was completely
> turned off and just never returned.( I wonder how much of your current enjoyment
>is because of the
> richness of your life's experiences that you can now bring to the text) I
>suspect my story is very
> much that of many of today's students, although I actually kept reading. With
>the exception of
> Othello (enforced reading in an English Lit unit at university) I could not tell
>you even the
> storyline of one Shakespeare play. I can go to my grave quite happily knowing
>that, and I am neither
> ignorant nor less of a person because of it.
>
> Part of the reason for my being anti one-size-fits-all comes from personal
>experience (beyond my
> high school days)..
>
> One of the worst cases was when my friend's daughter's class was required to read
>and analyse Wendy
> Orr's "Peeling the Onion", a brilliant novel about recovering from a car smash,
>yet there was no
> allowance made for the fact that she was still having therapy having survived
>just such a thing.
> Another friend had just lost her son when her daughter's class assigned novel was
>on the theme of
> losing a family member. It was too soon and too raw to be anything but
>distressing.. (I won't
> betray my son's trust about his experiences with another novel that meant that he
>has not picked up
> a book in 18 years.) I just wonder how many "hurts" are re-opened for our kids
>because we insist
> they read a particular title when, with forethought and a different approach to
>planning, the same
> objectives could be achieved with a wider selection of titles.
>
> This might help you understand why I have such an issue with this approach.
>
> This is getting a bit long but in Part 2 I will offer some suggestions for how
>you might still have
> novel studies but in a slightly different way.
>
> Barbara
>
> Barbara Braxton
> Teacher Librarian
> COOMA NSW 2630
> AUSTRALIA
>
> E. barbara.288@bigpond.com
> Together we learn from each other
>
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