Do all books matter?

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"This is about them, not you"

Our students need our validation. One of the ways we can validate them, their experiences, and their interests is through the texts we introduce them to. I have a lot of colleagues who do not consider YA to be "real reading" and as a student, my librarian admonished me for checking out what she liked to call "pink books." I remember being halfway through Harry Potter and The Philosophers Stone and finding out that the books had been removed from my school library because "the witchcraft was inappropriate." I was heartbroken, and worst of all, I felt ashamed. I felt as if I had actually done something wrong. Banning books never serves the interests of children, only parents.

I strongly believe that most students who claim to hate reading haven't encountered the right book, but teachers play a bigger role in this than they think. We can help students to encounter the right book, and the right book doesn't have to be canonical or "of literary merit" - heck- it doesn't even have to be a book. Teachers should be using their relationships with and knowledge of their students to recommend books that are relevant and interesting to them. This may mean that you are putting books in the hands of kids that you would never want to read and that's okay because it isn't about you. I can love Frankenstein all I want, and I can believe with all my heart that it is an "important" book, but if I don't provide my students with the scaffolding they need in order to not only be able to access that text but also enjoy it, then they won't ever love it the way I do- even if I "force" them to read it.

When students are exposed to text that appeals to their interests and experiences, their interests and experiences begin to expand. Reading can be a trans formative action. Reading can change lives. Reading ladders are a way to get students reading and to keep them reading. If we can connect a kid with a book we know they'll love, and then use that book to recommend another slightly more challenging book, then we are teaching a love of reading along with reading skills. Better yet, if we can teach students to find books on their own based on their interests, we might just be able to create life long readers.

Being a teacher who reads to me means just that. Reading. Reading books for teens and for adults. Fictional stories and nonfiction accounts. Dabbling in multiple genres, so I can help my students find what appeals to them. Being a teacher who reads means having emotional connections to books that I can share with my students in hopes that they can build the same connection to written word.

week 5 blog post

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