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March 2, 2010
Noelle Fujii
Symbolism, tone, style. Some students can’t even comprehend the meaning of the work, which makes enjoying, much less analyzing, the work impossible.
“Every day, it’s a teacher’s job to get students interested,” English teacher Sharon Jones said.
Yet sophomore Melanie Miller is often bored by the assigned reading. She had difficulty understanding Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. She read Art Spiegelman’s Maus because it was a captivating, easy-to-understand graphic novel.
“I was motivated by Maus because it was in the form of a comic book, which set it aside from all of the other books,” Miller said.
Freshman Maureen Madrid believes a good story and climax can motivate students to read. Madrid is unimpressed with a majority of the current academic literary selections, but she continues to read in order to do well on the tests.
“I don’t know what English teachers would really let us read but I guess [I would] like [to read] stories that can relate to a typical teenager’s life,” Madrid said.
Freshman Natalie McCluskey would like to read books containing adventure and life lessons.
“[The books I’m reading in English class] are about the older times, which is harder to relate to and [they also] use older language, which I don’t see the point of learning,” McCluskey said.
On the other hand, senior Michael Jones enjoys the assigned dramatic works. Although he did not enjoy every classic, he liked Lord of the Flies by William Golding and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.
“Often in everyday life you see references or quotes from classic books like the ones assigned in class,” Jones said.
If pop culture is not enough to encourage students to read classics, they will be pleased to learn that more contemporary books are approved annually.
English teacher Stewart Perlman submitted The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini to be reviewed and successfully approved by the district. However, purchasing the novels and developing new curriculum is also an issue.
English teacher Teri Hu submitted eight contemporary books to the district for her AP English Literature class, and six were passed.
“We teach enough literature by dead people, it’s time to read books by people who still have a pulse,” said Hu, in an e-mail letter.
She submitted more dramas, such as “Six Degrees of Separation” by John Guare and “Wit” by Margaret Edson, because she can make copies to distribute to students.
“I don’t know if every student who doesn’t read would be more inclined to read if the books were more relevant, but for SOME, that would make a difference,” Hu said.
Meanwhile, teachers continue to motivate student readers through interactive projects, group work and class discussions.
This article originally appeared in print on March 2, 2010. It has been modified to correct style errors.
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