Getting students excited about reading is a challenge for schools, even classical Christian schools where literature is such a central part of the curriculum. The problem is not illiterate students but aliterate students. So how do teachers face the challenge of aliterate students, students who are able to read but are unwilling to read, with hope? They should remind themselves of the purpose of reading and reconsider their methods of reading with students.
There are many reasons to teach reading, most of which vary by age and grade level. As a junior high literature teacher, I find many benefits of reading with my students. As far back as I can remember, I have loved getting lost in a story. Books are ways to travel to whimsical lands and meet new people all from the comfort of a cozy nook. When we encourage our students to engage with the worlds authors create, we are helping them build a lifetime of enjoyment.
Another benefit of reading is growing the mind and vocabulary. Guiding our students to quality literature written by eloquent and witty authors, we help to fill their minds with beautiful language and a vast vocabulary. And if we are careful to select books that share a godly worldview, we are helping students to dwell on things that are true, things that are just, things that are lovely.
What does this look like for a typical unit of literature in my classroom? I cover a book a month with my students. We meet three times a week and try to do most of the reading in class; remember, some students even in a classical school are not fond of reading. I vary procedures by day and include the following.
Oral Reading At least once a week students read aloud as I give them limited but helpful feedback on their skills and areas needing attention. For our second meeting of the week I have three options I choose from. The first is to give another group of students a chance to read aloud. A second option is to listen to a great audio version of one of the chapters in our book. I do this when I can find a narrator who is exceptional, one who changes his voice for each character and has excellent enunciation. Using an audiobook saves me some energy and allows me to walk around the classroom. The third option on oral reading days is to pair students up. Students sit with a partner and read a page or two to one another, giving each other feedback.
Silent Reading The third class of reading for the week is silent reading; I usually like to do this on a Friday. Students can choose a location anywhere in the classroom as long as reading is focused and readers are not distracting others. Frequently the students negotiate for a spot on the couch, but more often they like to build simple forts with blankets. I even allow them to sit at my desk. As they read, they annotate and collect quotes or evidence for an upcoming discussion.
Commonplace Books On silent reading days, students often complete the reading before class is over. To help them be attentive with reading, they have to collect quotes from the books we read and copy these into a commonplace book. When they copy the quotes, they have to cite the book and author, page number, and give each quote at least three tags to help index them for use in writing.
I usually have a minimum number of commonplaces per book that students need to collect. I instruct them to collect quotes that are striking to them or that they can relate to in some way. At times I will have them collect quotes related to a specific literary device such as alliteration or similes.
Vocabulary Students also have to collect vocabulary in their commonplace books. Vocabulary is put at the back of their notebooks. In addition to a definition with part of speech, students are supposed to record the phrase or sentence that the vocab word appeared in. This helps them learn unfamiliar words. Having a list of interesting vocabulary words recorded in context means the students are more likely to use the words in their own writing and speech.
Discussions When I begin a new book with the junior high literature class, I give a theme or two to notice as we read. Students are asked to annotate using post-it notes, collecting ideas related to the theme. For example, we recently read Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh and the students were supposed to collect ideas and examples from the book on education. Then we had a discussion on education including some basic questions like, What is education? How does one become educated? What benefits does education have? What does the Bible have to say about education? The final big question was, What do you think the author, Robert O’Brien, thinks is the most important thing about education? Do you agree?
Students brought in definitions from a dictionary. They brought in Bible verses about parents training children. But they also had page numbers and quotes from the book to give as evidence for their reasoning on the author’s opinions about education. In this way, I use literature as content for discussions and discernment.
Engaging Projects Each month, meaning each book, I assign an end of the book project that I hope will encourage students to be engaged in the story. In the same way they do for discussions, students are supposed to collect ideas as they read. In this way, they are encouraged to read actively. I look for things that I believe my middle school students would enjoy and can relate to as well as trying to reach learners who may be more gifted in areas besides literacy. Here are some of the books students have read this year along with projects they completed.
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh Students created a home for the Mrs. Frisby and her children. Students had to incorporate at least ten ideas inspired by the book. They either drew a blueprint style plan or created a model and made a list, including quotes and page numbers from the book, that inspired each detail. Then, they presented their projects to younger students.
Animal Farm As we read this book, students had to select a character to create a political campaign commercial for. They were expected to create an ad that demonstrated the character’s qualities and social ideas. Since music was used by the leaders to persuade the other animals in the book, students had to include music in their ads. This was a favorite project.
Fahrenheit 451 After reading this dystopian, students had to create propaganda posters incorporating a phrase author Ray Bradbury used in his book. As a class we looked at government propaganda posters from the WWII era. Students were asked to convey a theme and mood through the font and images that matched the phrase they selected.
Hound of the Baskervilles The project for this book was to create a mood board that demonstrated the mysterious setting of the English moors. Additionally, students had to collect clues from the book while reading to predict the murderer, method and motive.
Teachers often focus on their objectives when creating lesson plans. The reasons for reading are important to know as you try to reach your students. But, I would say when trying to reach reluctant readers, it is more important to consider your methods to reach the aliterate. Select good literature, incorporate discussion prep, and get students into the books with engaging projects.
