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High School English Teachers Chatboard

Question for English teachers

by How do you select the literature for your classes?

Aug 27, 2012

How do you decide what books to read as a class? Obviously if you are teaching American literature then you choose from books that are considered to have their roots in America somehow.

But aside from that sort of criteria, how do you choose what books to read out of the many out there?

Are there laws governing this or booklists that you have to use?

Do you have a lot of discretion in choosing your reading or very little?

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marjoryt For my college English Comp. 1 (4 sections), here's the criteria I used: 1) aligned to reader (which was all nonfiction, so I wanted a nonfiction book) 2) I could get a writing assignment from it (book reviews, which are MUCH more fun for students than a book report) 3) Famous - my students appreciate reading something other people will recognize 4...See MoreFor my college English Comp. 1 (4 sections), here's the criteria I used: 1) aligned to reader (which was all nonfiction, so I wanted a nonfiction book) 2) I could get a writing assignment from it (book reviews, which are MUCH more fun for students than a book report) 3) Famous - my students appreciate reading something other people will recognize 4) Quick - they are busy people, and we have other work to do in the course 5) Varied formats - I wanted to support poor students (finding a free version online), dyslexic/poor readers (finding at least outlines in audio version free, or links to audio versions to purchase), cheap printed (several copies were available at the local used bookstore) 6) Relevant - something they might possibly get something from 7) Provide discussion points

My choice was Steven Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Remember, I needed a non-fiction book. The students have been very willing to read the book, and a few of them have finished it within 2 weeks. A common comment is "Actually, this isn't too bad - and did you see that YouTube video about this chapter?" Since I never told them about online links, they are finding those links themselves.

Now, for my sophomore level American Lit 2 class, I wanted: 1) something in the textbook (it's expensive, we need to use it) 2) free e-book/audio versions (again, to support the readers needing help) 3) all the other criteria explained above 4) something relatively controversial

I decided to give them the choice of Huckleberry Finn, or a combination of Twain's Letters from Earth & some short stories. Very definitely, I'm able to pull in the controversy. I've been very careful to explain the parts that may cause shock, and told students they may skip two pages and then pick up reading. Also, I've told them they should look for argument points - that Twain WANTS his readers to be shocked and sometimes offended. As a backup, if someone TRULY gets upset and wants something different, I'll send them to another Twain work, such as Life on the Mississippi. Selecting the same author will allow me to better support them, and make it easier for them to find outside materials.

BTW, my college students all seem to be amazed by the concept of reading a physical text while listening to a recorded version. They tell me they enjoy doing this and feel like they are picking up reading and speaking skills. Is this concept no longer being taught? It was a favorite during the 1980s and 1990s.

Aug 30, 2012

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