9th Grade Novel Teaching

by SG

Dec 5, 2013

My daughter is in the 9th grade. She is attending a charter school with a good reputation, but I'm starting to have some doubts about the quality of teaching particularly with her English classes. In her 9th grade literature class, they have not read a novel in the fall semester. They have read and done some analysis with short stories, but they have done no long form reading. I've talked with parents of students at other schools and with teachers at other schools - their jaws drop open when I tell them this. Before I go in and start raising questions, I was hoping that I could get some input here. Am I wrong in thinking this is unusual and ineffective? Or is there some justification for this? I spoke to the teacher at the open house four weeks ago and brought up the subject - she told me that they'd be starting a play (Romeo and Juliet) the following week. They still haven't started reading it. Thanks in advance for any and all input.

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Vet Teacher On 12/05/13, SG wrote: > My daughter is in the 9th grade. She is attending a charter > school with a good reputation, but I'm starting to have > some doubts about the quality of teaching particularly with > her English classes. In her 9th grade literature class, > they have not read a novel in the fall semester. They have > read a...See MoreOn 12/05/13, SG wrote: > My daughter is in the 9th grade. She is attending a charter > school with a good reputation, but I'm starting to have > some doubts about the quality of teaching particularly with > her English classes. In her 9th grade literature class, > they have not read a novel in the fall semester. They have > read and done some analysis with short stories, but they > have done no long form reading. I've talked with parents of > students at other schools and with teachers at other > schools - their jaws drop open when I tell them this. > Before I go in and start raising questions, I was hoping > that I could get some input here. Am I wrong in thinking > this is unusual and ineffective? Or is there some > justification for this? I spoke to the teacher at the open > house four weeks ago and brought up the subject - she told > me that they'd be starting a play (Romeo and Juliet) the > following week. They still haven't started reading it. > Thanks in advance for any and all input.

Curriculum is really not standardized though many schools and teachers would like you to believe it is. Some things done years ago when I was in school are still done and others have gone by the wayside. When and where I went to high school, we never read books. We read some short stories and a play but no books. Was that effective? It depends on what you're trying to achieve. In prestigious private schools, there are certain books that are largely read because the feeling is "all educated people have read The Scarlet Letter' or 'everybody who's anybody must read The Great Gatsby." It's very common for any Lit class or Language Arts class to begin the year with short stories. When I'm given a free hand in what I assign, I tell students they are choose books and always be reading at home in the evening and they report back to me on what they're reading. Not reading books doesn't seem ineffective to me - it could be a different if unusual approach. One can learn to interpret literature and appreciate literature from short stories and students' attention spans can often be better held on to with short stories than the length of a book. Their writing can improve despite the fact they don't read books.

It doesn't make my jaw drop. I've seen a lot in education over many years... It is unusual but it is only the beginning of December. Usually 1 book has been read by now in a 9th grade Lit class but not several books. Romeo and Juliet is not a book but it is a classic and counts as a book in its importance certainly.

Lit classes and Language Arts classes have to flip back and forth between emphasizing reading and emphasizing writing. Some schools have broken it into two distinct classes but usually you read a short story, write a paper, then do some grammar, and go back to reading. Sometimes several weeks are devoted just to writing and then the class goes back to reading something.

Any class should have a syllabus though and these days that syllabus should be on a website or online somewhere where you can access it. I'm required to write a syllabus for every class I teach with all the readings listed on the syllabus and it goes on our school's website. Was there a Parents' Night? Didn't the teacher give out the syllabus that night? Long before this you should have been able to see that syllabus and from it you'd know what they're going to do from this point in the year. Maybe the pace picks up and they read a book every month but our 9th grade classes usually read 5 books - some short - every school year and one of Shakespeare's plays every year along with the short stories and some essays.

Dec 5, 2013

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Kathy M On 12/05/13, SG wrote: > My daughter is in the 9th grade. She is attending a charter > school with a good reputation, but I'm starting to have > some doubts about the quality of teaching particularly with > her English classes. In her 9th grade literature class, > they have not read a novel in the fall semester. They have > read ...See MoreOn 12/05/13, SG wrote: > My daughter is in the 9th grade. She is attending a charter > school with a good reputation, but I'm starting to have > some doubts about the quality of teaching particularly with > her English classes. In her 9th grade literature class, > they have not read a novel in the fall semester. They have > read and done some analysis with short stories, but they > have done no long form reading. I've talked with parents of > students at other schools and with teachers at other > schools - their jaws drop open when I tell them this. > Before I go in and start raising questions, I was hoping > that I could get some input here. Am I wrong in thinking > this is unusual and ineffective? Or is there some > justification for this? I spoke to the teacher at the open > house four weeks ago and brought up the subject - she told > me that they'd be starting a play (Romeo and Juliet) the > following week. They still haven't started reading it. > Thanks in advance for any and all input.

Some things that I would have to think about: Is R&J in the textbook, or is it a stand-alone book? If it is not part of the textbook, is it shared with other teachers? Although I plan to teach a unit at a certain time, logistics can sometimes wreck havoc.

With the new Common Core, I was given an 8 week unit I had to teach that had no novels. Is it possible that the school was given mandates to teach something by a certain date? It is possible the teacher has no control over the change in plan.

I know that by November I have assessed my students and have tweaked my lessons for the level of students I have that year. In my first years, it may have taken longer, or I may have swapped things around as I realized where my students were.

The last thing I would wonder about is the teacher's personal life. One year, my grandfather died, followed two weeks later by my uncle, and 4 months later by my ex-husband. Needless to say, I was not at my best that year.

The literature at the 9th grade level is complex and much of the standards can be met using these longer short stories. Providing students with a wide range of good literature has proven to improve student writing. If writing is my focus, I might go that route if I find I need to improve student comprehension of challenging texts. Prior to reading a text that will frustrate students, I might teach them ways to read a challenging text - whether that novel unit is A Tale of Tw Cities, Wuthering Heights, or Shakespeare - each is challenging and frustrating.

Dec 6, 2013

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Modern Everyman On 12/05/13, SG wrote: > My daughter is in the 9th grade. She is attending a charter > school with a good reputation, but I'm starting to have > some doubts about the quality of teaching particularly with > her English classes. In her 9th grade literature class, > they have not read a novel in the fall semester. They have > read a...See More

Dec 7, 2013

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SG Thanks to all for your responses - much appreciated. R&J has finally been started - barely - and I still have some suspicions that something is amiss in the class, but we're going to ride it out a little longer and see what happens. Thanks again for tking the time to respond.

Dec 17, 2013

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