I love classic literature and consider it a challenge to help my students relate to it. But, they also need to understand how to pick and enjoy good novels that make them fall in love with reading. This is a cinch if they read a well written book that interests them.
The students at our school come from a mixture of high poverty and middle income families.
Traditionally, our town was considered suburban - a typical small steel making city. With the turn in economy, the poverty level of our families has increased, and we are now considered an urban school.
Just because we have a large number of low income students does not change the fact that they are bright young people. It has, however, meant that more of our students will be entering the workforce and less going on to traditional four year colleges. To make them ready for the workplace, they must develop reading skills that keep them ready for the challenge of a changing society. They many times do not have the luxury of a home that nurtures and values learning and reading.
My Project
The novels I have chosen to provide for my students are future classics that are well written but also pull young readers in. They will be hooked before they know it. Such books as the TWILIGHT series and HUNGER GAMES develop the imaginations of our students as well as interest them - they are about teenagers!
I will be able to help them learn to understand how to properly analyze and evaluate literature because they will be more involved with the act of reading. They will have the luxury of enjoying literature that is more current instead of always having to go through the more intricate process of understanding why the classics are still pertinent. I will make reading more alive and currently accessible to them.
Our school library has felt the same economic pinch that we have all felt.
I try to pick up books for my room library, but that is a slow process. If my students could see that people care enough about them to provide new highly interesting books for them, I think it would make them feel worthwhile and help them see folks do care about them. The books will sell themselves - they are of such high interest that the students will eat them up! I
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