Looking back at my own literacy, I realize that I've been pretty lucky. My parents always stressed the importance of reading when I was young. I always had money for Book Fairs at school and my mom always bought books for me. To be completely honest, my reading started with those think books titled "Atlanta Braves," or "Atlanta Hawks." There was nothing literary about the actual content, but I loved sports and if I was going to read I was going to read about what I loved. The more of those types of books I read, the greater my reading skills became. I wanted challenges. "The Boxcar Children," series delivered that for me. I understand now why I enjoyed them so much. I could relate to them. They were about kids and they solved mysteries. Now, I've never solved a mystery unless you count the meaning of life, but I liked mysteries. So, obviously those books were appealing to me. The BookIt! program played a big role in my reading development. Getting a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut? Yep, sign me up. Eventually, reading to get that pizza became a staple in my life. I knew if I read, I'd get that delicious miniature cheese pizza to eat while I watched Cory Matthews on a Friday night. As I got older, I moved on to more mature books (not Erotica). I mean Goosebumps and books on that level. I think a turning point in my reading life was in middle school when an English teacher read aloud a book to our class. I can't remember the name of it, but I remember it was about a boy with Down Syndrome and how he viewed the world. We've been talking a lot about making connections with students and that is what happened to me when I heard this book. I have an uncle with Down Syndrome so I immediately was interested in the story. My mom says I talked about that book for weeks. Knowing what I know now about getting students to read, I realize that that moment was when I grasped the idea of reading being something that helps people relate to the world around them.
High School got me really into reading. I enjoyed reading most of the books we were required to read in class, but this was when I really started to read for pleasure. I'll be honest, I read a lot of James Patterson. I know it's trash, but man I'd fly through them because James really knows how to keep you wanting more. Then, I stumbled upon some Dennis Lehane. He wrote "Mystic River," and "Gone, Baby, Gone." I read all of his books. He's still one of my favorite authors. His books were page turners like Patterson's but they always had a deeper meaning and made me ask questions about morals and life. This was when I really started to read more literary novels. College got me hooked on books that make you question things. Being a creative writing major, I read a lot of short stories and just fell in love. I wanted to write the same stuff. I still do. Richard Ford, Raymond Carver, and Richard Yates are among my favorites. Now I read books with a new attitude. I want to be a better person after reading a book, or I want to see something done that I've never seen. Cormac McCarthy's lack of standard writing techniques amazed me. When I read his books, I feel as if I've just sat in the room with some brilliant scientist.
I think that relaying my literacy journey to my students could be very beneficial to them. If I can show them how someone who started reading books about sports transformed into a creative writing major who reads books on the reg, then they might see how important it can be. The important thing to stress is that students have to start somewhere. Whether it's reading Sports Illustrated For Kids or even the menu at Shoney's, it's reading and it is important. I think a good way to show kids my literacy lineage might be to compose a list of things I've read that I feel like have made an impact on my life. From there I could make a notebook that I keep in my classroom that includes the picture of each text and some highlights about what the story is about. Then, I could list what I learned from them without giving away the story. A cool way to show how my literacy evolved would be to make a short movie chronicling my reading experiences. It could show the evolution of the types of things I read. If students see where reading can take them, they might be more likely to actually enjoy it.
I think our territories pretty similar. I read the Boxcar Children religiously, and probably started off with the same sports books, mostly books about baseball by Mat Christopher about baseball players I liked: "On the Mound with Greg Maddux" or "At the Plate with Mo Vaughn". Ah, Mo Vaughn. That's a name I haven't heard in a while.
ReplyDeleteWe both had the same reaction to Cormac McCarthy; it's mindblowing stuff. The class I had based on McCarthy/Larry Brown was the most reading I've ever had to do for a class, but it was hands down my favorite.
As I said on another blog, I definitely think the lit territories/timelines would help, especially as sort of an informal pre-assesment, if only to find where they stand and what they enjoy for the purpose of pointing them in the direction of something else. You'd reach those who weren't very enthused at least a little better, and you'd make the lit nerds such as myself go bananas, because well...I am a nerd who likes to talk about books and movies and music and most importantly, I like to talk about things I enjoy. Heck, you might even be able to recruit your pre-existing readers to help spread the suggestions. As for some of your "page turners", I think it would obviously be beneficial to turn to them, since many kids will be going through that phase at the time---plus it shows a side of you that would sort of quell the myth that lit teachers read only for the purpose of asking critical questions and "school stuff". (That's what my article was about, sort of.)
Side note: Just out of curiosity, have you ever read Harry Crews? Other side note: I own several Lehane books but never have gotten around to reading them. As with Revolutionary Road, I will take this post as an endorsement and suggestion that I should move them up the to-read list sooner.
-NH
I think your story is going to be very beneficial to your students. Because you started out with small books and kind of floundering for where you wanted to go in your reading, it would be easily identifiable with them. It is always good to let students know you also enjoy the feeling you get whenever you are able to breeze through a reading. You feel accomplished and like you are smart. I mean, it's true let's face it. So I think this would be a bonding experience for you and your kids.Then, once they are interested, it would be awesome to tell the story about the book you read whenever you finally got really hooked on reading. Maybe some people don't know what that feels like and if you are authentic with what you are saying about your experience it may make them curious to have the same type of experience!
ReplyDeleteAnd if you can share this with them early on, they will be more likely to keep up with their reading and be more diligent about identifying where they are in their reading journey.