More superb work - thank you! Running alongside this shift to "inside the text" comes a concurrent push for more young adult texts that students can personally relate to, overlapping soon enough with further social media pushing discourse into smaller chunks, along the lines of Zuckerberg's "pivot to video" sales strategy in the mid 2010's. Put it all together...and it did seem like the student desire to read thoughtful literature exploring mature viewpoints on why we are alive and what we can do with the life we have, that desire was extinguished. Not so, thankfully, for my classes in the last two years - I've been glad to see an inquiry about works with depth, a student push towards literature with more substance.
What do you think happened? Did the COVID disruption evoke a more contemplative mood? Drift in teaching away from strict Core? Interesting, Scott. Do you see any connection to language machines? No doubt the pleasures of difficulty are an acquired taste, but it can seduce a reader quickly. What do you think about increases in adolescent literature? I just finished Salvage the Bones, a very good read, and wondered about it as an eighth grade whole-class or book-club read. It is a hybrid of sorts, a deeply emotional and mature book with a cast of adolescents in Mississippi during Katrina. In my book, any movement toward guided choice of texts in a teacher-mentored reading community is a step in the right direction. The need for a committed teacher increases, but the satisfaction and sense of meaning is powerful for the teacher and the kids.
More superb work - thank you! Running alongside this shift to "inside the text" comes a concurrent push for more young adult texts that students can personally relate to, overlapping soon enough with further social media pushing discourse into smaller chunks, along the lines of Zuckerberg's "pivot to video" sales strategy in the mid 2010's. Put it all together...and it did seem like the student desire to read thoughtful literature exploring mature viewpoints on why we are alive and what we can do with the life we have, that desire was extinguished. Not so, thankfully, for my classes in the last two years - I've been glad to see an inquiry about works with depth, a student push towards literature with more substance.
What do you think happened? Did the COVID disruption evoke a more contemplative mood? Drift in teaching away from strict Core? Interesting, Scott. Do you see any connection to language machines? No doubt the pleasures of difficulty are an acquired taste, but it can seduce a reader quickly. What do you think about increases in adolescent literature? I just finished Salvage the Bones, a very good read, and wondered about it as an eighth grade whole-class or book-club read. It is a hybrid of sorts, a deeply emotional and mature book with a cast of adolescents in Mississippi during Katrina. In my book, any movement toward guided choice of texts in a teacher-mentored reading community is a step in the right direction. The need for a committed teacher increases, but the satisfaction and sense of meaning is powerful for the teacher and the kids.