Blog 6

I believe readicide is a problem in schools. I believe teachers should give students books that they would actually be interested in reading in. In all honesty...if we don't understand what’s going on in the book then spark notes will be the main source. The only time I actually enjoyed reading a book was the Great Gatsby because I wanted to read it before it came out as a movie. I think especially like reading a series will actually help students to become more engaged in the novel. I think definitely more modern books will help spark interest in students. I don't understand why teachers make us read novels that were written in a different time period, the language is unfamiliar to us. More books are being produced in modern language, which increases popularity. By forcing kids to read books they will dislike, it causes to have less interest in reading any book all together.

Now I am being one sided by saying this, there are students who enjoy Shakespeare, old literary novels etc. But unless you are pursuing a career as an English teacher, I don’t see how these novels is preparing students for the job market they are about to enter. However, I do believe it is important for students to understand how to analyze a text and the use of different writing strategies. One method I really like that English teachers do is create seminars where the class would discuss the book all together. It challenges students to use the amount of knowledge they have of the story and get more in depth with it. That I believe is a good way of challenging students’ knowledge of a book without giving a test on it. Those capabilities will help students going into college. I do believe the school system should encourage students to read books, but it will only be encouraging and not forceful if students actually like the novel.