{"id":51,"date":"2015-01-19T16:09:26","date_gmt":"2015-01-19T16:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/?p=51"},"modified":"2015-01-19T16:09:26","modified_gmt":"2015-01-19T16:09:26","slug":"i-am-because-i-read-what-will-they-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/2015\/01\/19\/i-am-because-i-read-what-will-they-be\/","title":{"rendered":"I Am Because I Read. What Will They Be?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.\u201d – Oscar Wilde<\/p>\n

Since I was little, I have enjoyed reading for reading’s sake. \u00a0Reading literature has provided many things for me over the years: \u00a0an escape, a challenge, a point of discussion, a feeling of being rooted to the experience of being human. \u00a0Now I make my living through reading. \u00a0Although my primary teaching assignment (and first love!) is history, I have also been made\u00a0into a Language Arts teacher as a result of shifting course coverage needs. \u00a0I often lament the fact that I have to teach LA and most of my ego battles this reality every September, but a small part of me enjoys the fact that I get to share my love of reading with a group of grade 7 boys, a challenging audience at the best of times.<\/p>\n

For months now I have been having an internal conversation about what should be the focus of my C21 action plan. \u00a0I have vacillated between working through a faculty PD initiative and improving my\u00a0work in the history classes that I love to teach. \u00a0If I’m honest with myself, those projects would be the path easily travelled. \u00a0Ultimately, I have decided to take on a challenge, instead (this growth mindset thing must be catching!). \u00a0When training for triathlon, coaches regularly remind athletes that despite the enjoyment they get out of training in the discipline that they enjoy most, their overall fitness will benefit more from an intense focus on areas of weakness. \u00a0I guess this means that I am going to be diving in head first<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So far this year, we have completed one novel study, which many of the students enjoyed. \u00a0We all read the same text and worked through the usual skills of literary device identification, meaning-making and responding to the text. \u00a0I’m sure the boys would say it was the usual gamut of novel study tasks. \u00a0There was nothing particularly inspiring about any of the work we did. \u00a0Did it even inspire them to read the sequel? \u00a0I think the resounding answer would be n<\/strong>ope<\/strong>….<\/p>\n

So what does it take? \u00a0How do we get a maximum buy-in for reading literature? \u00a0Can it be helped along by how we treat reading literature in the classroom? \u00a0\u00a0How do we bring literature to students today in a way that has meaning?<\/p>\n

Based on recent research<\/a>, \u00a0it would seem worth the the attempt. \u00a0If exposing students to literary fiction helps to open their eyes and be more tolerant of others then it seems a worthy cause to me. \u00a0If it helps them to be more mindful in their daily interactions at a biological <\/a>level, then it is\u00a0deserving of our attention as educators. \u00a0But at a more fundamental level, I believe this is important<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

When I meet the parents of my Language Arts students each September, I tell them that my first priority this year will be to encourage their sons to not hate<\/em> LA. \u00a0I always see nods of approval for this goal because at grade 7, many of their boys are losing (or have lost) their interest in reading. \u00a0This year, that goal felt\u00a0uninspiring, and maybe even a little defeatist. \u00a0So I’m going to try to level up here<\/strong>. \u00a0I’m going to try to build a definition for a modern novel study. \u00a0Because this plan has only begun to take shape in my brain, I don’t have the road map yet. \u00a0I’ll be leaning in to see how Graham Vogt is doing with his plan to improve the culture<\/a> of reading at Rothesay Netherwood School and welcoming the thoughts and suggestions of the rest of my C21 friends. \u00a0Please comment and share you successes and failures with teaching literature to this generation of students! \u00a0I’ve sketched out some of my hopes here, because it’s how my brain works best. \u00a0I’ll also be trying to match this with my work in PBL and using technology to boost engagement and student connections. \u00a0I am prepared to face failure. \u00a0That’s it. \u00a0Let’s go!<\/p>\n

\"Action<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.\u201d – Oscar Wilde Since I was little, I have enjoyed reading for reading’s sake. \u00a0Reading literature has provided many things for me over the years: \u00a0an escape, a challenge, a point of discussion, a … Continue reading “I Am Because I Read. What Will They Be?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":56,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8,6,10,9],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-plan","tag-action-plan","tag-edtech","tag-literature","tag-reading"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}