In the Classroom: Don’t Blame the Book « educating alice

kids are not in school so that they can tell us what they think about Holden Caulfield. They’re in school to learn what to think about

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To me the missing ingredient in this discussion is the teacher.  A great teacher can make most books interesting. (Mind you — I’m not saying likable.  You can enjoy the experience of reading and talking about a particular book

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Now I know that all too often teachers in schools sadly make the experience of reading a book together as a class a misery.  But I have to say that I believe that done right it can be transcendent.  With a great teacher a group becomes a community discussing and considering and wondering and thinking hard about all sorts of stuff by way of a great book.  It bugs me that there is such a negative view about community book readings — IN SCHOOL SETTINGS

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After all, people are big on book groups and whole towns and cities reading a book together. Yet too many of these same folks tear up and spit out teachers and schools for doing something similar.

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Good teachers guide and prod and get everyone thinking hard

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It doesn’t always have to be just personal.  Sometimes reading is about something else — about ideas, about the world, about all sorts of stuff.

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Charlotte’s Web we consider the circle of life, irony, nature, death,

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The kids move outside of their personal response to consider those of others and whether those change their own. The conversation is  exhilarating. 

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full of meaty stuff to tussle with, to consider, to rail against, or to love

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