The truth about Carol Jago’s
article “Much Ado About Something” is that her words made me love her. I even wrote,
“I love you, Carol Jago” at the top of my print out. The reason I loved Jago’s
article so much is because she echoed many of the thoughts I have had about
teaching the classics. While I agree that “teenagers are hungry for stories
that mirror their lives,” I also believe our students have the necessary
ability to relate any text to their own lives, including the classics. The selling
point for me was Jago’s reference to The
Odyssey. Without this particular work, my high school experiences would
have been completely different, and I will definitely try my best to teach
Homer’s epics in my classroom. Like Jago, I will also try my best to teach my
students “to read with care.”
Just
as I was sold on teaching the classics I read Donald Gallo’s article “How
Classics Create an Aliterate Society,” and my beliefs began to shift. I found
myself relating to the author’s background story, and I felt as if I was a lot
like him. Like Gallo I did not get really interested into reading until
college, and I was never one of the best English students during high school. While
I do agree with Gallo’s main goal of creating a “love of reading” in our
classrooms, I do not agree with his view of the classics. Required readings
have been around so long for a reason. I do not see any value in doing away
with them all together, but Gallo does provide some interesting viewpoints on
how to use Young Adult Literature. The main argument for teaching YAL novels is
the comfort that they can provide to students. In addition, after reading Gallo’s
article I have begun to recognize Young Adult Literature as an important genre
of texts that need to be addressed because they are now such a large part of
literature as a whole.
William
Broz’s article “Not Reading: The 800-Pound Mockingbird in the Classroom” was by
far my least favorite article. At first, I found myself arguing with Broz and
thinking there was far too much personal bias in his article, but he saved
himself with this line: “we must have the integrity to admit that some small
number of students who can read will not read, no matter what we do.” Well
thank you, William. For a second there I thought you were delusional, and I
still sort of believe that. I found Broz’s lists of dos and don’ts to be very
helpful, but I also found myself disagreeing with his main premise. I am not
sure what I think about the classics yet because I have not taught any of them
yet, but when I do, I’ll be sure to revisit this article. Maybe then I will
respond more favorably.
The
final assigned article by Gibbons, Dail, and Stallworth titled “Young Adult
Literature in the English Curriculum Today: Classroom Teachers Speak Out” was
definitely the most data driven text of the four. The biggest thing I took away
from this article is that it is very possible to create an effective and
engaging curriculum using both the classics and Young Adult Literature. The
authors started the article off with why to use YAL novels, and I was hooked.
Because of this article and many of the other assigned readings, I now see
great value in teaching Young Adult Literature. I was not very interested in
how the authors went about surveying, but the three themes that emerged from
their research proved to be very helpful. I agree with all three themes
presented, but I really liked the idea that YAL relates to students’ interests
and addresses time constraints of a crowded classroom. I was not surprised to
see that theme cited. Overall, I enjoyed reading this article, but found myself
not taking that much away from it. I would only recommend it to certain
teachers.
