Choosing Which Books to Teach

♡ Chapter Three of Classics in the Classroom was helpful with seeing what books to teach in class and what books to let student read on their own.  The 14 points of a classic book really helped define what a "classic" really is.  I really liked point six; " A classic is a book that has never exhausted all it has to say to its readers" (pg 40). The reason I like this point is because most classics have been around for years and the same message the book tried to get across years ago can still apply to people today.  

♡ I liked the list Carol provided for the different semesters.  I also like her requirement of allowing students to read five books per semester.  Although I like the idea of providing a list of books for students to read, I think students should be able to pick what they are interested in reading.  If I would use this approach, I would mix it up a little and let students pick at least 2 or 3 of the books required for the semester, and the last two they have to pick from a list.  Allowing students to choose what they want to read will draw more interest in reading, rather than doing it just for an assignment. I liked her idea of keeping a log of books students have read for the semester and think different grades and schools should adopt this concept.  After graduation, or even a after completing a grade, students can look back to see what they have read. 

♡ The section on choosing books was helpful.  Carol gives a list of what books have literary merit.  This list helps choose good texts to teach in the classroom. Teachers need to be able to choose books that will get students thinking and allowing students to see connections between characters in the story and themselves.  I agree with Carol that teachers need to read and prepare for teaching a novel just as long, if not longer, than students.  In order to teach a book successfully teachers need to be prepared, and in Carol's case that is putting 20 plus hours into preparing.  

♡ Discussing Frankenstein was a good way to show someway how to teach a novel.  Carol gives great examples in her chapters of what to do as a teacher, but never provides a good understanding of how to teach a novel, which I would like to see.   I really liked the quote by Dinesh D' Souza that reads, "It is less important for students to learn about the great books than it is for them to learn from the great books." Students can learn about a book with all the information the teacher gives them, but it is really an accomplishment if a student can learn from a text.