LANGUAGE ARTS-NEW MEXICO

Getting Guys to Read

There's an interesting interview with John Scieszka (author of The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, Math Curse, and other books for young and old readers) at the Bookslut (yes, that's the real name) website.  Scieszka's latest venture is "Guys Read," a website created to get boys to read more.  In the interview, he takes issue with those who think literature is worthwhile only if it's hard to read.

There was a USA Today article [May 3, 2005] about bringing comic books into the classroom, and Santa Monica High School teacher Carol Jago said, "Our job as teachers is to help students read hard texts. When a student tells you the work is hard, you should say, 'Good; now I know it's the right book for you.'"Do you agree with that?

Wow, I think that's wrong on just so many levels, it's not funny. That's just painfully wrong, I think. In fact, that's what gotten us where we are today, where we just keep telling kids, like, you know, "Take your medicine. Reading tastes bad, but it'll make you a better person, so suck it up." But it's not happening! Boys are just leaving reading in droves. And that's not right. Part of the Guys Read program is where I go around and talk to teachers and librarians about [doing] exactly the opposite. Don't try to beat kids into reading. I think what we have to do is to motivate them to want to learn how to read. That's a difficult thing, so I think the best way to do it is to give them things they like to read. And what we haven't done with boys is we haven't really given them a broad range of reading. In schools, what's seen as reading is so narrow: it's literary, realistic fiction. It's feelings and problems, stuff that a lot of boys just aren't drawn to. So we're setting boys up for failure, because we have a literacy model that's just easier for girls. And every time you read a book, you have to write a paper or answer some questions.

You can't just enjoy it.

Yeah, we're really missing that.

You can read the entire interview here and visit "Guys Read" here.

SAT Data Available

You can now view the 2004 SAT data for New Mexico (by school and by district) at the Public Education Department website.  One interesting fact to note is that only about 2700 New Mexico high school students take the SAT (out of about 18,000 high school graduates).  For all the attention the SAT gets in the national press, the ACT is still the most widely used college admissions test in this part of the country.  You can see the school data here (pdf) and the district data here (pdf). 

Studying Literature vs. Studying the Media

Americans may think of England as the home of the classics, but here are two items about the increasing presence of contemporary media in the British school curriculum.   

Literature pushed out by media studies

By Sarah Cassidy

Increasing numbers of students are analysing soap operas and television commercials rather than studying classic novels, according to a report by the Government's exam watchdog.

Schools are abandoning English literature GCSE in favour of media studies, which is regarded by many as an easier option and which gives higher marks, the study by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority found.

Teenagers who traditionally took two English GCSEs - English and English literature - are now being encouraged to sit exams in English and media studies instead, concluded the report, Media Matters. The popularity of the media studies GCSE is still small in comparison with English literature's 576,000 candidates, but it is growing fast. The number of students taking it has risen by nearly one- third since its introduction in 1986. Nearly 40,000 students sat the exam last summer. (From the Independent, June 13, 2005)

Conference sinks teeth into Buffy's role in teaching

By Joanne Ginley

ACADEMICS from across the globe are set to descend on a West Yorkshire [England] university for a three-day conference looking at how TV cult hit Buffy the Vampire Slayer can be used to aid learning.

The conference will examine how people are influenced by popular culture and how the programme draws parallels with everyday life.

Academics at Huddersfield University's Department of Behavioural Sciences say the show, which first aired on TV in the late 1990s, can be used as a vital teaching aid, demonstrating issues such as a young, strong lead female character and even tackling a lesbian love affair.

Nigel King, a reader in psychology at Huddersfield University, says incorporating popular culture in teaching helps get a point across quickly. "TV is a massive force in our society and I think it would be wrong to ignore its impact," he said.

But last night news of the conference was attacked by York-based Campaign for Real Education. Chairman Nick Seaton said: "University academics should be concentrating on literature that has stood the test of time, rather than spending their time on trendy, modern TV programmes, no matter how popular.  "It's very hard to see how it will benefit academic study."

But, such is the appeal of Buffy that the three-day conference (June 29 – July 1) has attracted academics, including specialists in media studies, philosophy and psychology, from as far afield as America, Canada and Europe. (From the Yorkshire Post, May 26, 2005)

More Summer Reading

Oprah Winfrey has announced the next titles for her book club.  It's "A Summer of Faulkner"--As I Lay Dying in June, The Sound and the Fury in July, and Light in August in (of course) August.  At her website you can explore Yoknapatawpha County, ask questions of Faulkner scholars, join an on-line class, get tips on how to read Faulkner ("Be patient"), and even "meet the Bundrens" (the family featured in As I Lay Dying).  Or, if Faulkner isn't your cup of tea, consider the suggestions Washington Post columnist Ellen Goodman makes in her annual summer reading column.  Included are a number of intriguing possibilities--Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, to name just two.  Many of her choices have young people as protagonists.  You can read her recommendations here.

Let's Hear It For the Boys

If you're looking for some summer reading, consider Bruce Pirie's Teenage Boys and High School English (Heinemann, 2002).  Pirie's insightful book considers why boys are often resistant to literature and writing and what we can do about it.  Woven throughout are classroom-tested strategies that have the potential to make English a more palatable subject for boys (without making it any less interesting to girls).  They include using drama to tap into boys' need for active involvement, building essays "from the ground up" to provide boys the explicit structure they may crave, and using poetry writing activities that are linked to novels or other texts so that poetry seems more like a vivid, compact way to respond to literature than a way to create obscure messages about vague feelings.  You can order Teenage Boys and High School English from your local bookseller or by clicking here or here.