Teachers...what is the point of this?

[Plannin'Shannon]

Just because you don't see the value in it doesn't mean there is no value.

I still don't get why on earth anyone would have a problem letting an English teacher teach literature! Don't you want your teachers doing new and innovative activities with your kids instead of the same tired exercises you did as a student?

This is exactly what I was wondering. I've read the entire thread, and still don't understand the problem. I wish my reading lists had been so extensive when I was in middle school!

 

[disneymom3]

Meg Cabot is on her list, and she has had the first book in her room, forever...she just never got interested enough to read it.

Meg Cabot is on the list. Wow, that surprises me. I sure expected this not to have any what I call "fluff" authors on there.

Personally I think this sounds like a really cool assignment. I would like to do it myself. Of course, I am one of those sitting her cringing at people not liking Hawthorne and others. That book list that was going around on Facebook for qutie awhile just thrilled me. The BBC estimated that the avg person had only read 6 out of a list of 100 books. I had read 69 of them.

 

[BelleWDW]

Well this is the first time I have seen or heard of an author assignment.


Also when she came home she said she didn't have AR, but had to pick 3 books of 3 authors, so I wrongly assumed it was the reading that they usally require, which in a way it is. They want the kids to read and they are forcing them to read what they want.



Hopefully she will like the books that she has decided to read.

What difference if she likes them or not?
When you have a designated reading list-you read them-like them or not.

FORCING them to read what they want-most kids-esp avid readers -should be tickled pink!

 

[si-am]

I know what she likes to read. I stopped trying to her get to read what I thought she would like a while ago (meaning things I loved as a teen LOL).

I went for the authors that I might have had in our home library that I thought she would be interested in. There were over 60 authors on the list, this is due day after tomorrow. Not for nothing, I wasn't going to have her take the HOURS it would take to look up all those authors.

I don't ever do research for her, but in this case, finding the authors and having her look at the books to see if she watned to read them, was soemthing I was willing to do.

Yes she is an avid reader..but if the book doesn't catch her interest, the she will never finish it, and LOTR would take her 5 years to read! I wasn't going there with such hugh books. I want her to have time this year to read what she wants to read also!

So I showed her books that I felt she would like. And she has read all sorts of genres...non fiction, mystery (hates hates hates them), horror, vampires, everyday fiction, poetry, classics. Been there done that, she knows what she likes, and there is nothing wrong with that.

When I was her age I was forced to read The Odyssey ....omg I wanted to die! It was boring and horrible. While the class read that...I read Great Expecations!

Everyone has their own likes and dislikes, so does she. And since she has lots of choices, I pointed her in the direction of books I hoped she would enjoy. I don't think there is anything with that.

Part of being in school is reading things you don't necessarily enjoy. Is your daughter going to college one day? Then she needs to get used to it and learn to finish books that don't immediately catch her interest, or she'll fail out.

I also think you are doing her a real disservice by choosing her books and discouraging her from reading things you didn't like. Just because YOU didn't like Red Badge of Courage, for example, doesn't mean your daughter won't.

Another example: my mom is not a fan of Jane Austen and probably never would have chosen those books for me off a list. However, Jane Austen turned out to be one of my favorite authors ever!

 

[cabanafrau]

Part of being in school is reading things you don't necessarily enjoy. Is your daughter going to college one day? Then she needs to get used to it and learn to finish books that don't immediately catch her interest, or she'll fail out.

I also think you are doing her a real disservice by choosing her books and discouraging her from reading things you didn't like. Just because YOU didn't like Red Badge of Courage, for example, doesn't mean your daughter won't.

Another example: my mom is not a fan of Jane Austen and probably never would have chosen those books for me off a list. However, Jane Austen turned out to be one of my favorite authors ever!

Exactly correct ^^.

OP seems stuck on the idea that all reading must be enjoyable and it seems to be a longstanding pattern which she's determined to pass on. Sometimes we can battle our way through something not enjoying it a bit, but we find out we learned something along the way.

OP, I'm curious, how is it that the entire class read the Odyssey, yet you were exempted? BTW, you missed an incredible experience there. The genesis of most great literary themes can be traced to Greek mythology.

I'm also puzzled by your bias against the Scarlet Letter's dialect and your suspicions your DD will despise LOTR for it's made up language -- while professing a love for Shakespeare??

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

In highschool, my teacher showed us some ridiculous 80's movie version of the Odyssey because she thought it was a "dumb" book. Be thankful her teacher is encouraging them to read outside of their comfort zone.

 

[MushyMushy]

They do offer a 'dumbed-down' version of The Scarlet Letter - the original text on one page, a simplified version opposite it. Our low level English classes have these versions for most of the trickier books.

I loved the challenge of reading Canterbury Tales in the original Old English - the words had double meaning that did not translate into modern English at all. That's was college though, and was optional. I was the only one in class reading that version of it, everyone else opted for the translation, chickens all!

I agree -- I've seen the dumbed down version of some of the classics. You could probably find them on Amazon if you wanted. They do it with Shakespeare too. I loved The Scarlet Letter!

Canterbury Tales was in Middle English though. I agree with you, I loved reading it in the original! It's also so great to hear when it's read aloud with the right inflections. When I was student teaching, I got to teach Canterbury Tales to a senior English class. It had some of the Middle English text in the book, but the story as all written in Modern English. A good teacher can really bring that story to life. (not saying I'm good; I just wish I was good enough to get people as excited about those tales as I am!)

 

[MaumeeMom]

PARTIAL

Personally I think this sounds like a really cool assignment. I would like to do it myself. Of course, I am one of those sitting her cringing at people not liking Hawthorne and others. That book list that was going around on Facebook for qutie awhile just thrilled me. The BBC estimated that the avg person had only read 6 out of a list of 100 books. I had read 69 of them.

I'd love to see that list, can you point us to it? Thanks!

 

[KiminChicago]

I'd love to see that list too. Does anyone still read any of the old classic childrens' books? Growing up, I had a bunch of books that my grandparents had given my dad so I grew up reading Heidi, Swiss Family Robinson, Robinson Crusoe and Little Women. I so loved Louisa May Alcott that I eventually read Little Men, Jo's Boys and all her other books.

 

[2girlsmom]

OP, are they at any point discussing what they read or testing on it? Not sure how that works with such a broad list of authors/books and everyone just choosing 3 authors and reading 3 books from each, total 9. Seems like everyone would choose different books.

Because of the broadness of the list, I'm not sure I get all the concern with why OP is allowing/steering child to books she would enjoy, obviously this is not intended to be a required reading whether someone likes it or not, which I did too, and I liked Scarlet Letter and Canterbury Tales, but absolutely DETESTED one, too, something like Guildencrest and Morganstern are dead? Supposedly it is a take off Hamlet, which I liked, but this book never made sense to me. Still read it, as it was required, just got nothing out of it. But that doesn't seem to be the case here, teach may be wanting to broaden the reading of some in the class to new authors they may not have considered, but is apparently not asking for them to read anything specific.

 

[si-am]

OP, are they at any point discussing what they read or testing on it? Not sure how that works with such a broad list of authors/books and everyone just choosing 3 authors and reading 3 books from each, total 9. Seems like everyone would choose different books.

Because of the broadness of the list, I'm not sure I get all the concern with why OP is allowing/steering child to books she would enjoy, obviously this is not intended to be a required reading whether someone likes it or not, which I did too, and I liked Scarlet Letter and Canterbury Tales, but absolutely DETESTED one, too, something like Guildencrest and Morganstern are dead? Supposedly it is a take off Hamlet, which I liked, but this book never made sense to me. Still read it, as it was required, just got nothing out of it. But that doesn't seem to be the case here, teach may be wanting to broaden the reading of some in the class to new authors they may not have considered, but is apparently not asking for them to read anything specific.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

That is one of my all-time favorite plays! It's not supposed to make a whole lot of sense because what happened to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Hamlet didn't make a whole lot of sense, either.

There's fantastic movie of it with Tim Roth and Gary Oldman.

 

[declansdad]

I don't think my DD13 cares if it was well written or not. She loves the STORY!! Books are to read and enjoyed. Yes, some are better written then others...ok. Isn't the point to enjoy what you read? Does she care if the author won a nobel or had a masters or phd in literature!! It shouldn't matter.

I have read this whole thread and have no idea why this is a problem for the OP. It seems that it is only a problem because her dd is required to pick from a supplied list. Why is that a problem, especially when there are 60 different authors on the list?

 

[mchames]

I have read this whole thread and have no idea why this is a problem for the OP. It seems that it is only a problem because her dd is required to pick from a supplied list. Why is that a problem, especially when there are 60 different authors on the list?

I don't get the problem either. It's not like she's being forced to read Heart of Darkness or Tess of the D'urbervilles. Now, those were pure torture.

I'd also love to see the list of authors.

 

[MushyMushy]

You guys don't know bad until you've been forced to read Ivanhoe!

 

[bubie2.5]

One author I googled is a homophobe . He writes scifi and DH has read some of his stuff..I crossed him off the list.

Stephenie Meyer is also a homophobe. I would've been worried if her name was on the list of authors, not because her personal beliefs, just because her books have no literary value whatsoever.

 

[golfgal]

Exactly correct ^^.

OP seems stuck on the idea that all reading must be enjoyable and it seems to be a longstanding pattern which she's determined to pass on. Sometimes we can battle our way through something not enjoying it a bit, but we find out we learned something along the way.

OP, I'm curious, how is it that the entire class read the Odyssey, yet you were exempted? BTW, you missed an incredible experience there. The genesis of most great literary themes can be traced to Greek mythology.

I'm also puzzled by your bias against the Scarlet Letter's dialect and your suspicions your DD will despise LOTR for it's made up language -- while professing a love for Shakespeare??

What I can't understand is what if her DD discovers something else she likes by doing this assignment? Wouldn't that be a good thing? I also still can't understand why mom is doing her kid's homework. Part of the assignment was to look up the authors and find the ones SHE would like, not the ones mom says she should read.

 

[JoiseyMom]

What difference if she likes them or not?
When you have a designated reading list-you read them-like them or not.

FORCING them to read what they want-most kids-esp avid readers -should be tickled pink!

If she doesn't like it, she will not read it, she will refuse. She will just take an F in the assignment/s that are involved with that book.

 

[JoiseyMom]

Part of being in school is reading things you don't necessarily enjoy. Is your daughter going to college one day? Then she needs to get used to it and learn to finish books that don't immediately catch her interest, or she'll fail out.

I also think you are doing her a real disservice by choosing her books and discouraging her from reading things you didn't like. Just because YOU didn't like Red Badge of Courage, for example, doesn't mean your daughter won't.

Another example: my mom is not a fan of Jane Austen and probably never would have chosen those books for me off a list. However, Jane Austen turned out to be one of my favorite authors ever!

I am not discouraging her from reading anything. I personally can't stand Shakespeare..she loves it, and took all the ones we had on the shelves to her room. I didn't try to discourage her from reading the Red Badge Of Courage, I just told her I hated it!! There are alot of books I read that she doesn't want to read.

The only books I won't let her read are those that I feel she is too young for, like my Ann Rice books, and items of that nature.

 

[golfgal]

If she doesn't like it, she will not read it, she will refuse. She will just take an F in the assignment/s that are involved with that book.

And......

Sorry but she needs to learn that you have to do somethings you don't like to do sometimes and if she fails the class, lesson learned. I wouldn't let her get away with that personally.

 

[JoiseyMom]

Exactly correct ^^.

OP seems stuck on the idea that all reading must be enjoyable and it seems to be a longstanding pattern which she's determined to pass on. Sometimes we can battle our way through something not enjoying it a bit, but we find out we learned something along the way.

OP, I'm curious, how is it that the entire class read the Odyssey, yet you were exempted? BTW, you missed an incredible experience there. The genesis of most great literary themes can be traced to Greek mythology.

I'm also puzzled by your bias against the Scarlet Letter's dialect and your suspicions your DD will despise LOTR for it's made up language -- while professing a love for Shakespeare??

First, I wasn't exempt, I just didn't read it, or skimmed enough to pass whatever test we had. I tried reading it, and I was bored to death. I read something else in the text book. ANd I do like Greek mythology...just not the Odyssey.

Second, I never had a bias to the Scarlett Letter, another poster did. I happened to love the Scarlet Letter and read it on my own. I liked Hawethorn.

Third, I never said DD would despise LOTR for its made up language, my DH felt that with her attention span, she might not be mature enough for it right now. Plus with the length of the books... there were other choices for her that would be a better fit.

And yes, she loved Shakespare, but that is not a made up language, it's just old English adn she loves stuff like that.