In junior high/middle school, I thoroughly enjoyed reading. I remember vividly my friends and I used to get together at one house and talk about Sweet Valley High, a series of books. The main characters were two twin sisters where one was the bad girl and one was the good girl. I'm sure this plot sounds familiar. We used to exchange books and share books with each other. We had our own book club so to speak. Eat your heart out, Oprah! I saw reading as a means of traveling/ time transport to another place filled with wonder and new adventures. My brother, Christopher used to share with me, only after being yelled at by my mom and my grandmother, his pick your own adventure books. I remember you would read and then reach a page where you had to choose for a character, make a decision for them and turn to that specific page. Each decision had a different ending. As a result, you were able to read the same book at least twice and have a different experience and ending.
One of my favorite field trips of all time occurred in middle school. We went to Edgar Allan Poe's house. I was in the seventh grade and so excited I thought my mom might medicate me. He was and still is one of my favorite authors, especially at this time of year. I remember reading and watching the movies they made from his stories always starring Vincent Price. Some of my Edgar Allan Poe favorites are: Cask of Amontillado, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven and The Black Cat.
From my mom and my grandmother, I learned to love reading. About an hour before bedtime, they used to make us turn off the TV, put away our headphones, turn off the radio and read. It did not matter if we read a book or a magazine. What mattered was that we were reading. It calmed ourselves before going to bed and also brought us together as a family. I did realize I was and still am a much slower reader than my classmates. This may be perhaps to fully comprehend the concept/storyline or just because I take in each book/article/story detail by detail. I enjoy learning about new cultures, countries, continents and characters to this day from my reading.
Danielle, look at you with the fancy background and all :) Congrats! You know, as a read through these histories I am often struck how similar the stories and the interests are to my own. I considered myself a non-reader for most of K-12 education (even into college). However, as I read these I am remembering my interest in Poe and the chose your own adventure books. I just read Ellen's blog and she reminded me of how much I loved my fourth grade teacher reading aloud Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and then my fierce consumption of the Fudge books. I also think about my love for Calvin & Hobbes in my teenage years. So I think it is funny that I viewed myself as a nonreader when I really was a reader. It just goes to show that my interests weren't tapped and/or what I read wasn't valued. I think we need to think about this as we teach reading. I am concerned that the CCSS while really good in theory might put more pressure on reading teachers and they will not have the ability to know their students' interests or allow for choice reading, independent reading, or reading aloud. This is why I am a huge advocate for getting those content teachers to also be reading teachers and to be just as responsible to meet the CCSS in literacy as the ELA teacher. By the way, how much do you love "The Bells"? It was one of my favorites to read aloud to students.
ReplyDeleteDear Pfrofessor,
DeleteI was going to read to the sixth grade The Raven on Halloween but they chose the Cask of Amontillado. From your recommendation, I played for my seventh graders The Bells, a read aloud on You Tube from Christopher Walken and they loved it on Halloween.
I agree that it is everyone's job to get the students interested in reading not just the ELA teacher. In our little school, we always kid to others that third floor, the middle school is a world unto itself. We work well together and constantly seek to improve the whole child.
I loved Sweet Valley Twins/High as a kid too! I had all of them! LOL. I did the same with my friends as you did with yours. We used to read the same ones at the same time so we could talk about them or we would trade volumes we happened to be missing that particular one. We we also crazy about Nancy Drew. I think I may still have a few of those books in my basement!
ReplyDeleteIf you are still a fan of Poe, I recommend Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen. I don't know how much of it is actually true, but the main character of the book is a woman who is believed to be romantically involved with Poe although he is married. I really enjoyed it.
Dear Nicole,
DeleteThank you for the recommendation. I never heard of this book but I will look it up. I remeber riding my bike over to my friend's house on a Friday night or sleeping over on Saturday and we would talk books, paint our nails and try to get as many people we know to trade books. How funny you have some of the books in your basement. I don't remember much about Nancy Drew. My mom would recommend them but then I would turn to the next Tiger Beat magazine.
Danielle you have peaked my interest the Sweet Valley Twins/High series. Amazon here I come! But like you and Nicole mentioned I do remember reading about Poe and believe it or not Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys as well. Wow I had totally forgotten about those. I would have loved to have been able to go to Poe's residence as a child, but our eighth grade trip was memorable too. We went to Washington D.C., no chaperones, just several teachers. We were allowed to visit the Smithsonian in group, on our own and then we had to meet back on the mall in from of the Washington Monument. Those were definitely different times, seems like ages ago...
ReplyDeleteNadia, you kill me. You are so good at getting things on Amazon. One of my brothers read the Hardy Boys as well. I believe they even made some Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew movies if I'm not mistaken. Yes, in Poe's house, I believe it was in Richmond. The tour guide spoke in this erie voice and we were all creeped out seventh graders. I played The Bells, a read aloud on Youtube for my seventh graders for Halloween and they loved it.
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