This affords me a lot of freedom in my choice of literature, aside from using the textbook of course, but it also gives me a little bit of a panic attack. I mean, I could do ANYTHING with them! So much freedom! So much control! And SO much good literature to choose from!
I also wonder to myself how much I can "get away" with in this new town. I can't wait to get an idea of what other teachers have done there, for, knowing me, I'd want to push my students through some more difficult and multicultural literature. I love things that deal with race, religion, disability, age, and hot-button topics. Hopefully my administrators will love choices like that, too.
Here are some of my choices for my eighth graders. I have always loved The Giver. It is such a great book and I know that kids can get a lot out of it. Along with The Giver, I also read Night in 8th grade. It started my interest in all things Holocaust-related, and I really enjoyed it. This might be a little difficult for 8th graders, but I bet I could get them through it. The book Island of the Blue Dolphins was something I read on my own in my middle school years and I really loved it. The story, the vocabulary, everything was so new to me. As for the first picture up there, I only read The Hunger Games this year because it's so new, but I could not put it down. If I could get my students through it (it's really long!) I just know we'd have a good time.
The selections for my sophomores, as expected, are the most difficult. There are some books that I know all sophomores should read, so, instead, I've posted here the books I dream about going through with 10th graders. The Joy Luck Club is rich in culture and would present a good challenge for my 10th graders, but if World Literature is in a different year, I might have to forgo this one. The Awakening is one of those works that contains difficult subject matter, but if I could take my students through it, the depth of conversation and the life topics we could cover would be so exciting. Flowers for Algernon is a book that I read a few years ago because I knew it was one of those classics that everyone should read. Loved it. And it would be very accessible and exciting for my students. I have always been grateful to my 8th grade English teacher for making us read Alas, Babylon. This books has always stuck with me and floats around in my head quite often. I could do this with either 8th grade or 10th grade.
Now for my senior literature. This is probably the most challenging category because the senior year in most high schools varies because of all the different options available. Since I'll have only one option, I'm going to try to format it like an AP Literature/IB World Literature course. This means some difficult and very GOOD literature. The Twilight Years, like Alas, Babylon, has stuck with me ever since I read it in my junior IB course. I found it heartbreaking, touching, and very diverse (it deals with multiple levels of culture, age, and disability). The only book on this post that I have not read yet (although, trust me, there are more than I'd like to admit on my master list in front of me) is Camus's The Stranger. It's one of those that I think would really challenge me personally and as a teacher. I'm going to try to read it this summer. Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies was introduced to me in college and I loved every word of it. It includes so much detail about Indian culture and heritage, and because it's actually a collection of short stories, I could do excerpts from it, if needed. 1984, a staple in almost every senior English course, is on my list as well. I liked the way I saw another teacher do it once, so I might try that.
It was fun coming up with these things tonight, so I'm looking forward to re-reading, analyzing, and planning. It might sound dull to some of you, but I'm excited for it!
1 comment:
The Twilight Years must must MUST be a part of that literature. It was my absolute favorite book that I read my senior year.
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