My inquiry question is, does it matter what students read in school, or is it more important that they are reading at all? To clarify, is there more value placed on reading "classic" novels as opposed to textbooks, or biographical non-fiction, or even comic books/graphic novels? My current conclusion is that while there has been more value placed on textbooks in the past, it is becoming more and more apparent that times are changing and textbooks are being reconsidered as the best reading tools.
1. Reading difficulties often stem from a lack of interest in the material than from a helpless problem. In the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy from October 2006, Kimberly Lenters looks into the problem of students who are resistant readers early on becoming struggling readers as they grow up. According to Lenters, a student's interest in reading material has a significant impact on his or her struggles with reading for school. Lenters analyzed several studies that were conducted by other experts on the topic of reading habits and issues from children in school. Lenters makes the argument that teachers need to change their ways in regard to assigned reading, for the sake of the students and their ability to grow as readers (Lenters 136-39).
I personally agree with this assessment because I know that when I was in high school, I had an English teacher who had an adverse effect on my reading habits. We were assigned six book reports that year, three each semester. The first report of the year, I decided to write on a book that I was interested in. It was an autobiography on a person that I was a pretty big fan of. I read the book completely and was more interested in what I was learning from the book than anything I'd read in a long time. I wrote my report and turned it in. I actually enjoyed writing the report, which was weird for me. A week or so later, we got our first grades. I got a "B." I was shocked. I had always been an "A" student and this was something that wasn't the slightest bit hard for me to understand and write about. I asked the teacher why I had received that grade and she told me that it was based on my choice of reading material. So for the next five book reports, I selected books that had been made into movies, watched the movies, checked some reviews on the books on Amazon.com, and wrote my reports. I never read a single one of those books. I got an "A" on every single one of those reports. Due to the teacher's reaction to my personal reading interests and the way it adversely affected my grade, I was done with assigned readings for school.
2. Reading comics and graphic novels can demonstrate emotions, situations, and lessons far better than standard text. In class, we've had several assigned readings. While I enjoyed a large number of them, the one I enjoyed the most was the graphic novel by Satrapi. Past readings have had to rely on words to convey the thoughts and feelings of the characters. Colorful descriptions with all sorts of metaphors and comparisons were made. In Satrapi's book, even though it was black and white, I was able to grasp feelings and thoughts so much quicker than in any other reading. In one panel, we can see multiple people's expressions and their reactions to what is happening around them. In text, something like that would take at least a paragraph to explain.
There's an old saying that I'd be willing to bet most of us have heard numerous times. "Actions speak louder than words." Basically, this means that you can say whatever, but to actually see something means more than all the words you could ever say or write. By using graphics to express things instead of words, the possibilities are greatly increased for both the author/artist to convey their story and the reader/student to comprehend it.
3. Teachers have already begun using readings other than texts in classes. Gene Yang is a high school teacher and a cartoonist who has seen great value in using comics in his teachings. He says that the use of comics is beneficial because comics are popular, visual, and can be motivational (Yang). I surveyed a few teachers, some that I have had in classes, and a couple that I haven't. I asked questions regarding reading assignments and the responses were actually pretty similar. Book reports, thankfully, seem to be going the way of the dinosaur. Although, the couple that have used them said they did assign the books to be read. Interestingly, every single teacher I surveyed said that they have started using other forms of literature in their teachings, be it plays, films or comics. It seems that there is an ever-growing understanding that literature can escape the pages of a book and begin to appear in various other forms.
One interesting response comes from our own professor Nancy Knowles, in which she says that there needs to be some sort of a blend between reading for engagement and structured reading assignments for uniform learning. I can see this point quite well, I obviously think students should read things that interest them, but I can understand that in order to guide developing minds, it might be necessary to have some element of control over what they're taking in.
To conclude, I would like to get your responses on the following question: do you think that students should be told what to read, or should they be free to my that choice on their own? And also, do you think there are greater benefits to exploring other forms of literature, or should classrooms continue to be full of copies of Charles Dickens novels and Moby Dick?
WORKS CITED
Lenters, Kimberly. "Resistance, struggle, and the adolescent reader." Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. 50.2 (2006): 136-46. Print.
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. 1st ed. Paris, France: Pantheon, 2003. Print.
Yang, Gene. "Comics In Education." Humble Comics.com. 2003. Gene Yang, Web. 2 Nov 2009.
