By: Amanda Margis
This article touches on the shocking studies that showed high school students reading on a fifth grade level. Amanda Margis imposes the question, “what should kids be reading? One answer to this question is using more young adult literature in high school classes to increase interest and reading levels.” The article even brings up a story about a teacher who got suspended for reading a passage from the young adult book Ender’s Game. Because the book was on a list of young adult books that were banned by the state. Margis pretty much states the sad truth about how hard it is to be able to incorporate young adult books for students because of all the restrictions placed in schools. Margis mentions how readers develop a stronger connection to texts when they are able to actually see themselves and their struggles in the story.
I found this article remarkably compelling. It almost angers me how low students are scoring on reading level and all schools are doing is setting them up for failure with tests. They think more focus on test-based curriculum is not the solution. We should be trying to get students excited about learning so therefore they are succeeding academically. Yet, we continue to crack down on them make zero changes in the curriculum, and to make matter worse we are banning books that students should be reading. Books they can greatly benefit from are being kept from them and books they aren’t making connections to are the ones they are forced to read. How does this even begin to make sense? This is why I feel that our education system is failing our students. We aren’t preparing them for college and we are discouraging them from pursuing further education, because when you have to tell a child that they are reading at an elementary level after they’ve put their trust in you to educate them, it’s like a slap in the face, If they can’t count on us, who can they count on?
Why YA in the Classroom
Recently a report on high school students and reading levels came out with an alarming headline:“High Schoolers Reading at 5th Grade-Level.” Covered previously here at The Hub, the report gathered data suggesting that a majority of high school students are reading below grade level. It also asked an important question: what should kids be reading? One answer to this question is using more young adult literature in high school classes to increase interest and reading levels. YA is more popular than ever thanks to a certain dystopian series being turned into an insanely popular movie. But this strategy is not without its drawbacks.
Last month a teacher in South Carolina was suspended for reading aloud a passage from Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, a YA science fiction book considered by many a classic and often taught in schools in units dealing with identity and morality. The Arizona State Legislature passed legislation last year effectively banning YA titles that had previously been used in successful multicultural studies curriculum. John Green recently defended his book Looking For Alaska (the 2006 Printz Award winner) on Twitter after it was removed from a school reading list on the basis it is“pornographic.”
YA books are far from being universally accepted in school classrooms. Their inclusion presents unique challenges (sometimes literally) but also amazing opportunities. A compelling reason to include YA literature in classrooms is content. Teens, like most readers, appreciate characters and situation that are familiar to them and their lives. Readers have a stronger connection to the text when they can see themselves and their struggles in the story. YA literature also offers readers diverse characters, compelling stories, and high quality writing. When incorporated into literature curricula, YA titles can offer a wide spectrum of views on popular themes like identity, conflict, society and survival. YA literature can be easily incorporated into classroom through literature circles, supplemental reading lists, multimedia projects, and of course being paired with canonical texts typically used in classrooms.
Source: http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2012/04/09/why-ya-in-the-classroom/
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