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An English Teacher’s Dirty Secret that Could Unlock the Door to Voracious High School Readers by Amanda Palmer
High school English teachers are an unconventional lot. We are equal parts quirky and fun, obsessive and fanatical. We are perfectionists … often times to our detriment. While we may seem like know-it-alls, we often fret over whether we are good enough to take on the herculean task of teaching almost adults to read deeply and analytically.
If you are around a group of English teachers long enough and make it to the right happy hour, you may have an opportunity to see them bare their souls in a game that could only be titled English Teacher “I Never”. This is the moment over salted peanuts and a glass of Pinot that a member of the group either feels empowered or simply cannot live the lie any longer. She leans forward and lets the bomb drop. It usually takes the form of, “I can’t believe I’m admitting this but I’ve never read *insert classic novel here*.” There is a moment of simmering silence where the offending teacher wonders if she should hurriedly recant, then someone else adds their own classic reading transgression.
Slowly, the group begins to feel lighter as they share the classic literature they have failed to read and later move on to discussing the books that they really enjoyed reading. These texts are vast and varied including a smattering of the classics. I’ve seen this happen (and participated) many times. Unfortunately, rather than realizing the group has discovered something important, they generally enter a shame pact and agree to never speak of the moment again. For this reason, the myth prevails that all English teachers enjoy all classic literature. Students continue to be faced with whole-class classic literature selections that we will never know whether or not they enjoy because, like us, they aren’t really reading them either. Meanwhile, this seemingly dirty secret could save us all.
To be fair, I would contend that every English teacher has pieces of classic literature they adore; however, that list is different for each person reflecting his or her own tastes and life experiences. Yet, we expect an entire class of students that is far from homogenous to interact with the text the way we once did. Worse, we want them to read the text that they are just now discovering along with us as we read from our highlighted, tabbed, overly annotated copy that we adore for the ninth time. If we are lucky, the text will speak to a few in every class. What then to do with the other thirty students?
Recently, I tried to chart the assigned readings I had while in middle school and high school. I could only remember two books with certainty: The Bridge to Terabithia and Walkabout. I only remember these middle school texts because they cemented my hatred for any selection where the main character dies. I remember nothing I read in my high school English courses. These were advanced courses where I know I was introduced to Hawthorne, Poe, Shakespeare, and Chaucer, but I have zero recollection of these events despite my high grades. What I do remember are the books I chose to read outside of class. I went through an Antebellum Era phase where I read Gone with the Wind, North and South, and later Uncle Tom’s Cabin and The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass because I wanted a more balanced perspective. Those books stuck with me and shaped me as a reader and lover of literature. I can’t imagine what my growth could have been had a teacher interacted with me concerning these texts. How many students are out there like me? Is our instruction meeting their needs?
I now work with a high school that is tackling these difficult questions. They are beginning to let go of the whole class novel in favor of shorter texts and excerpts. They are heavily focused on skill acquisition allowing students to read books of their own selection. The teachers are teaching skills through mini lessons using these shorter class texts and then expecting students to transfer these skills into their own reading, in texts of their choosing. The students in these classes are challenged on a daily basis. The teachers are energized. They look forward to working with these students each day. They go home tired but inspired.
These same teachers once felt that no student could exit high school without spending significant quality time with Jay Gatsby. While they’ve embraced the importance of classic literature in the classroom, it’s through the intense study of language usage in a section of The Great Gatsby rather than allocating pages to be read each night and study questions to be answered. Their goal is to develop analytical readers who will read The Great Gatsby and The Scarlet Letter cover-to-cover because they want to, not to simply memorize plot points.
English teachers are on to something important, particularly at the high school level. Becoming a lifelong reader is not always easy. Learning to analyze complex texts is far more difficult. Forcing students to read whole texts they do not care for is not building enough self-motivated, analytical readers. Let’s focus on the skills students need to master and transfer to their own reading and writing lives. Then the class text is a mere vehicle to highlight those skills during instruction. The student-selected text becomes an opportunity for students to develop these skills and the agency to determine which skill is best for a given task. This, more than any whole class piece of literature, will prepare students for the rigors of life beyond high school while simultaneously creating lifelong readers.
Amanda Palmer began her career as a high school English teacher and will identify herself as such until her dying day. She currently serves as a Secondary Language Arts Coordinator in the Katy Independent School District in Katy, Texas. She is a wife, mother, and runner who remains forever grateful for the audiobooks that make long runs possible. Connect with her on Twitter @AmandaPalmer131.
Nerdy Book Club 
This was a great commentary on the reality of an English teacher and the importance of self-selection and skills taught/experienced in mini-lessons. Keep up the good work and words!
Thank you for your kind words!
I’m very interested in what you are doing in the schools in your district. As a speech-language pathologist in a local high school, I see what happens when students are assigned books above their reading (and interest) level. Nothing!
At the opposite end of the spectrum, as a mother I watched my son develop a disdain for books as he was forced to read THE GRAPES OF WRATH and a long list of other classics in honors English. This broke my heart since I am also an author and books are my passion.
His senior year I finally talked him out of signing up for honors and going into an alternative English. Interestingly, he chose a class on Shakespeare. The difference was that it was his choice. He is now a voracious reader of books on philosophy which is his particular interest. So many of our teaching practices do not foster a love of reading, or even a tolerance of it. What they instill is a contempt for literature. I love finding out when educators have discovered creative avenues for connecting kids to books. Kudos to you and your district.
Thank you, Carolee. Anecdotes like yours are why we must continue to push ourselves as educators beyond what is comfortable. We’re losing readers.
I think it’s ironic that English teachers are some of the most strong willed people I know (myself included) yet we’re surprised when students rebel at a lack of choice. That was a big aha for me.
Our district is a work in progress. I’m so proud of our gains and look forward to assisting teachers and departments in making this transition. It’s not easy and there are many kinks to iron out, but it is so worth it.
Yes! I love to see ELA coordinators backing, pushing, supporting teachers as departments move together into a choice reading model. I was an island for years. I am now at a school where most of the teachers see the effects of what Kelly Gallagher dubbed Readicide. Sometimes English teachers forget that our number one goal should be to move our students as readers and writers. In my experience, and I’ve done both whole class classics and independent reading with excerpts from classics, my students not only move as readers and writers with the model you share here, they become readers and writers.
I wonder,Amanda, have your AP teachers made this shift as well? I see this, too: a whole department will change, but AP teachers are the last hold out. If our general ed students thrive so much with choice, what about our honors and advanced students? Imagine their growth. I just had this convo with a reading specialist yesterday. We wonder if it’s a teacher’s insecurity –choice does require letting go of some control, or is it a misunderstanding of rIgor?
If you don’t already know, readers and writers workshop works in AP English, too. My students are evidence.
I am excited for your students and your teachers. You set a great example for us all, lovers of language and reading everywhere.
Thank you, Amy. Funny you should mention AP, since I’ve shared all of your blog posts concerning this with our teachers. I think it’s a topic that needs more investigation before pre AP and AP is ready to embrace as a whole. There are outliers, though. Hopefully, some of our AP teachers will read these comments and respond with what they are doing in the classroom.
Yes! Your school is creating authentic readers with a clear pathway to books of all kinds, including those classics.
Your strongest resistance is likely to come from teachers who rarely choose to read anything, so they don’t understand the motivational nature of choice.
Thank you, Gary! That is our goal. One step at a time…
Unfortunately, it takes years to change a culture of assigned reading. Your post makes so much sense, it’s beyond me why more teachers don’t buy into this practice. I have found leading by example instead of pushing has helped me convert a few of those “I’ve taught MOBY DICK for 25 years and by God, I’ll teach it this year, too”- well meaning English teachers.
Brooks, you bring up an interesting point. Many came to HS language arts because they personally enjoyed and had great success in a traditional, whole class, classic literature focused course. When they dreamed of their careers that structure is what was envisioned. No one could have imagined the digital advances that’s would come with the 21st century or the autonomy it would encourage. I try to remember that this paradigm shift robs many educators of what they thought their career would hold. Even assuming, as I believe, that this shift is best for kids, this would be unsettling for anyone who held that vision.
Every English teacher I serve wants what is best for kids, it’s an ongoing discussion as to what exactly that is and how to reach it.
Yes! Please, please, please! Student choice is by far one of the greatest motivators in shaping life-long readers and students who fall in love with the words, the meaning, and the magic of how 26 letters rearranged into a different order over and over again can make the most beautiful books. We need more high school teachers to understand this idea and to embrace it with both arms.
I teach middle school and my students choose all of their books to read. We still teach the elements of literature, but I can teach theme and then they can find it in their own books, where it has meaning and relevance. Same for setting, atmosphere, mood. Then, as students move on through life, they can readily see these in their own books and they will have an appreciation for books that we will love! Please, do.this.more! And thank you!
Thank you for your comment, Kristen. I fully intend to borrow your line about the magic of 26 letters. Good stuff!
I hope to see this movement grow and will be there to support and problem solve with our teachers every step of the way. It’s important work for our future.
If any high school teacher needs help picturing what this looks like, they could probably stop in a 4th or 5th grade class where they are very likely to see this in action. If the reader’s workshop model is being done well, they’ll see 9-12 year olds thinking and talking about their thinking with the kind of passion they would like out of their 9th-12th graders.
I agree, Tonia. My daughter is a strong reader in the first grade and learning in a workshop environment with plenty of choice. The depth of understanding she has for both structure and content continually surprise me. Sadly, I realize that she is retaining more about grammar and plot structure now than many of the HS students that I busted my tush to teach six classic works to back when I was in the classroom. If only I had known then what I know now. Thanks for commenting!
Ironically I just wrote about a high school English teacher I had decades ago. I applauded her for including women writers and short story authors on her required reading list. To this day Where are You Going, Where Have you Been? by Joyce Carol Oates haunts me. I have found that a lot of the forced required reading which exhausted me in high school enthralled me as a free to choose it adult. There is so much out there to choose from–where do you even begin? p.s. I’ve still not read Moby Dick and I only read The Great Gatsby recently. Did I enjoy it? Sure. Have there been a stack of books I’ve enjoyed even more? Most definitely.
Yes. Yes! I find I closely resemble a teenager- I don’t like being told what to do. Allow me the freedom to discover and find my niche, then I will dive into a learning opportunity. I would wager that a lot (most?) HS English teachers are like me. Instruction would look very different if we planned with this in mind. Thanks for commenting!
This definitely strikes a resonating chord. Teaching Brit Lit with the usual required novel is not working like it once might have. Teens lose the urge to read after middle school. I’m fortunate to get students immersed in To Kill a Mockingbird in ninth grade. It’s dicey after that. Lord of the Flies in tenth? Maybe. Great Gatsby or F451 in eleventh? Possibly. Twelfth? Hoping for Frankenstein or Time Machine or even Pride and Prejudice. I taught Hamlet via Mel Gibson this year. It will probably be novel excerpt and movie clips for Gulliver’s Travels. It’s becoming tougher to compete with the screen; this generation doesn’t seem to take to books unless they are on the AP track.
Thank you for commenting! I wonder if these same students might one day choose a classic such as The Lord of the Flies or Frankenstein if provided the right reading ladder. If this term is new to you, check out Teri Lesesne’s text: Reading Ladders. It’s a game changer.
Thank you for this post. I love your honesty and passion. In my opinion, balanced literacy instruction is a blessing and much needed reform for high school students. Thanks for helping get this work done well. And a loud Amen to audiobooks!
I appreciate your kind comments! It always a little scary to share ideas that might not prove popular. Many thanks.
Amanda, I agree. I graduated from high school decades ago and my memory of required reading is very short: Lord of the Flies and Black like Me. I vividly remember reading Edgar Allan Poe and shaking in my bed — not sure if that was my choice or required.
If the practice of using excerpts from classics could be used in elementary school my son might have had a different experience with reading. In 3rd grade he was required to read and write a report on books selected by his teacher. He hated the task and abandoned casual reading during his 4th grade year. He’s a prolific reader in college and savors reading books written by philosophers. What a transformation!
I enjoy your blog very much!
Thank you!
When I taught eighth and tenth grades our school required classic texts, but I tried to balance the college prep texts with popular novels that the students would never choose on their own (too long!). Little did they know that Jurassic Park (8th) and The Kite Runner (10th) would hold their attention through 400 pages. On their own, they would never attempt to read such a book for recreation. We broke down the reading into manageable bites and helped students move through longer texts with fun, suspense, and curiosity. These were not honor students, and many resisted reading. However, almost all reported a sense of accomplishment when we finished the novel together. Many of them identified themselves as “readers” after that. I believe in choice for readers, but hand-holding kids through a group experience can also model reading enjoyment.
Thank you for reading and commenting! I agree that a class shared text, a touchstone piece, is powerful in a learning community, but I feel that less is more. I advocate allowing students the time to take those lessons and skills into texts they choose and apply them. If there are too many shared texts that leaves no time for student application with teacher involvement to correct any misunderstandings and reteach as needed. This time is where I would argue the true transfer of skills occurs leading our students to use what we’ve taught as they select books and work with assigned readings in their future.
I enjoyed your piece, Amanda! You are so correct in that it is difficult to bring about change. Can you offer any research that supports this model? I’d love to share that with my district teachers.
Thank you so much for your kind words. I apologize for my delayed response. It’s been a crazy work week with a sick baby tossed in just to make it interesting. I would be happy to share the research that has guided us; however, Donalyn Miller’s blog post (at http://bookwhisperer.com/blog/) does significantly better than I could in summarizing the research. Please feel free to email me at amandakaypalmer(at)yahoo(dot)com if you would like to further discuss our research.
I enjoyed reading your post, Amanda! You are right about the difficulty of bringing change to teachers. Would you mind sharing the research behind this model? I would love to share this with my district.
I would be happy to share the research that has guided us; however, Donalyn Miller’s blog post (at http://bookwhisperer.com/blog/) does significantly better than I could in summarizing the research. Please feel free to email me at amandakaypalmer(at)yahoo(dot)com if you would like to further discuss our research.
I agree entirely with the sentiments here. We need a pedagogical shift to suit the needs of our current students. Too often we’re teaching the way we were taught, which, let’s face it, didn’t always even work for us. Soldier on!
This week Taylor Swift exposed my seventh graders to Shakespeare and Hawthorne. In finding examples of metaphor, we ran across the lines, “You were Romeo, I was the Scarlet Letter.” I described the plots of both stories to them so they would understand the comparisons. With wide eyes they all got excited about reading books with such a scandal. My twelve-year-olds, most of whom choose a steady diet of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, now anxiously await reading classics! I was grateful for the opportunity to turn them on to two of my favorites, even though I’m sure a few will still have that mid-life happy hour confession that they never read them!