It is difficult to get 6-12th graders to read. This isn’t even an argument about getting them to read well, closely or critically. They just don’t read. Sometimes they don’t even read things that they would actually enjoy like The Catcher in the Rye or The Things They Carried. And it’s infuriating. As teachers, we often bemoan the lack of reading our students do. But what’s to be done? Offering student choice is important but it can be daunting even for a seasoned teacher. Finding resources that are well written and engaging can prove exhausting. And in light of technology’s effect on publication shouldn’t students be reading a variety of online texts?
It’s no wonder we struggle.
My argument is not that we do away with Heart of Darkness or The Scarlet Letter or even the glorious Light in August. Students need to be challenged and held accountable. But I do want students to read texts they find enjoyable without sacrificing journalistic and literary merit.
So many educators argue the need for students to critically analyze a variety of texts. And so many more argue the importance of using blogs in the classroom. But frequently those two arguments don’t overlap in a way that identifies blogs as texts to supplement student reading. In all fairness, it can be difficult to find blogs that students can read consistently for style, argument and substance. And yet, they do exist. It is the goal of this week’s post to identify them and discuss how to use them in classroom. These posts will consider a variety of student interests (i.e. science, technology, cars, pop culture) without sacrificing quality in hopes that as an educator you can have students spend a “unit” or even a quarter towards studying and reading blogs.