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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So...what do you do in class when everyone is reading a different book? Granted I was in MS almost twenty years ago at a private school, but as I recall we did a lot of discussing the plot, symbolism, character motivation, close reading, etc. Or is literary analysis now outdated as well? It seems like “read something you love to develop a sense of joy with the written word” is for SSR in elementary school, not middle or HS English class. What’s changed?

(PS: we read Kindred in seventh grade and idk if it counts as a classic but it was great!)[/quote]

They can still discuss all those in the context of their own book. Track YOUR character’s development. What motivates them? What do their words and choices reveal about them? How does YOUR book use imagery or setting to impact the story? They can do all that and have discussions around big questions (e.g., “Who or what determines whose stories get told?”) in the context of their own  book.  All books have plot, characters, dialogue, literary devices- they’re just applying their knowledge of those things to analyze how they work in their book and to what effect. [/quote]

I agree that kids should have some choice, but if they write essays about this you would have to be familiar with every single book to be able to evaluate it. I would be disappointed if my junior didn't have any classroom discussions. HS's should read something like On Democracy or other book about societal issues (e.g. environment) and discuss since they will be future voters. I doubt that most teens are able to write as passionately about a book, as they are able to discuss it. To not have a single group required book is a missed opportunity at best.[/quote]

Not necessarily. If a kid can say “the theme of my book is this” and then back it up with textual support and evidence that they analyze and explain and connect, they have done a typical HS classroom writing task. The cool thing about literature is there doesn’t always have to be one right answer. I might think a theme is A but if someone else thinks it B and can back that up with evidence from the text, they’re not wrong.  If I say write a letter to someone in authority about the social issue in your book, I’m assessing their writing skills- I don’t have to know a single thing about that book to know whether their letter was written appropriately, meets the task, etc. There would be tons of opportunity for class discussion and Socratic seminars.

No English class in my school reads On Democracy fwiw. Maybe the history classes do. [/quote]

I agree that some kids could do this, but could all of the kids? And, what if they missed an important theme? It could be hard to evaluate?

I'm not following how there would be a discussion and Socratic seminar?? If all the books were on say racism, wouldn't kids have to do a lot of explaining (an entire scene or plot) to get their point across if others hadn't read it?[/quote]

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