education

Learning from Fiction

There are lots of ways we learn through the written word.  Textbooks are the most obvious, though not always very effective in and of themselves.  Nonfiction books can be a great way to learn about almost anything you can imagine–cultures, history, technology, or just the lives of interesting people.

We can learn through novels as well.  Hard-working authors who do their research can infuse factual tidbits seamlessly into the plot, and we can learn through a character’s choices and their evolution through the story.

It recently occurred to me that there’s a key difference between the nonfiction and fiction approaches to learning, though.  Nonfiction generally sets out to teach–that’s the whole point, to be informative.  In fiction done right–in my opinion–it’s up to the reader to learn, and what they take from the story can vary.  The parallels they draw will depend on their own worldview and experiences, and that’s what makes it so fun–that feeling of finding your own meaning.

What happens, however, when someone sets out to write a novel with the nonfiction writer’s intention of teaching in mind?  Does it still work?  I’m not sure.  I haven’t tried it myself.  Do you get a “moral of the story” or after-school special feel as a result?  If so, that could be a problem.  I can’t speak for all teenagers, but my students are master cynics.  If they sense a story’s been contrived to teach them something, brace for imminent eye-rolling.

Does it come down to ensuring Story trumps Message?  Is it more a matter of not talking down to your audience?  Or are those two related?  Something to think about as I dig through the latest YA works to find books to recommend to those charming cynics.

 

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English Class #1: Required Reading

A couple days ago I was eavesdropping on the weekly YALitChat on Twitter.  It’s too bad I was too busy to pick up more than just the comments from people I already follow, since the topic was how teachers influence what teens read.  Some statements about required reading lists, curriculum, etc. caught my attention.

I thought back to my own experiences as a student.  Honestly, I don’t remember most of what I was required to read back then.  I remember reading some Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet and The Merchant of Venice) and A Tale of Two Cities in ninth grade.  My teacher that year was smart enough to discuss the themes in a modern context so the books weren’t just old and dusty to us.  (There was a particularly heated discussion when he insisted that arranged marriages were the only intelligent way to do things.)

The rest of high school, though?  I remember packets of short stories, but I don’t remember titles, authors, or the stories themselves.  There were probably worksheets involved.

You know what else I don’t remember?  The popular books for teens at the time.  I don’t think I read them … too stuck in sci-fi land back then.  Can anyone help me out?  What was hot in YA back in the mid- to late-90s?  Was there YA as such?  I never considered myself a “normal” teenager, so I have no idea what was considered “normal” to read.

Is it the same story now?  Nothing but classics, no current works?  From the transcript of the chat, it seems to vary widely.  I can only talk about what I know firsthand, at my current school.

We’re lucky for a few reasons.  Our classes are tiny (I think eight students is the biggest), so if teachers want to order copies of a current book, it’s not a financial hardship.  This year we started giving students two Language Arts classes – one for reading and one for writing.  This means a lot more time for covering more novels.  I know one of my colleagues tends to alternate – a book from the curriculum list, then one the students choose.

How do I influence my students’ reading, especially as a math teacher?  We have twenty minutes of required silent reading time after lunch every day.  For that, I’m in the “I don’t care what they read as long as they read something” camp, particularly because I have struggling readers that period.  I happily help one girl understand the articles in fashion magazines and explain new words to a boy who reads online graphic novels.

Other than that, I keep a shelf of loaner YA books (which no one seems to expect from the MATH teacher).  They see me reading them, and it’s fun to discuss what they did and didn’t like after they finish each book.  The kids like series, so I’ve got Uglies, Hunger Games, Darkest Powers, and Mortal Instruments sitting up there.

And of course, students keep telling me to get mine published and add it to the collection.

I’m working on it. 🙂

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School Talk: Jess M. Brallier

Students at my school (K-12) had a great experience today, hearing from Jess M. Brallier (author of Tess’s Tree and involved in the publishing of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, among many other things).  This was the culmination of our first Author Illustrator Competition, where kids school-wide wrote, illustrated, edited, designed, and produced books.

Very interesting to hear from “someone on the inside” here in our little school.  I loved the beginning, when he introduced the concepts of publisher, author, and reader – especially since our students are deaf and very visually inclined.  As publisher, he wore a smart blazer and coordinating hat, very sophisticated.  As author, he wore a scary-loud plaid jacket with a fur-lined cap.  As reader, he was a regular guy wearing a baseball cap.

After setting up two volunteer students as the author and reader (on opposite sides of the stage), he explained a publisher’s role as getting the author’s work to the reader.  He did a great job explaining how this could involve getting it physically from the author’s cabin in Wyoming to a bookstore in New York, or getting it translated into Chinese, or getting it published online.

The best part was knowing how huge this was for at least a couple students who I know want to become writers.  Thanks to this, they know more about the process than I did at their age.  I think all the students gained some insight into where books come from and how much goes into it.

Interesting note: The student who asked the most (and some of the best) questions was a self-confessed non-reader.  I wonder if she was just curious because she knows I’m in the process of trying to get published. 😉

Anyone else have interesting experiences with school talks by authors (either giving or seeing one)?  This was more the publishing perspective, but what other information about writing do you think would benefit students?

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