How do you choose the texts your students will read?
聽discusses the results of a survey on the factors that influence teachers鈥� decisions about instructional texts in the English classroom:
鈥渞esults indicate that teachers attempt to make careful decisions about texts, weighing curricular factors as well as student needs and interests. However, teachers make these decisions in complicated contexts where resources are tight and practices such as whole-class novel study make these decisions difficult to make well.鈥�
Well, you knew that, didn鈥檛 you? But did you ever consider your selection of texts for your students as advocacy for their learning? Because it is.
points out,
“Teachers quickly recognize that text selection is not as simple as drawing from one universal list or a single 鈥渃anon鈥� of literary texts.鈥�
And in 鈥�,” Kierstin H Thompson describes the results of her interviews with teachers about how they select books:
鈥淭he fact that high school English teachers consider a variety of factors such as genre, literary era, student interest, student ability, aesthetic value, and point of view as part of their evaluation indicates that they have a lot to say about how they read and frame learning in their ELA classrooms鈥� Teachers as part of their knowledge and experience can heighten students鈥� consciousness and interests through the nuances of the text, a skill critical to creating dynamic learning.鈥�
Think about it–when you choose texts for your students聽this Advocacy Month, and all the other months of the year, you advocate聽for their聽learning.