I was fascinated by this opinion column in the Seattle Times today. Are you allowing yourself enough flexibility for delight-directed learning? Or are you putting your Enlgish credits in a box? Do you feel insecure because you aren’t really sure what “Language Arts 10″ means? And how many books do your children read each year in high school. Read it over for yourself, and see what you think.
Seattle Sacrifices Monster Lit
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2009319746_bruce10.html
“We should allow principals and teachers to select the curriculum that best fits the needs of their particular students.”
Some ideas for English credits that are listed in the article – these are currently taught in Seattle Public schools right now.
- poetry,
- speech,
- creative writing,
- expository writing,
- journalism,
- science fiction,
- sports literature,
- early American literature,
- modern American literature,
- social-issues literature,
- African-American literature,
- Shakespeare
- literature and philosophy.
In the article, it talkd about a teacher is trying to include a class on literature of monsters, encouraging students to read these books:
- Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,”
- Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick,”
- Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,”
- Albert Camus’ “The Plague,”
- and something from Edgar Allan Poe
What a great list of books, and what a fabulous idea for a class! Think of all the other “monster” books you could include! Phantom of the Opera…. War of the Worlds!
I always have trouble explaining what “Language Arts” means, and there is such a wide variety of what you can do with an English credit. So I love this quote from the article:
“But if someone asks what “LA 10″ means, “Right now I can’t tell them what it means,” says Cathy Thompson, Seattle Public Schools’ executive director of curriculum and instruction.
Did you notice how the schools only require two years of English? That’s not enough! It’s not enough for college, and it’s certainly not enough to learn how to read and write well. I can see why colleges express concern about the reading and writing ability of public school students.
It was interesting to see how many books they read in an English class. The article says, “Each year, students will read two novels chosen by the central office. There will be two more from a short list and further choices from a longer list.” Looks like 6 books in an average year for an average high school student.
What an interesting and helpful article! Feel free in your language arts choices. Don’t beat yourself up if your child only reads 6 books a year. Strive for better than public schools, of course, but don’t beat yourself up unnecessarily, either. I hope you find the article as encouraging as I did.
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Christianbook.com Curriculum Page
Meredith says:
This is great news Lee, thank you for the link. I’m pretty sure we’ll be doing better than 6 books a year
Blessings!
June 11th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Christy says:
hmmm…this is twice this morning that I saw something about delight directed learning. How come that makes me feel much more uneasy than it should?
June 12th, 2009 at 5:19 am
J W says:
Christy – could you explain more about what you’re feeling? Maybe some of us could help you sort through your uneasiness. What does delight directed learning mean to you?
June 12th, 2009 at 8:03 am