Sunday, January 22, 2012

Carthage Must Be Destroyed

Thanks to one of my classes this semester, I read an article by Garret Keizer in Harper's Magazine September 2011 edition called "The Re-Education of an American Teacher". The idea I couldn't shake came from the end of the article when he references the Romans eventual defeat of Carthage, where they discovered sacrifices of children to Moloch. Is my classroom sacrificing these kids to Moloch, the Pearson standardized testing god? I hope not! So the question then becomes, what do I do to support my students in the best possible way? Our school has certain texts that we teach to the sophomores, but I wonder if they wouldn't be better served by taking away one of those texts and just spending time looking for books they would enjoy reading... I'll keep you updated on my thoughts.
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1 comment:

  1. HayleyMarch 16, 2012 at 5:26 PM

    I loved this article! It might be my favorite so far. I just have to say that I really like your blog so far and look forward to reading future posts. :-) Also, I completely agree that students should spend more time searching for books to read for pleasure. They need to start to see that reading is worth their time, and right now they clearly do not. I like your solution - take away one of the texts, just one, and give the students plenty of time to discover the fun of reading whatever they choose.

    While we're on the subject, have you ever read Donalyn Miller's book, The Book Whisperer? It describes a reading program much like what you're describing, introducing kids to lots of books to help them find what they enjoy. I would like to try to implement it one day. We'll talk more later, but I wanted to mention it! Happy Blogging! :D

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