AH-HA! It has not yet been a year since I last posted (although it is, in fact, dangerously and pathetically close to being a year). I wasn't sure when my last post was from, but it was August of 2012 and 'I can explain.' I feel like a teenager caught in the act -- I can explain!
Basically I got a job. A fake job. A sort-of job that may or may not be a job next year. I'm a long term substitute for the entire year, and here's hoping for something real (aka contract based) for next year. Between that and school my life is crazy. Really that's all bullshit excuses and I totally let this blog slide. And I suck. But I'm back, bitches!
My tenth graders finished reading TKMB this past week, and almost all of them ended up loving the novel. I mean, they could be lying in their final journal entries for the book, but they are a pretty opinionated group of students and normally have no issue with 'real talk.' Many of them felt like the beginning (or all of Part One) was boring and stupid, but once the trial started they were hooked. And they should have been hooked -- that book is an emotional whirlwind once you hit Tom Robinson's trial, and me crying in front of them when I read the last three chapters out-loud has most likely scarred them for life, but who cares? I love that book, goddamn it, and I'm so thrilled that they loved it, too.
TKMB is a pretty common read for high school students, and it's arguably one of the better books that is assigned in the high school curriculum. I've rarely had students hate the entire book, and it's inspired some pretty intense discussions at the various grade levels I've taught. I've only had a handful of parent complaints regarding language (the n-word is pretty prevalent throughout), but those parents had never read the book, so STFU about it. I didn't actually tell parents to shut the f*ck up, but I did suggest they read the novel along with the student and see if the language was still an issue. Unsurprisingly, I never got a second complaint, but I think that might be because reading is hard. Or something. Go with it.
I'm being rather hyperbolic when I say TKMB is the greatest book in the entire world, maybe. I'm pretty uncomfortable with superlatives (you could say I'm more uncomfortable than most... GETIT???), and I can't narrow down my own list of favorite anythings to a 1. 2. 3. ranking, but I will say that TKMB is a unique book in its own greatness. It's not my favorite book, but it really is a great one.
When I read TKMB in 8th grade, I was hooked. I loved Scout and I loved Dill and I loved Boo Radley and Atticus. It was a book unlike anything else I'd read in school up to that point, and I read voraciously, comparing my literary ability to Scout's the entire time. I was fully invested in class discussions (I think... maybe I wasn't, but I'm very talkative, so I assume I was), but I completely forgot about the book for several years. Well, I didn't forget about it, but I didn't spend much time contemplating the story. However, when I was starting my internships for teaching I was thrown into an 8th grade class that was halfway through the novel and I reread the book to refresh my memory.
Holy Hell.
What TKMB offers that many other books do not (some other books do, but don't fight me on this) is a new story every single time. EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. I felt simultaneously like I was revisiting an old friend and meeting a completely new one; the story was the same, but the story was completely new.
TKMB is a book that never ever ever ever gets old, and it honestly gets better each time I read it. I saw new patterns in the story telling; I learned new information about characters; I saw subtle foreshadowing and more complex flashback; I fell more in love with Atticus and saw his flaws more clearly; I had found a new way to enjoy an old book. I read it again the next year, again during a student teaching internship and had the same reaction. Old and new book, all wrapped in one. Each time I read the book, the intricacies with which Harper (we're on a first name basis here) crafted the novel impress me more and more. I still cry at the same moments, but I cry for totally different reasons each time.
But even better, my students feel the same way. I was lucky enough to have a handful of tenth graders who had moved from a district that reads the book earlier, and although that normally causes a problem with discussion and analysis, I asked them to pay close attention to what changed for them from the first reading. Their perspective was incredible -- some stayed after class to talk to me about how much better the book was the second time through, how the beginning of the novel didn't seem boring anymore, how they never noticed certain character traits or details, and how they understood why I never got tired of reading the book. Some of them even noticed things I'd never considered before, brilliant insights that didn't occur to the English major, graduate student, teacher, but struck a 15 year old with such immediate clarity.
What other novel can offer such a powerful connection and reaction at all age levels? When I read to my classes on Wednesday, I warned them in advance I might get emotional -- and my four classes of 15 and 16 year old hooligans didn't bat an eye. They understood exactly why, and when my voice cracked while reading "Thank you for my children, Arthur," I saw a few of them wiping their eyes along with me. The anger, frustration, disillusionment, amusement, elation, and joy they felt over those 31 chapters is something that doesn't happen in most of the assigned reading for high school students.
TKMB is one of my favorite books to teach, even if it's not my favorite book. Students often love the novel, which is rare (trust me, English is generally the least favorite subject of them all). If you haven't read the book since high school, pick it up when you have a free weekend. Honestly. It may not be the greatest book in the entire world, but maybe it is.
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| I just found this after posting! Edited to add a KICK ASS PICTURE!!! |
