Lit Up
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15
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Average rating4
"It's no secret that millions of American teenagers, caught up in social media, television, movies, and games, don't read seriously-they associate sustained reading with duty or work, not with pleasure. This indifference has become a grievous loss to our standing as a great nation--and a personal loss, too, for millions of teenagers who may turn into adults with limited understanding of themselves and the world. Can teenagers be turned on to serious reading? What kind of teachers can do it, and what books? To find out, Denby sat in on a tenth-grade English class in a demanding New York public school for an entire academic year, and made frequent visits to a troubled inner-city public school in New Haven and to a respected public school in Westchester County. He read all the stories, poems, plays, and novels that the kids were reading, and creates an impassioned portrait of charismatic teachers at work, classroom dramas large and small, and fresh and inspiring encounters with the books themselves, including The Scarlet Letter, Brave New World, 1984, Slaughterhouse-Five, Notes From Underground, Long Way Gone and many more. Lit Up is a dramatic narrative that traces awkward and baffled beginnings but also exciting breakthroughs and the emergence of pleasure in reading. In a sea of bad news about education and the fate of the book, Denby reaffirms the power of great teachers and the importance and inspiration of great books"--
Reviews with the most likes.
An interesting look at pedagogy when teaching English/writing. I'm not sure that this would be of interest to someone who hadn't or wasn't planning to teach English language in the future, but I thought it was a delightful study on different teaching methods and how they effect interpretations of a text.
We can all agree on this, I think: Our world needs readers. And we are not doing a good job bringing kids to a love for reading.
Denby takes on this problem by visiting three tenth grade English classrooms with fervent teachers and sharing highlights of what went on in the classrooms over the course of a year. He includes a list of books read in the classrooms in the appendix.
Denby faces off with the usual culprits, primarily social media. Of course, I agree. But I tend to think that at least part of the problem today is the inability of teachers to share the books they feel most fervent about. Much of this is state-mandated, unfortunately. Further, the students aren't often given choice in what they choose to read. A double-whammy.
I loved visiting these classrooms with Denby, where students were compelled to become More by fabulous books and passionate teachers. It gives me hope.
I'd love to hear what high school English teachers think about this. And reading teachers. And my fellow librarians. I heartily recommend it for all of you.
