If anyone were to ask me what subject I enjoyed most in grade school, I would immediately answer: English. I remember vividly many of the classic books we read and discussed together as a class, and how certain teachers in particular turned me on to literature and writing.

But if memory serves, I can also picture several of my fellow classmates who dreaded English class; had no interest in the books we read; and probably spent most of the period daydreaming.

According to an article in the New York Times , there is a movement underway to revolutionize reading instruction. The underlying theory is simple: If teachers allow students to choose their own books instead of prescribing the same book to the entire class, more students will actually enjoy reading. And if that happens, students will be more likely to engage with books on a deeper and more meaningful level, and English teachers may actually achieve their ultimate goal: creating lifelong readers.

The Times article chronicles the story of Lorrie McNeill, a teacher at Jonesboro Middle School outside Atlanta. When Ms. McNeill notices that many of her students are not nearly as excited about reading Lord of the Flies and To Kill a Mockingbird as she wants them to be, she decides, with the principal’s permission, to deviate from school policy and try a different approach.

Called reading workshop,  this increasingly popular method puts students in the driver’s seat as far as choosing their own books to read, reviewing them for their classmates, and exploring themes and characters in a detailed journal they write on their own. Ms. McNeill fills her classroom with a wide range of books for her students to choose from, and in order to teach students about key concepts like “metaphors” and “foreshadowing,” she begins each period with a mini-lesson that the entire class participates in before breaking off on their own.

By the end of the year, students in Ms. McNeill’s class are scoring higher on reading tests than ever before, and formerly disinterested students are reading for pleasure at home.

As I’m reading through the article, it all sounds great to me until I arrive at the final paragraph which says:

A week after her students left for the summer, Ms. McNeill boxed up the class sets of To Kill a Mockingbird, along with Diary of Anne Frank and The Giver by Lois Lowry, keeping just three copies of each for her collection. She carted the rest to the English department storeroom.

I suddenly feel my heart sink as I hear my inner voice say: “Oh no! They’re going to miss out on To Kill a Mockingbird? Anne Frank? The Giver?”

And therein lies the dilemma. On the one hand, I feel like no child should miss out on reading classic works of literature familiar to so many generations of readers, and beloved (albeit not by everyone) for their timeless themes and characters. Shouldn’t a creative teacher be able to make these works engaging and accessible? Isn’t there something to be said for the magic that happens in classrooms when shared analysis of a complex book draws out insights from students that they never would have had on their own?

And yet, there are so many other books in print that might reach out and grab different children in other ways. Why not let them explore with a teacher’s guidance and be the masters of their own reading list?

And so I come to the same conclusion that many schools end up reaching: a combination approach is probably the best way to go. Teachers alternate between reading a single novel with students (and, I might add, it would probably be a good idea to give teachers a say in which classic novels to choose since genuine passion for a book is more likely to rub off on students), while also allowing students to choose books to explore on their own.

(Photo:_FXR’s flickr photostream/Creative Commons)