learning to crawl

I don't know why articles like this are a surprise.
The summary is basically, good bright high schoolers are turned off the existing reading lists and will read if given material relevant to them. Further, letting a little modern air into the curriculum "can add the kind of engaging and relevant content that high school reform advocates have been calling for."
Shocking, I know.
Fears that a little modern fare alongside Shakespeare will dumb down the content miss the point if high school readers struggle to find a way in to the second tier stuff, and give up.
A bit of dark materials, as it were, can work really well.
I had the great good fortune to move seamlessly from heavy metal to Susan Musgrave poetry at sixteen because to my young mind, they were just complimentary lyrics in a lot of ways. Very shortly after, the metal music left, poetry stayed and...well I'm still a general disappointment, but reading pretty well.
Often to the detriment of my few precarious relationships, sleep patterns, my social skills. Okay, moving on.

Posted by Dave (link via Goodreports)