For the love of READING!

I let the students decide. They could either read a 600 page graphic novel about love/sex/relationships, or they could read a 200 page one about drugs/violence/gangs. The girls all started with the first, while the boys were more interested in the latter (surprise surprise). However, the boys did flip through all 600 pages to find as many "inappropriate" pictures as possible first (there were many). Now that's all fine and normal, but what pleasantly surprised me (actually more like made me ecstatically overjoyed), was the fact that most students ended up reading both - they loved the books that much! That made me feel (and look) really good especially since these books were ordered specifically for my class, were quite pricey, and we weren't sure whether they would arrive before the semester ended.

What with all the problems getting high school boys to pick up a book and read these days (it's no secret that girls excel in English), it's music to an English teacher's ears to hear "Ms., why can't we have more books like this?" and "This was the best book I ever read!" and "Ms., can you stop talking so we can read?!" Yay! I call this short chapter of my life The Success of the New Teacher - in other words, getting the idea through to them that reading is great stuff :D

I should mention that one of my male students had the crazy idea of sniffing the 600 page novel before he read it (probably inspired from the drug-themed first book he read), - and that inspired all my male students to become book-sniffers. They told me it smelled like gas and continiously sniffed as they read. Like the (more mature) girls, I ignored them throughout the period, but at the end of class when everyone left the room, I couldn't control my curiosity any longer and inhaled deeply. Nothing. It just smelled like a new book. Disappointed (but also relieved), I packed up my stuff and went home. However, once in the car and driving, I couldn't help but admit to myself that I felt a little light-headed :S