Keeping Current in the Classroom

Most students and teachers for that matter have set ideas and opinions on school and classroom environments. My high school had students who either hated or loved school and then the students who were just there to past the time. The experience with teachers was quite similar, either they loved their job and had passion or they seemed to hate teaching those students who appeared unteachable. 

Nothing But The Truth by AVI captures the displeasure a student feels for school and in particular one teacher. But the novel also captures a teachers perspective on students as well. Providing detail into the two minds. 

The first chapter or so of the novel casts a negative shadow on how students perceive English education, reading in particular, "Young people don't read at all today- outside of school requirements. They come to literature reluctantly at best, fighting me every inch of the way."(AVI 5) That generalized statement made by the English teacher in the book does not account for all students. Although this a work of fiction I have always had the notion that students do enjoy reading. I have always enjoyed literature, and I along with many of my peers enjoy reading for pleasure. I do believe that it is not the students fault for the distaste in reading material.

The problem with getting students to engage in reading and comprehension relates back to the teacher and how the teacher approaches the issue. There's a need to spike interest and promote reading, Teachers, if required to teach the classics, should be able to teach with excitement and passion in order to incite the same feelings within a student without losing interest. As mentioned in this Washington Post Article.

It was in the novel that AVI mentioned this lack of interest from students but the issue is not one sided and needs to be examined from both in order to receive results in the sense of common interest in the subject and teaching of English.