Ripp's Blog Post on the Question of the Whole Class NovelRead Pernille Ripp's short blog post, "Can we Discuss the Whole Class Novel for a Moment?"
In it, Ripp asks why we hang on to this highly standard practice, if it may be mostly killing students love for and drive to read. Ripp approaches this topic from curiosity, rather than a "rant." This creates space for teachers to get into the discussion in the comments--check those out too! In the comments, what do you think about teaching the "whole class novel" (WCN)? How should we decide what students read? If we teach the WCN, how do we decide which novels everyone reads? What could be lost and gained if we stop teaching WCNs?
7 Comments
Abbi Griffin
2/28/2017 07:22:15 am
Whole class novels are a part of every student's schooling, and to some extent they are a necessary evil. However, when WCNs are the only way that students interact with classic texts, students are bound to stop enjoying the books that they are assigned. In my own experience, few students actually read WCNs because information about them is so readily available on websites like SparkNotes and Shmoop. I really liked how Nick Provenzano pointed out in his comment that some of these classics are taught because of how they have impacted society, but we need to start pairing these books with YA novels or poetry and also give students time to ruminate on their reading. Pairing the classics with a similar text, like pairing 1984 with Ender’s Game or Romeo and Juliet with Perfect Chemistry. Students will then be able to see the themes of the stories they are reading in a more accessible situation that relates to their own situations.
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Emily Etheridge
3/2/2017 08:10:36 am
I can understand the main purpose behind having a whole class reading of books, but that does become boring and it can become something that kills the joy, even on a college level! I read so many articles, news reports, books, textbook chapters etc. that I haven't made it past the first page of a book I bought over Christmas break, yet used to eat up books within an afternoon as a child. My reading apatite fluctuated in high school/middle school depending on what I was required to read. If the books were super boring I would read a chapter of the boring and reward myself by reading two of a book that interested me in order to get through it. But that isn't the way that reading should be.
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Kaitlyn Cannon
3/21/2017 11:04:28 am
Oscar Wilde was a complete genius! I thoroughly enjoyed The Picture of Dorian Gray and his hilarious play "The Importance of Being Earnest" presented to me in ENGL 288.
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Maci Catoe
3/2/2017 04:03:33 pm
I think that whole class novels are a very important aspect of the English classroom that can be misused and taken advantage of. Whole class novels can give students an opportunity to build community as they work together to understand themes and/or issues in the novel. These WCNs are mostly classics that have been used for years and years because of their standing reputation. While it is important to keep these classics circulating in our classroom curriculum, I think that some of those novels can probably be scratched from the plan. I don’t think we should get rid of WCNs altogether because English classes would lose all of those neat historical texts that teach students about many of the critical features of our past.
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Matt Potts
3/12/2017 10:44:51 am
First of all, I found this article interesting and fun because it addresses a problem that I have with reading certain "classics". I understand that there are some meaningful lessons to be learned from these texts, however I also find that if done wrong they can be presented as boring. What child these days wants to read a book their parents read? I think that some of the classics are timeless but there needs to be newer material added to what is taught. I think a lot of times the classics are taught because that is what everyone is expected to read. I also think that teachers use the WCN as the sole form because that was the way they were taught. The idea of "if it's not broke don't fix it" comes to mind. But what if it is broken?
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Dena Stanley
3/23/2017 01:13:09 pm
This is a great topic for discussion. Personally, I feel as if there is an underlying importance in teaching the “classics” as well as the whole class novel. As the article addressed, it is important for a means of discussion on a common platform for the entire classroom. As a student, I read a lot but I never went outside of my comfort zone. Typically, I read popular novels and fairly new ones. English class introduced me to the classics, and showed me what was out there. Not only did I gain a whole new appreciation for older literature, but I enjoyed it and learned a lot along the way. Not everyone is an English nerd like me, so I can see how my input may not be speaking for every student. However, there is a certain importance on these books. If there wasn’t, would they be taught for so long? We should decide what is read based on relevance and importance to the class. If the whole class novel is no longer taught, a lot of shared community and classic knowledge can be lost. However, brining in outside novels can help the classroom as well. All of this being said, this does not mean that there can’t be a balance between whole class novels and individualized reading and projects. I am all for a balance, because it is not fair for us to decide everything that our students will be reading. In addition, the whole class novel does prepare students for college. In literature classes we, a lot of the time, all read the same novel or text, and then focus on class discussion. I feel like there is importance in the whole class novel, but at the same time, that should not be the only means of instruction for our students.
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Sara Cain
4/3/2017 01:06:50 pm
I highly relate with the issues Ripp raises with the "whole class novel." When I was in AP Lang, all I read were classics that I never shared a connection with. I never experienced my favorite aspect of reading in that class, and it started to dampen my interest in literature. In this case, the "whole class novel" caused the very problems Ripp addresses, but I do not believe using this approach is necessarily detrimental to students' love of reading. We just have to do it in a different way.
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