I agree with many of the things Penny Kittle mentioned in the portions of the book we read. My main focus in my teaching is relationship building, knowing my students so that I can better understand them, thus allowing me to support them in a more beneficial way than if I did not build relationships with them. In chapter 4 of Book Love Kittle made a comment that I clung to, “The most important condition in my classroom is my relationship with my students.” She goes on in that same paragraph to say, “The magic formula is the relationship we form and my ability to meet them where they are, accept where they are, and then put books in their hands that will ignite their own intrinsic motivation to read.” This is my philosophy for teaching ELA. Build strong relationships with my students, find out where they are, meet them there with a book in hand, and help them move forward.
Kittle also challenges the book choices that many teachers make when considering assigning class novels. She discusses how teachers know books that are being assigned are not be reading by the majority and that it is pressure from the curriculum that forces them to keep doing it. She challenges this thought by saying, “We can reach breathtaking, mind-altering views of literature through many doors.” In other words, we don’t have to keep teaching the same old novels that students: A) Don’t understand B) Can’t relate to C) Are not interested in. There is a plethora of literature out there (have you heard of YA?) that students can understand, they can relate to, and are far more likely to be interested in. These types of novels can still be as eye opening, challenging, thought provoking as ‘the classics.’
The last thing I want to point out about Kittle’s thoughts is the way she advocates for her students. She mentions how teachers throw around the terms lazy and rebellious when discussing students that aren’t doing the reading. Kittle is strongly opposed to these adjectives due to her experience. She explains that in most cases the students just can’t comprehend what they are reading so they give up, not out of laziness or rebellion but out of defeat. If we as teachers stay away from that mindset of, “They just don’t want to do the reading, they’re lazy.” And move into the mindset that asks, “Why didn’t they do the reading? What’s the real issue?” If we do that, then we have a better chance of meeting our students where they are and helping them move forward.
Jason's Thoughts 