Two Authors: Two Lessons for Classroom Teachers

Two Authors. Two great stories. Two lessons for the classroom.

For the more than 900 for educators who attended the recent Literacy Promise Conference, the above line might sum up their experience listening to key-note presenters Chris Crowe and Brandon Mull. Both ended their presentations with powerful and useful suggestions on classroom literacy instruction for adolescent students.

Brandon Mull

Brandon Mull

Mull, whose book Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star recently debuted on the New York Times Bestseller List, described how his own love affair with non-fiction fantasy began with The Chronicles of Narnia. Afternoons were spent daydreaming about what was in the back of the closet. Later, his uncle teased him that he was "too young" to read Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Relating how he took that as a challenge and plowed through the huge book, Mullen advised teachers to offer kids "cool" books to read even if they are above the student's reading level. "If it's a cool book, it sucks them through and they come out the other end a better reader," he explained.

In college Mull read the Harry Potter series. As a fledging writer the experience was a pivotal one. "I was in college and I liked the books a ton. They were books that a parent and child could both read and talk about." This set a stage for Mull's own writing.

After the success of the Fablehaven books, not only does Mull write full time, but he also tours schools teaching kids that reading is great entertainment and the best way to use their imaginations.

Mull has a few pointers for teachers. "Make sure that there are some fun books and not just 'of worth' books in the reading you assign," he suggests. "Give students unanswered questions. Don't tell the story, give them mystery boxes." For Mull, reading for fun has a real place in the classroom. He says, "If students read for fun they will learn to interpret words into meaning."

Chris Crowe

As a former English teacher, Crowe also encouraged teachers to make reading fun. After describing the different personalities and experiences of each of his four children and attaching these traits to their love or disdain of reading, Crowe explained, "You help kids learn to read so they can go to places, leave places, or escape."

Chris Crowe

Describing books as safe places he added, "As a teacher, a parent, and a writer, I am personally concerned with readers and reluctant readers. Do we turn kids off to books?"

Then he offered an analogy using P.E. class. Crowe remembers that while running in P.E. he consciously vowed to never run another step after high school. Comparing that experience to how some students might feel about reading, Crowe quoted stats that say half of 18-24 year olds don't read for pleasure and that for most, reading progress halts in the teenage years. "Why does reading decline in middle school?" he asked. "I believe it is because we concentrate on literature, not reading."

Describing the cornucopia of books available for young people, Crowe advises including a variety of books in a classroom curriculum. He suggested that "lighter" reading might better prepare students to "take on the great and sometimes boring classics" in college.

Crowe concluded by passing on advice from his 14-year-old son to English teachers. Pointers included: Don't ask questions about stuff that has nothing to do with the book, don't give essay questions, don't talk too much, let us (students) speak out about what we don't understand, read aloud to us but keep it short, and finally, don't decide what we read. Let us decide.

20 March 2008