Riding the Rail Runner train back and forth from Albuquerque to Santa Fe with a group of students and a fellow teacher to hear climatologist James Hansen speak reminded me yet again of how much fun it can be to just hang out with high school students. It was so good to hear them talk about their elementary school experiences, their hopes for college and life beyond, as well as their favorite books, movies, and television series. I found myself alternating between being intellectually intrigued and laughing so hard that tears came to my eyes. While the lecture disappointed all of us (the author spoke in a monotone and gave neither an introduction nor a conclusion), the trip and the time together more than made up for it, at least for me.
However, the trip also reminded me of how important it is for students to live a literate life. We weren’t merely traveling to Santa Fe; we went with a purpose--to hear Hansen’s thoughts on climate change and what we as citizens can do about it. This lecture was one in a series sponsored by the Lannan Foundation that brings world-renowned authors to the gorgeous 1931 Moorish/Spanish theater, the Lensic, that was renovated in 1999. This year’s series includes writers like Eduardo Galeano, Joan Didion, David Mitchell, and Isabel Wilkerson. Due to the generosity of the Lannon Foundation, Bosque students and teachers are able to attend for free. Last year, they heard speakers like the environmentalist David Suzuki, writer and movie director John Sayles, and authors Ann Beattie and Michael Ondaatje.
Many times during the year, I have the opportunity to talk with our students about the books they’re reading. One student told me with glee how much he was enjoying Michael Lewis’s story of corruption on Wall Street in Liars’ Poker while another student shared how much she liked Erin Morgenstern’s beautifully written fantasy story, The Night Circus. Bosque students have even started a book club this year, so they can read and discuss books together after school with their peers and teachers.
I found it exciting and reaffirming the other day, while waiting for the train to Santa Fe, to be discussing David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas with some students who had chosen to read that book on their own. I also enjoyed sitting next to a student during Hansen’s lecture as she furiously took notes just because she was interested in the topic of global warming. There may be significant debate as to whether students are reading more or less in this era of digital readers, increased screen time, and a wide variety of formats; however, there is little argument that reading still provides crucial benefits for children and young adults.
In a recent article in the Washington Post, linked here, two teachers from the highly regarded High Technology High School in Lincroft, NJ, suggest study habits for successful students based on the observations of their own motivated and successful students. These recipes for success include “Read Early, Read Late, Read Often” and “Write Daily.” As the authors say, “School and parents need to foster a culture of literacy…Teachers and parents need to make time for students to read for pleasure, in class and at home. For us, reading is the single most important factor leading to academic achievement.” I have often said that good reading and writing can help students compensate for weaknesses in other areas.
Simply put, there is no substitute for reading. Not everyone enjoys reading, and for some students, the physical task of reading can be difficult and daunting. Fortunately, we live in an age that offers many platforms for “reading,” including listening to books and interacting with books on tablets, which provide young adults with any number of ways to access literature. However one does it, the act of engaging with a text can teach children and adolescents patience as they suspend judgment. Similarly, they can learn empathy as they relate to a character from long ago or today’s world. Reading can help young people escape into a world completely different from their own, and it can show them that their problems are neither unique nor new.
Not all of our students will be bibliophiles. However, they can all enjoy a suspenseful story or wrestle with a problem from ages ago. They can learn that it is cool to become completely absorbed in an exciting story and to argue about it with their peers. Whether students are standing in line at midnight for the latest Harry Potter book, comparing the characterization of Bella and Edward in the Twilight books to the movies, debating which of The Hunger Games series books is the best, or attending a lecture by Russell Banks or Barbara Ehrenreich, they are engaging in a life filled with books and the ideas therein.
To help students have a literate life, we need to surround them with books, both physical and digital, we need to give them time to read what they wish in addition to what we require, and we need to talk about books and other writings with them. We need to infect them with an enthusiasm about reading and invite them into the conversations around reading that literate people have. If we do this, we will have given our students a gift that will inspire them, energize them, and provide them with a source of solace during difficult times. They will learn that being a reader means that one is never truly alone.
