{"id":9256,"date":"2022-09-18T21:19:57","date_gmt":"2022-09-19T02:19:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/?p=9256"},"modified":"2022-09-18T21:19:57","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T02:19:57","slug":"turn-of-the-page","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/?p=9256","title":{"rendered":"Turn of the Page"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the school continues to change, even small changes made to the English department’s famous outside reading list could have consequential impacts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After much discussion over the span of a year, English teachers\u00a0decided to change the freshmen and junior outside reading lists. They removed <\/span>Farewell to Manzanar <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Last of the Breed <\/span><\/i>from the freshmen list and added <\/span>A Separate Peace <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>The Red Badge of Courage. A Separate Peace <\/span><\/i>was previously on the junior reading list, so when they removed it, they installed <\/span>The Nickel Boys<\/span><\/i> in its place.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The English Department was very mindful and considerate when they made their decisions. For <\/span>A Separate Peace<\/span><\/i>, they deemed that the level of difficulty was not high enough for the junior reading list. \u201cWe didn\u2019t think that the reading level really went with junior books,\u201d said English Department Chair Mrs. Gretchen Gowen. \u201cWe felt it was fine to move it down to freshman year and make room for (in junior year) a 21st-century novel, <\/span>The Nickel Boys<\/span><\/i>.\u201d Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead wrote the book\u00a0based on\u00a0a real-life corrupt reform school in 1960s Florida.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Farewell to Manzanar <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Last of the Breed <\/span><\/i>are no longer on the list largely because of student responses to the books. For <\/span>Last of the Breed<\/span><\/i>, \u201cIt got to the point where my students were like \u2018They\u2019re just saying the same thing over and over again,\u2019\u201d said Fr. Patrick Friend \u201907. <\/span>Farewell to Manzanar<\/span><\/i> also had a similar negative response from the students. \u201cI really liked <\/span>Farewell to Manzanar<\/span><\/i>, it\u2019s super important,\u201d said Fr. Friend. \u201cI think it taught our boys a lesson that there are some books that are important to read even if they\u2019re not entertaining.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0The other book claiming one of the open spots on the freshman reading list is <\/span>The Red Badge of Courage<\/span><\/i>. \u201cWe\u2019re putting in<\/span> The Red Badge of Courage<\/span><\/i>, which is a classic book about the Civil War and about what courage really means,\u201d said Mrs. Gowen. \u201cIt\u2019s a really interesting story with a lot of levels happening.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The process of changing the book list can be grueling for some. \u201cWe all have to offer sacrifice to Mrs. Gowen,\u201d Fr. Friend said jokingly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the additions to the booklist are done carefully, it is somewhat difficult to change. \u201cIt takes more than one teacher saying \u2018My kids don\u2019t like this book.\u2019 We have mindfully chosen that book and\u00a0we have our reasons for thinking each book is a valuable reading experience. So it takes a lot to dislodge one of these books now,\u201d said Mrs. Gowen.<\/span><\/p>\n

The teachers strongly believe that students will respond much more positively to the new books on the list now. \u201cI think 100% they\u2019re going to be more interested in these books — if they choose to read them,\u201d said Fr. Friend.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the goals of this reading list is to instill a love of reading in the students. \u201cWe can do all this philosophizing about why you should read a book, but basically, it\u2019s just fun,\u201d said Mrs. Gowen. \u201cIt can be so much fun and you can be so involved. It\u2019s as entertaining, or more so, as watching a movie.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, reading is a much better way to spend one’s time than watching TV shows or playing video games. Fr. Friend said that reading a challenging book vs a poorly written book, \u201cis like the difference between a sumptuous meal and all the fast food you eat. I got Chinese on Tuesday night and it sucked. I was so full at the end, regretting everything. But I cooked a really delicious meal on Sunday night. I made a cream cajun chicken and you get to this last bite and you\u2019re like \u2018I don\u2019t want this last bite to be over.\u2019 [That’s what reading a really good book is like.] You\u2019re so satisfied and enriched by the whole experience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mrs. Gowen agreed with Fr. Friend. She said, \u201cWhat I wish for all my students is that they reach the height of reading experience when they forget they are reading and just\u00a0immerse themselves in the story and enjoy it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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As the school continues to change, even small changes made to the English department’s famous outside reading list could have consequential impacts.\u00a0 After much discussion over the span of a year, English teachers\u00a0decided to change the freshmen and junior outside reading lists. They removed Farewell to Manzanar and Last of the Breed from the freshmen…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":9259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[360],"tags":[143],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/liftoffnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Screenshot-2022-09-13-12.17.20.png?fit=367%2C478&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3xfZw-2pi","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9256"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9256"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9275,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9256\/revisions\/9275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}