Among the various genres, the English Committee typically chose books that are historical and appropriate for the classroom setting. English II teacher Courtney Crauthers helped decide what books were chosen to be taught to students, along with which books may have sensitive material yet were beneficial to the learning environment.
“English teachers are asked to be on this committee and then they meet with members of the district,” Crauthers said. “They meet with district admin and then discuss what books are appropriate for the classroom or what books we can teach that we can attach to our standards. A lot of it is looking at the standards that we can teach with different novels. When it is time to select novels, usually it’s a money thing and we have the opportunity to select new novels that replace novels. Usually, the teachers get their input and then that input goes to the committee and then they narrow it down from there.”
In the curriculum, teachers added independent reading projects so that students could have the opportunity to enjoy a book of their choice.
“There is no way when you select a class model that every student is going to like it,” Crauthers said. “So what we have tried to do at Yukon is we have tried to implement some independent reading projects where students can choose what they’re reading. They’re getting to select some books that they want to read, but then they’re also reading some books that we have selected for them.”
Senior Reid Carr believed that bringing more fiction books to the eyes of students in the classroom could help expand the fondness for reading.
“Introducing more fiction into the classroom would help students want to foster that love for reading,” Carr said. “I feel like historical fiction does have a very broad range of what can be exploited with that medium but I do think that modern fiction is more relatable, especially with today’s audience and generations being so focused more on the present. However, I think that introducing and fostering that desire to read through more modern mediums would also be able to help them transition into more historical pieces that would help them be able to learn more history.”
Book circles and group readings had multiple outcomes which resulted in collaborated ideas. Creating connections with peers was something that Carr believed was a positive conclusion of the group discussions.
“I feel like reading as a group creates more of a connection between the people who are reading in the group,” Carr said. “It gives you something to talk about and it’s a shared experience that two, three or a dozen can relate to and talk about which helps increase that friendship or even meeting new people in a book circle through literature. I think that would be the biggest benefit is just that shared experience with fellow peers or people reading the book with you.”
Including historical books as a reading, brought understanding to the events that have happened in the past. Sophomore Wendy Chibalan thought of it as important to learn of occurrences from previous times.
“Right now, I know that the books that we’re talking about are all historical; they’re all things that happened,” Chibalan said. “I think it’s important that everyone learns about at least some part of history and gets to know what happened.”
The books chosen for group projects have brought different viewpoints for Carr. As some books include delicate topics he also enjoyed the variety of literature provided.
“I think there’s two sides to it,” Carr said. “I think on one hand it is allowing students to have more exposure to different types of literature. However, on the other hand, I think some subject matter addressed within the books assigned in English classes can be sensitive. Particularly, novels like Animal Farm… I know for me personally, I enjoy getting the different books that were assigned and getting the different types of literature but I also understand the other side.”