I feel as if this essay resonates some of the experiences I have faced as well as my colleagues. There is a huge struggle on how to raise the skill levels of students who have been labeled as "remedial" or "unteachable." They have been subjected to such treatment and thus do not believe in their own ability and yes they do lack motivation. At this point in my teaching career, I go by the saying "I teach them what they need to know through what they want to know." I choose books that first grab them because the themes within the books help them connect themselves to the characters, and since they become interested in the plight of these characters they become interested in themselves and where their lives are heading. For instance, I have two low level tenth grade classes... And I decided to "teach" the book Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas. This book covers the life of a teenager in Spanish Harlem and how he falls prey to the drugs, alcohol crime and jail time. It's controversial because the book's content is seen as inappropriate, but the student who tell me they hate reading, cannot put this book down. We have to build these students up in steps, they won't have an appreciation of Shakespeare if they deemed that all books are bad. So, first step is to want them to get to read a book. Then get them to have writing assignments based around this story. Next book would be Like Water for Chocolate, which is a more "appropriate" book because the content isn't as controversial but still has connections to Down These Mean Streets because it's about a female protagonist that lives in a household that has no father figure, a villainous mother and an evil sibling... which a lot of my student can relate to. So it's about progress in steps.
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