Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Pairing

pair·ing/ˈpe(ə)riNG/

Noun:
  1. An arrangement or match resulting from organizing or forming people or things into pairs.
  2. The action of pairing things or people.

Something interesting that a lot of my professors having been bringing up in class is the idea of pairing books together to spark interests in student learning. I know in high school, I had to read Shakespeare, A Tale of Two Cities, Grapes of Wrath, and so on. A lot of times, I felt myself struggling to finish the book, let alone comprehend it. I understand the importance of covering the "classics" in English class, but I also value the importance of students wanting to read the text and be enthusiastic about learning. Therefore I have really put some thought into books that would be great to be paired together. For instance, in my Young Adult Literature class, we talked about pairing the book The Scarlett Letter with Judy Blume's Forever. I think that students would better understand a difficult novel if it is paired with a book that has similar central ideas, plots, characters, or symbolism. It would also be a great way to encourage students to expand their realm of reading and allow them to search for books that they might like to read. I think all around that the idea of pairing literature would be very beneficial for students understanding of books that can be tough to get through on their own. I want to be able to adapt to best fit the needs of my students so that they can succeed in class, but also come out with an appreciation of literature.

Feel free to leave some suggestions of books you would pair together (:

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