Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Can Sherman Alexie be taught in schools?
The video that we watched the other day got me thinking recently about whether or not a teacher could get away with teaching The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. It is most certainly a very good read. I enjoyed reading the book myself. But, I don't think I could imagine myself teaching it to a group of sophomores in high school. Especially the "boner" part in the book. I wonder how a teacher could get around that subject and still teach the book. I definitely think that the book has many things to offer. Even though it is written by an American Indian, I think the biggest theme in the book is trying to belong somewhere. This is something that every teenager struggles with. Trying to find themselves, trying to fit in with a certain crowd, trying new things. I wonder if while teaching this book, it would be best to either ignore the section about boners or if you deal with it and move on. I suppose that it would depend on several factors. One would have to make sure that their school supported their choice to teach this book. One would also have to make sure that the students in the class can be mature enough to handle the book. There are so many topics that one could explore. Prejudice, Death, Bulimia, Alcoholism, Economic Status, the list goes on and on. I think it would be daring to teach a book like this but in the end, if it is done correctly, it would be very beneficial for teenagers to read Alexie's work.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I think that while it may be difficult to teach this book to students in high school it would still be possible. Even though the part about boners is immature it would allow the students a good laugh and the metaphor is that everyone should be excited to read and learn new things all the time. If expressing that through sexual writing and expression is needed then I believe the text would be suitable since the overall themes and trying to find ones' place in the world is a phase that we all go through during our adolescent years.
Collin, so I am taking 375 this summer (Young Adult Literature) and Diary of a Part-Time Indian is on the reading list. It will be interesting and enlightening to see if we discuss how to go about teaching this book in a classroom. I would love to use it one day as it deals with so many topics like my post suggested.
Cool. You're reading it again; you'll probably have much more to offer the discussion than many of your peers who haven't taken this class or have read it before. I like the way you talk about the richness of teaching this book, but also possible pitfalls.
Post a Comment