'Great Books' program to expand

Langston Hughes. Leo Tolstoy. Emily Dickinson. Those are authors that are ordinarily reserved for high school English classes, but what about for elementary students?

In District 24, with the help of Robert W. Carbonaro School Librarian Katherine Lallier and reading teacher Laurie Arnone, officials have expanded the “Great Books” reading program from grades 3 through 6. The program, which was initially taught to only third graders, has students reading short stories by authors such as Dickinson and Hughes, and answering interpretative questions on the passages.

The program, Arnone said, is based on the shared inquiry method of discussion, where the teacher is not involved in the debate, and there are no wrong and right answers.

“The teacher is a facilitator and doesn’t get involved,” Arnone said. “Kids have to support their opinions with evidence from the passage. It’s a constructive way of teaching.”

Arnone said that the high level thinking skills program uses a Socratic method of questioning — debating viewpoints to stimulate thinking and ideas — and children write responses to questions on the passage and debate with each other in class. The teacher does not affirm or negate a student’s answer, she said, so that students are not afraid to share their opinions.

For example, students read Langston Hughes, “Thank you ma’am,” a poem where a young boy tries to steal a woman’s purse, but instead, the woman drags the boy to her house, makes him dinner, and gives him the money he initially wanted. Some questions asked to students after the reading were: Was it wise to give the boy the money? Was it wise to bring him home?

“It is literature that is rich with ambiguity and paradox,” Lallier said.

Arnone noted that though the vocabulary in the passages is sometimes challenging, even weaker readers are benefitting from the program. “We are always assuming that they will rise to the occasion,” Arnone said, “and so far, they have. No matter the reading level, they are flourishing in the program.”

Students have told Lallier and Arnone that they like pulling apart stories and arguing their opinion, while others have said that they are no longer worried about debating their opinion because there is no fear of being wrong. One teacher told Lallier that she’s seen a vast increase in class participation, while another said that her students showed a better ability to use details to back up their answers on social studies document-based question exams.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Edward Fale said this program is a good example of teacher empowerment. “We’ve noticed that students and teachers are reacting positively to the program and it will let them advance to higher levels of success,” he said.

Arnone said she hopes in the future to expand the program to grades K-2.