Jago Ch. 3

     Choosing what books to teach, how important is this?  The answer, very.  You can't just pick any old book and go into your classroom and attempt to teach it.  Jago manages to offer multiple examples of common texts in the classroom, with a few pointers on how to incorporate them.  The chapter's strong points are definitely the list and supporting that list by using Frankenstein as an example.  The list I am referring to is the 14 aspects that define a classic according to Italo Calvino.  I respect this list for multiple reasons.  For one, Calvino, in my opinion, is a great author and his input must be respected when it comes to classics because I consider a lot of his books to be classics.  Secondly Jago could have just mentioned the list and left it at that, but she doesn't.  Instead she expands on it by adding her own list of criteria and then she takes a popular high school book, Frankenstein, and describes how it falls into her six aspects of a classic.  By doing this it helps me as a prospective teacher know what to look for in a book when it comes to planning a lesson.
     Jago takes what could turn out to be a very difficult task for a teacher and turns it into a sort of formula, that if you follow it it would be impossible to fail.  She tells us exactly what to look for and why it is important for a book to possess these qualities.  I already have my own ideas of what makes a classic, but having a professional opinion to look at will help improve my outlook.
     Conveying these ideas to students once again seems to be the more troubling task.  You can tell a student that reading a book will improve them as a student and an individual, but where's the fun in that.  If you come right out and tell a student that, most likely they will just shut you out and say something along the lines of, "you don't know me," or at least that's how a lot of my fellow students in high school would have acted.  They didn't want someone telling them that they needed to discover or learn something new they wanted to do it for themselves.  But if they weren't aware of the possibility of a change in the first place they would be very unlikely to display an interest in the first place.  So basically what we have is a never ending cycle.  So choosing a book is a very big deal.
     The student needs to trust your choice as a teacher, so they need to trust you.  Preconceived notions and personal preference are just two of the many reasons why students may not like the idea of reading in the classroom.  I have so many thoughts racing through my head about this topic that it's hard to put them all into words.
     The idea of choosing what students read throughout high school both excites and intimidates me.  I hold myself to a pretty high standard and I plan on holding my students to the same thing.  Experiences should help, but until then I feel like this book will act as a pretty decent substitute.