I had forgotten a lot of the topics and details in Bridge to Terabithia - that old warning about making sure you read it before the children (considering I haven't read it in a long time) just might come back to bite me in the butt. However, so far it has fueled a decent amount of discussion and debate among my students...
Today we read the chapter about the school bully, Janice Avery, and it was centered on how the two main characters, Jess and Leslie, go about getting revenge. As I continued reading aloud further into the chapter, I decided to stop to point out that even though the main characters are seeking revenge, that doesn't mean it's ok to do. Well, apparently some of my students didn't agree with this, and they proceeded to inform me that you have to fight back or else you're a coward and unable to defend yourself. Other students then jumped in to defend the idea that if you fight back, the fighting just gets perpetuated.
And I thought to myself, "Haven't we learned anything by attending Catholic school? What happened to that whole 'turn the other cheek' business?"
So, as you might infer, I currently have a love-hate relationship with this book. It's so hard to "hate" a book that students are engaged in (e.g. Diary of a Wimpy Kid series), but at times I feel the students start thinking doing actions that they read about in books is okay because it worked out just fine for the main character. It's a tough call, sometimes.
It's on days like these when I feel that a strict curriculum laying out exactly what needs to be taught when and using what materials would be ideal.
And, then again, it's days like today when I enjoy the "freedom" to choose the materials I feel will best deliver a take-home message for my students.
Are there more debates and discussions to come in Bridge to Terabithia? I sure hope so...
No comments:
Post a Comment