From renowned American classics like “The Great Gatsby” to the eccentric, contemporary Japanese novel “Convenience Store Woman,” the books read in literature classrooms across our small campus span vast distances, cultures, and time periods. In order to achieve this, the literature department places great care in selecting books for the curriculum in hopes of enhancing the worldview of students.
One of the primary factors literature teachers consider when choosing books is the importance of constantly exposing students to new perspectives so that they can see themselves reflected in the characters.
“We should have more voices of color,” English Department Head Patricia Welze said. “We should have more distinct experiences.”
Teachers also pay attention to the current relevance of a novel while considering how students should be looking at the books critically. As a result, the process behind selecting books is lengthy. Teachers often read upwards of 15 books when deciding on a new piece of literature to add to the curriculum as they try to balance the literary depth of the novel, the maturity of the content, and the personal connection they hope students will be able to form to the story. For example, when the teachers were searching for a new book with a more diverse voice to add to the eighth-grade curriculum, they spent a year reading almost 20 books before finally deciding on “In the Key of Nira Ghani.”
“I’m always looking for the perfect lineup, like a playlist,” Welze said. “It’s hard work, and it’s disappointing, and sometimes there’s something really beautiful that you want to add in that you can’t. It’s sort of an endless puzzle.”
Rotating the curriculum content helps teachers maintain interest in the books as well. Teachers reread and re-annotate the books they teach every year until the copy falls apart, so switching out the books every now and then keeps them from going stale.
However, Welze also explained how she perceives books differently over time.
“Books change,” she said. “The older you get, you read the books at a different time, and depending on where you are in your life, you see things differently, and you can teach them differently.”
Thanks to the meticulous book-selection process, the care that goes into crafting the curriculum is repaid tenfold by the emotional impact the chosen books have on both teachers and students.
“We were going over all the changes we’ve made, and we felt really proud about it because it’s important to us,” Welze said.
One student even emailed her eighth grade literature teacher to say that “In the Key of Nira Ghani” changed her life.
Literature is truly the eyes and ears of the world, and every new story told by another narrator opens more eyes for people from different places to look through and see one another, more ears for people to hear each other.
“It reminds you of how much there is out in the world to read,” Welze said.
