From Complaints to A Compliment

     My seventh graders just finished reading Linda Sue Park's novel, A Long Walk to Water. Due to this year's unique teaching situation, my co-teachers and I decided to read the book aloud to the students rather than assign them chapters to read independently. The kiddos do not have a good history of completing work independently, especially on the days when they were learning from home. 

    So, we read the book aloud five times a day for the past few weeks. I took periods once, three, and nine. I have two inclusion sections, so my co-teachers graciously volunteered to read aloud during periods four and eight. 

    I've been teaching seventh grade almost twenty years, and the thing about seventh grade is that they love to complain. They complain about the writing we do, the poem we're reading, the book we're studying, the grammar we're learning. So, of course, they complained about the book: It's boring. Why is Nya here? Can't we just take a nap? Why do we have to read a map? Salva sounds like a girl's name. Why do we have to read this? Reading is boring. You get the idea. 

    My co-teachers and I pushed through the whining and complaining. We discussed the events in the chapter, we created timelines, we challenged their thinking through double-entry journals. We showed pictures and maps and shared facts about South Sudan. We took notes through sticky notes. We talked about author's craft. We did not give up on the book, and we did not give up on the power of reading. 

    Finally, about halfway through the book, the whining and complaining turned into actual questions: Where is Salva now? Why couldn't the Lost Boys travel during the day? Was Uncle a real person? Did Marial really get eaten by a lion? How could Salva stay so strong? And my favorite: Are we reading today? 

    And when we read the last chapter of the book, when Linda Sue Park masterfully weaves the two stories together, we heard gasps, sighs, and exclamations of  I knew it. As we came to the end of our class, one of the biggest complainers said, "You know, I actually really liked this book. Thanks for making us read it." 

    That is the power of a great book! Now we have to figure out what to read next!