An ELA teacher asked about our thoughts (other ELA teachers) and their thoughts about students using sites like SparkNotes, etc. One teacher said students who use these sites are, in her words, “lame” and “lazy.”
I’m immediately transported back to 1979, 1980, when I was assigned Romeo and Juliet, and immediately drove to the local bookstore to pick up a copy of Cliffs Notes. I think I also ended up buying some for Oliver Twist, too. And what those study guides provided me was invaluable: I could understand amazing stories with just a little support or scaffolding, an access point. Now, remember, this was ‘back in the day’ when a high school student was assigned a text from the dusty canon, and we were expected to 1. read it, 2. understand it with possibly a teacher lecture, and 3. write essays, by hand, about it. Or take worksheet quizzes. I wasn’t taught anything about annotating or Socratic Seminars, didn’t have the internet or search engines, and wasn’t told to go to the library to read other analyses of these vintage works of literature. One reason East of Eden by John Steinbeck is one of my favorite books is that I read it on my own, “for fun,” and understood the thematic messages in high school. That was a success for me. And it came about with help.
And again: we weren’t allowed to talk in class.
I will never truly understand the archetypal English teacher, one with a degree in English Literature and who knows all the ‘isms’ and movements along the linear path of Western works. Maybe it’s their own curse of knowledge, that their education centered and explored the themes, symbols, and motifs of predominately men’s perspectives on the big questions of life.
But I refuse to feel stupid or less than because not only did I use those resources to help me in high school, and I help students use them now, in tactical and specific ways. And yes, I do sometimes feel underwater when it comes to the deluge of misinformation, disinformation, and algorithmic atrocities that come up in shallow searches. Students can copy/paste with lightning speed but never be struck by knowledge, or any measure of “eureka!” The art in the language arts means looking at the tools, shiny or rusted, and allowing students to stumble. I try to include the ‘why’ with every lesson and help them make connections; at this point in the year, the scaffolds are being dismantled, and they need to do more of this independently.
And SparkNotes is awesome.
My tactics include a multimodal approach:
- Multiple paired texts
- Visuals, media, animations, short films, etc.
- Annotated bibliographies
- Playlists, and Annotated bibliographies as playlists
- Question Formulation Technique
- Discussions
- Anchor charts
- Graphic Organizers
At this point in the year, it’s the time to regroup and reassess. We’ll go to the end of the semester (January 25) with a novel unit and then start fresh again for the second semester. My students will be allowed to self-assess their strengths and growth areas. And maybe, like me, they’ll read something that stretches their abilities all on ‘their own’ and know that the resources are there to bolster, not replace their brilliance.