Jordan Oakley, a senior at Riverside High School, said she can’t imagine what an English class would be like without reading books.

She said the length of novels helps her comprehend a literary work’s deeper meanings and impact.

“It’s easier to learn if you read a lot,” she said.

According to an article published by The Associated Press in September, English education is changing in many classrooms across the United States, with less emphasis on reading full-length books. In a 2022 statement, the National Council of Teachers of English, a professional organization that supports English language arts and literacy educators, expressed support for decentering book reading and essay writing as the pinnacles of English language arts (ELA) education.

According to its website, some reasons why the council encourages teachers to focus on digital media and popular culture are that these are more relevant to students’ lived experiences and offer greater opportunities for student voices.

Heidi Perez, secondary literacy integration specialist for Durham County Public Schools, said the district’s most significant change in literacy instruction began in 2019 and 2020. Teachers are pairing skills students learn through print materials, such as annotating a book, with digital technology.

In 2019, the Durham Public Schools Board of Education released the RFP (request for proposal) for secondary literacy core curriculum resources for the district to adopt. Perez said this RFP required educational vendors to submit possible literacy curriculum products for adoption by the district that offer 75% of materials in print and digital form to support the district’s shift from print-only to print and digital instruction.

The following year, to assist students with remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, Durham Public Schools implemented its One-to One program, which provided K-12 students with Chromebooks, hotspots or both. According to Durham Public Schools Information Technology Services, the program supports students academically by integrating digital tools into learning.

Mira Prater, English III and AP English Literature and Composition teacher at Riverside High School, encourages her students to use audiobooks and other digital resources to improve their understanding of texts they cover in her classes. However, she only uses physical copies of the books she teaches.

“If my core belief as an English educator is to get kids to read and write and find things that are interesting to them while also teaching them the curriculum, then I’m doing them a disservice by not honing that skill of being able to sit quietly and read a book for 20 minutes,” she said.

She disagrees with the finding the AP reports, which is that it is becoming less common for students to be assigned to read full-length novels in many English classrooms nationwide. Prater said she believes the latter helps students enhance their vocabulary acquisition and exercise critical thinking skills.

Unlike Prater, Perez agrees with the National Council of Teachers of English’s statement on decentering book reading and essay writing. She said that reading full-length works and writing essays favor the learning style of neurotypical students over others. Additionally, she notes that these assignments do not align with the literacy skills required outside the classroom, as many professions will not require traditional essay writing.

Still, she acknowledged that reading a book in its entirety has a couple of benefits. First, students can build their comprehension and memory by revisiting reading passages. Second, the development of literary elements, such as character development, is more thorough. This depth can lead to critical discussions in classrooms about topics like gender and class, she said.

“It’s that extended look, understanding it in pieces, but then being able to pull it across a full-length work or a series,” Perez said.

Throughout Prater’s 17 years of teaching, she said the number of books she assigns students — an average of four per semester — has not changed. However, she has noticed a shift in the types of novels taught, moving from canon and classic literature to a more diverse range of authors. In her AP English Literature and Composition class, students read “Homegoing” by Ghanaian American author Yaa Gyasi.

Durham Public Schools adopted the Common Core State Standards in 2012, a multi-state educational initiative for ELA and mathematics. With these standards, Perez said the district began to ensure that teachers taught full-length works that exposed students to different cultures, religions and ethnicities while maintaining a global focus.

Prater strives to foster conversations about books among her students in various ways. Oakley, who is taking Prater’s AP English Literature and Composition class this semester, said she enjoys discussing book passages assigned for homework with the class.

“It’s helpful for me to hear from the other people the deeper meaning that they found,” she said. “And it’s interesting how what I missed, other people picked up.”

On the first day of classes, Prater holds an activity called “literary lineage,” in which she asks students approximately 10 questions about books they’ve read. These questions may include the last book that made them laugh or cry, a book they would recommend to someone and their favorite book from elementary school.

Another activity she conducts in her English classes is literature circles, where she presents five to 10 book options across genres ranging from classic literature to young adult, and each student selects their top three choices. As part of the literature circles, students play “novel Jenga,” with each brick featuring a question corresponding to their chosen novel.

Prater said the future of English education is unfolding now, with the increasing push to shorten and digitize texts. Despite these changes, she said she will continue to advocate for the importance of reading entire novels.

“If we’re supposed to be consumers of life and art, I think a novel is the first place to start,” Prater said.

Edited by: Landon Jobe