What’s lost when teachers don’t teach whole novels?

ELA educators express concern over the trending removal of whole-novel studies in favor of short, fragmented texts in mandated curriculum. 

  • “Reading ‘whole books’ in school shouldn’t be controversial. Finishing what you start. Seeing characters evolve. … not controversial.” — Leader in California
    • “Trying to do this in 10th [grade]. 4-day school week and not allowed to give homework, make it make sense for a whole novel. I’ll keep trying though!” — High School Teacher in Texas
    • “A common 4th grade standard in most states is understanding and analyzing character change through time. I’ll tell you with 100% certainty this standard cannot be fully addressed using nothing but short passages and absolutely not by reading just one chapter from a book.” — Educator in Colorado 
  • “When I taught 5th grade at FCPS in Maryland, I was shocked that their language arts curriculum (Into Reading) did not include any books.” — Elementary Teacher in the U.S. 
  • “I was saddened to talk to a journalist recently and learn that I was the only secondary English teacher he spoke to in a school that still centers whole books in the high school curriculum. *sad face*” — High School English Teacher in Pennsylvania
    • “A lot of teachers out there having this choice made for them, too, by folks no longer in the classroom who have decided that a ‘High-Quality’ curriculum is one in which books are minimized or sidelined completely.” — High School English Teacher in Oregon
  • “So many people just have no idea that the literacy crisis is being used as an excuse to rid schools of books. … The way it works is that panic and/or low test scores become excuses for corporate curricula/standardization; fear and high stakes mean going off-script is disallowed. ” — High School English Teacher in New York
    • “Happily, my district decided this year to go the other direction. Our elementary ELA curriculum has us reading three books as a class this year. Previously, novel studies were entirely up to the teacher, but they’re now mandatory. Bonus: the kids actually like reading books better than short stuff.” — Elementary Teacher in Georgia
  • “The argument that I hear many teachers make is that as long as students are reading anything [that’s OK], has resulted in the steep decline in reading stamina from complex texts and the vocabulary acquisition with it.  It is not a victory for the non-reading 8th grader to read “Dog Man.” They may start there, but it’s imperative for the teacher to maintain high expectations and communicate to their students that they are worthy of engaging with and analyzing the quality and rich texts that have stood the test of time.” — Middle School ELA Teacher in the United States
    • “This is not a safe position for a librarian to have, but I agree. I wince every time a new graphic novel adaptation of a popular chapter series is announced. The literary value of GNs is often inflated, but I’m not supposed to acknowledge that. I refuse to purchase them all.” — School Librarian in Kentucky