To Kill A Mockingbird Interview

The young adult reader that I chose to interview is my younger brother Walker Smith. Walker is fifteen-years-old and currently in the tenth grade. Walker’s interest in books that he chooses to read are simply put as “only books I can get into.” Particularly, he enjoys reading action and mystery books, and he has an inclination that he would be interested in “comedy” books, though he has yet to read any. Aside from books, Walker also enjoys reading sports magazines and books that involve sports. Most times, he reads books for academics and magazines more for pleasure reading. Walker has the most success reading at night after accomplishing all other tasks and as a way to wind down before bed. He has the most success at nighttime when he is by …show more content…
Walker stated that teachers normally pick books for the class, so not much opinion was given towards the types of texts read in class. Walker reflected on his experience with the teacher-chosen books and was able to pinpoint which particular books students either liked or disliked. In his reflection, he stated, “To Kill a Mockingbird was popular among students. It engaged us into ‘guessing’ what would happen.” While Walker and his peers enjoyed Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird because if the stories ability to engage the students’ interests, Walker also reflected on the students’ dislike of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar because of its difficulty to understand. Both To Kill a Mockingbird and Julius Caesar have been widely taught in schools and would be considered texts in the literary cannon, the different opinions are due to difference in the students’ ability to engage in the …show more content…
One implication is the use of class discussion of books to enrich further understand and engage all students in the assigned reading. Socratic seminars and mock trials would be adequate strategy of these implications. These tactics get students involved and talking with each other, encouraging social constructivism. Another implication that I learned from my interview is that students need more explanation when reading more difficult texts to encourage enjoyment. These texts, like those of Shakespeare, as Walker mentioned are more difficult and make students not enjoy them. There are tactics and activities that I could use to encourage this enjoyment and will use my knowledge of the texts to yield understanding. A third implication gained from the interview is giving students the opportunity to gain eBooks on their technology. It was upsetting to hear that Walker and his peer possess technology that would encourage all students to be engaged in their texts and their teacher is not taking advantage of this technology. The ideas of these implications that I gained from my interview are important and helpful because the ideas came directly from a student the age I want to