Great Books are a pillar of classical education, most obviously because they impart wisdom in some form or another. Some cause us to look out at the world and think deeply about what we see. Others compel us to look back at ourselves and reflect on who we are.
But there is another, equally important yet sometimes neglected reason why Great Books should be read in schools. They are powerful tools for teaching students to read well.
That’s right. Great Books, challenging as they can be, should be read by children of all ages, even young readers, to help them read better. No book is too hard or too advanced—if a teacher or parent is poised to guide a child through it.
It is the rare child who could pick up a Great Book by the likes of Shakespeare and unpack its meaning all on its own. For that matter, I can’t imagine an adult who could do that! The language is so difficult and the ideas so complex that a first read often feels mind-numbing and senseless.
For that reason, many educators shy away from the Great Books.
“Skills first!” they argue. “Students need to be good readers before they can dive into something like Shakespeare.”
Classical educators, however, respectfully disagree. The Great Books can be used to teach skills like reading fluency and comprehension while also opening up a child’s world to a wealth of wisdom. In this way, the reading experience is productive and meaningful. Children fall in love with reading as they grow in wisdom and virtue.
So what is virtue in this context?
If you read my series on King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table, you know that virtue is a major theme of my teaching. Here, I use the term as somewhat of a synonym for skill, and that’s not just because it’s a fancier word. Rather, I prefer virtue because it more fully captures the idea of a trained habit, whereas skill tends to imply something that can be mastered and moved on from.
Fluent reading, for example, is acquired from a steadfast devotion to practice, just as comprehension is achieved to an ever greater extent over time through continued effort. Both are constantly evolving in a reader. Even a highly literate adult reader might struggle with Shakespeare during a first read but will certainly understand more and more as he works through it. Thus, his virtues improve through the act of reading itself.
In this series, I am going to present a variety of strategies I use to teach the virtues of reading. Some are “tried-and-true,” while others are “research-based.” All are distinctly classical in that they are paired with the Great Books and all their wisdom.
I have grouped the strategies according to the following categories: reading aloud, silent reading, and focused practice.
