Literature - Awakening Curiosity in High Schoolers

Little children love to explore and learn. They will check out the same dog-eared picture book on dinosaurs, devouring every page.

But high schoolers? Too often I see these students content with mediocrity and minimum requirements.

One of my goals this year is to use literature to awaken in my students the curiosity that lives in a dormant state. Curiosity is the key to students taking ownership of their learning.

For example, we will be reading Kon-Tiki in my 10th grade World Literature class. This isn't a typical World Lit book - you won't see it on many must-read lists. However, I like it because it has such value in drawing students interests in and out of pages in a book.

Kon-Tiki is the story of Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl who built a raft to sail from South America to Polynesia, proving that ancient peoples could traverse great bodies of water in simple rafts. While his anthropological theories have not stood the test of time, Heyerdahl's spirit of adventure has.

We will spend a good part of the first few weeks of this book learning sea terminology, how to tie knots, and how to build rafts and boats. Is this a literature class??? Yes!! If you've ever read the Swallows & Amazons series and put down the book ready to sail off into an adventure, you know how strong a pull a book can have on you.

I want to use books like Kon-Tiki to awaken my students' curiosity. WAKE UP! Seize the opportunities around you. Explore. Research. Do something.