How Do You Choose What to Read?

Each semester, I inevitably share my musical tastes with students. This may arise when I play background music while students do some in class writing, or it may arise when we discuss a specific topic and that topic reminds me a song. This semester, I shared with students some of my musical tastes, specifically my love for punk, hardcore, and metal. Their initial reaction, of course, was bewilderment because, as they said, “I did not picture you listening to that type of music.” That comment didn’t shock me because, as I tell them again and again, we know each other in a certain setting, the classroom. I am their teacher and they are students. It’s like seeing their elementary school teacher at the grocery store. The location doesn’t match, and the image they have of me doesn’t match because they only know me within one context.

One student asked me another question. As I went through various artists, the majority of which they had never heard of, the student asked, “How do you find these artists?” The student didn’t realize it at the time, but her question encapsulates so much about learning and education. I told the student that I researched. I sought out bands and musicians. When I came across one artist, I may move backwards from that artist, seeing who or what influenced them. I told them about hearing Nirvana for the first time and then digging deeper into other bands on Sub Pop and…