Teaching Literature in Secondary Schools: Jago Chapter 1

So far, I think this book has made a lot of important points.  I like the fact that the author pointed out that students should be reading books that they can't necessarily understand on their own.  This is something that I haven't really thought about before but it's something that I think has a lot of merit to it.  Students learn more from reading books that are challenging.  However, while I agree with the author's point I think it also brings up concerns.  How do teachers deal with students that don't do the assigned reading for homework?  How do teachers teach such challenging books in their classrooms with students who struggle with decoding and reading skills?  Also, could reading such difficult books turn students away from reading on their own?  These are all issues that I think should be considered in choosing what books to teach students.  I really like the idea of pairing young adult literature with the classics.  In this way, students are being exposed to canonical literature, but they're also getting exposed to literature that they can relate to, which I think is important.  I also liked Jago's point about metaphors being everywhere, not just in literature.  I think this point was something that I had never really thought about before, but after I read about it it made a lot of sense.  I think this is a point that we need to teach students so they can see the relevance of the material being taught in the classroom.  I think students will respond better to the lessons in the classroom if they see that it has relevance in the real world.