Here’s a little heresy.

 I don’t mean theological heresy—but, educational heresy.  I mainly teach science classes to Co-op.  However, I don’t mind teaching literature or composition classes, too. For the past three years, the Composition and Lit classes have had teens with learning differences.  Here’s the heresy; we read abridged books.  I even assigned four abridged books as summer reading: Frankenstein, Romeo and Juliet, A Tale of Two Cities, and Pride and Prejudice. I use Longman simplified books and Illustrated Classics books.

I let one student with dyslexia use Grammarly to write papers. She had so much trouble spelling, Grammarly was a life saver.  Fine.  Usually, my students use Google Docs and we edit.  If a kiddo struggles with reading and writing, he or she watches the movie before reading the book to get the gist of the plot.  One of my favorite assignments is to compare a book and the film.  Does the Lion King capture Hamlet?  Does West Side Story retell Romeo and Juliet?  A few years ago, I had two young women in Brit Lit.  Anna’s favorite novel was Pride and Prejudice.  Angel couldn’t stomach the novel; she read the version with zombies.  (We all agreed that the film version with zombies didn’t resemble Pride and Prejudice at all.). 

BTW I love classics.  I do enjoy teaching a traditional, literature curriculum.  But, sometimes the teens have learning differences.  I want them exposed to literature, too, as part of their overall education.  Sometimes, the slang in Huckleberry Finn or Old English in Shakespeare deters kiddos from reading classics.  I don’t hesitate to pull out an abridged copy of the novel.