Between academics and extracurriculars, students’ lives can be packed with a busy schedule. Unfortunately, this leaves students who love to read with little to no free time to do so. However, Yutan offers a class called Reading Appreciation, where students have dedicated time to read books they are interested in. 

Currently, the class is taught by English teacher Nealy Freeman, who has taught this type of class for nine years over the course of her career. 

“I think the structure of this class is really open so that students can have the time to read a book that they want, or they also have time to work on something else if they need to. We really just read books, and giving that time to do that is kind of a blessing for students who really enjoy reading,” Freeman said. 

Students complete projects inspired by their books, and this is another way students are given freedom. 

“We do weekly discussions; they do book projects, like Capri (Woster) right now is doing a poster for her book,” Freeman said. “You have to write at least four essays over books over the course of the year, but they have a menu board so they can actually choose what they would like, from AR quizzes to vocabulary work.” 

The independence the class offers in choosing assignments and which books to read is what makes the class so enjoyable among students. 

“I really like being able to choose my own books because when you can choose, you can do whatever you like the best. Also, the projects can be anything like writing or drawing, so it is pretty fun,” freshman Capri Woster said. 

The class wasn’t always structured this way, though; in fact, it used to be called Modern Literature and was a core class for seniors. This was changed roughly 10 years ago to make the required senior English classes more consistent, though the name wasn’t changed until this school year.

“We made the switch that seniors then would have their two regular English classes, and Modern Literature became an elective, and it’s been passed from teacher to teacher over the years based on who has room in their schedule. So, each of us in the English department has taught the class before,” English teacher Ginger Eikmeier said. 

Because the class became an elective, the overall requirements of the class needed to change. 

“In the past several years, we’ve taken the class in that direction where we really focus on letting the students choose the books they’re reading,” Eikmeier said. “They still have to demonstrate that they’re comprehending what they’re reading. They still have to think about what they’re reading. They still have to do projects about what they’re reading, but it gives them more autonomy.” 

Due to the amount of time to read and freedom the class provides, students who have no time to read but love to do it, such as senior Addi Smith, were eager to take the class.

“I took Reading Appreciation class because I wanted a class where I could just dedicate my time to reading because last year it was hard finding time during school,” Smith said. “I got into different book series and I really wanted to read it, and you know, get really into the book. And I felt like at school I had no time to read it. So then I was like, ‘Oh, I have a class for that.’”

Not only does the class give students benefits within the class, but Reading Appreciation also benefits students outside of class.

“Personally, I saw improvements on reading sections of tests because I could understand the questions better because I knew how to read and look at the text,” said sophomore Charlie Tasich, who took the class last year. 

Gaining new or improving reading skills is another benefit of taking the class. Even students who don’t prefer to read will walk away with valuable lessons. 

“I would encourage a kid who doesn’t necessarily like reading or isn’t a big reader to take this class,” Freeman said. “A person who doesn’t read any books over the course of the year will instead read 12 books, and that’s an insane amount of words, it’s a lot of pages, it’s a lot of experience.”

Regardless of what it has been called or how it has changed over the years, taking this elective gives busy students the opportunity to finally be able to read. 

“Even if you don’t like reading, you should take this class,” Smith said. “When I read, it’s like escaping to a whole new world, and this class allows me to do that. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to take a class like this.”