Classical Literature and the Science of Reading: When Two Worlds Collide
Jennifer Ramirez
I preface this essay by stating that I am an unapologetic[CM1] [JR2] fan of Doug Lemov and his work, especially his book Teach Like a Champion. Early in my teaching career, I was struggling a bit as a new middle school science teacher when a school leader handed me Lemov’s book and suggested: “this new book might be helpful.” To say it was helpful would be an understatement. In the fifteen years since I cracked open the pages of the first edition of Teach Like a Champion, I’ve appreciated the translation of research that Doug and his team provide to educators around the world. The book transcends content areas, grade levels, and even various school models. Between the release of his new book, The Teach Like a Champion Guide to The Science of Reading (co-written with Colleen Driggs and Erica Woolway), and his keynote at the Great Hearts National Symposium [CP3] [JR4] for Classical Education, I not only found myself “fan-girling,” but the book and the presentation together also reignited my passion for pursuing excellent and impactful reading instruction.
This reignition began with a question: how does the research behind the Science of Reading and the beauty contained within classical literature not only co-exist but complement each other in cultivating wisdom and virtue? After teaching first graders for the last 6 of my 11 years in the classroom, I knew the science of reading and classical texts could be simultaneously valued, however, I wrestled with two important questions:
- What makes teaching classical literature so valuable in the modern world?
- How do we ensure most effectively that our students master reading?
I began with that ever-persistent question- WHY? The value of solid reading instruction, and subsequently, high student scores on reading achievement tests, are often framed in a way that places reading as the primary engine for “learning how to learn.” However, the value goes far beyond enabling students to absorb information; we are training hearts and minds towards what is Good, True, and Beautiful.[CP5] Additionally, in a classical liberal arts education, the emphasis on reading whole books is a deliberate pedagogical commitment honoring the integrity of human thought and contributing to the development of a student’s character.
At the most foundational level, reading creates cognitive stamina. In the age of “snack-size” (and often digital) content, reading whole books [CP6] [CP7] [CP8] trains the mind to hold onto details over a sustained period. This practice builds an endurance that is much needed for learning- both in the academic and leisurely sense- and simply cannot be formed or replicated with excerpts. The idea that a text with a cohesive narrative can be diced up and offered as a combination of a few selections can serve as a substitute for marinating in a text in its entirety must be unequivocally rejected and abandoned. Reading the whole text pays honor to the author’s work – the arc of the story paints a masterpiece when it is enjoyed from start to finish. As Cicero noted, the study of letters is the nourishment of our youth. Studying them in their entirety is the way in which we maximize that nourishment.
It’s important to name explicitly that not all books spark the moral imagination and form the reader’s virtue in an equitable manner. The value of immersing students in great texts, as Descartes described, is “like a conversation with the finest men of past centuries.” The stories we place in front of our students present them with examples of tragedy and triumph, virtue and vice. We use these stories to train the affections of our students, or as C.S. Lewis says, “to love what is beautiful and despise what is base.” Great books show that the moral choices one faces are often messy and hard, requiring great discernment. We walk our students alongside archetypes such as Achilles, Virgil, and Oedipus, so they learn valuable lessons about who they are meant to be.
We also must consider the impact of layering in the principle of reading these great books in their entirety together in community, in classrooms around the country. C.S. Lewis famously used the phrase “two heads are better than one” in his 1944 essay On the Reading of Old Books. While he made this statement in support of reading authors and texts across the centuries, his reasoning that two heads are unlikely to go wrong in the same direction further bestows upon us the importance of engaging with others. It builds a common intellectual world in which students can wrestle with the great ideas, the meaning of language, and virtue. As Robert Hutchins, the fifth president of the University of Chicago, proclaimed, “all should be actively and continuously engaged in the Great Conversation” as it is the “road to education.”
This argument proves[CP9] the undeniable necessity of preserving the dedication to the study of great books, in their entirety, partnered with conversation about the texts as the fundamental pillars of reading instruction in the classical liberal arts tradition. But then the question with which we are left is how to preserve this practice of reading?
The research outlined in The Teach Like a Champion Guide to The Science of Reading can be a lamp illuminating the educator’s path. Reading has the power to unlock worlds, but unlike oral language, it cannot be acquired through exposure or imitation. Lemov, Driggs, and Woolway outline seven arguments that influence reading instruction once students have moved past the basic phonetic understanding.
1. Managing and Socializing Attention: In the digital age, attention is malleable and diminished; teachers must actively rebuild students’ capacity for sustained focus, making reading a focused, collective social activity rather than isolated, individual work.
2. Building Fluency: Fluent reading is necessary for comprehension because it frees working memory from decoding, allowing the brain to focus on meaning.
3. Background Knowledge as Comprehension: Comprehension is not a “transferable skill” but a result of background knowledge. To understand a text, students must have a deep, extensive knowledge base.
4. Vocabulary as Knowledge: Vocabulary should be taught as a form of knowledge rather than just a set of definitions, helping students build a deep, broad understanding of words.
5. Writing to Build Reading Power: Writing is a cognitive tool for deep thinking and memory encoding; slow, deliberate writing in response to text improves comprehension.
6. Reading Whole Books: Students must engage with whole books to develop the stamina and sustained attention required to analyze complex, long-form text.
7. Implementing Close Reading: Teachers must train students to master complex texts by focusing on technical details, structure, and text-dependent questions rather than relying on prior experience.
The authors outline research and strategies for each of these arguments in a way that not only advocates for the importance of them but also explains how teachers can begin to practically address them. It is essential to reiterate the conclusion based on their research that there is a large discrepancy in the time that students spend learning how to read as compared to the amount of time a student spends in school. If most phonics instruction ends around third grade, this leaves at least nine years of schooling potentially without foundational, purposeful, and explicit reading instruction, if we abandon the teaching of whole books.
One essential question remains; why is it important that these two “realms” of literacy instruction merge together? As fellow keepers of the classical education tradition, we must all fully commit to the ideal that every student not only “cracks the code’ of reading, but that they are also motivated by “Good and Beautiful” works to become master readers. We start strong in phonics and must ensure that the same intensity and commitment continue well beyond their elementary years so that students come to know the likes of Shakespeare, Dickens, Austin, Virgil, Plato, and many more. As educators, may we measure our success, at least in one way, by how deeply and actively students engage in the Great Conversation long after they leave the chairs within our classroom walls.
[CM1]Jenn - do you mean apologetic or UNapologetic?
[JR2]ha.. definitely UNapologetic!
[CP3]Quick note, does Carol want us to brand this with GH?
[JR4]I’m not sure- great question- I’ll ask her about that it when I submit it to her!
[CP5]You address this in the next sentence; I just want to highlight the lovely parallel of training the heart as well as the mind. Pointing students to what is good (true, and beautiful).
[CP6]I love the focus on reading whole texts!! Such a great angle.
[CP7]I wonder if it there would be a way to pull that out as a contrast to the current state of education’s focus on short texts. That is, the purpose of reading is to READ THINGS not just to perform the specific skills that make up the act of reading.
[CP8]In short, just adding to this paragraph a quick contrast to drive home the point you are eloquently making.
[CP9]SO GOOD
Jennifer Ramirez (M. Ed., Curriculum and Instruction) has spent the last seven years working for Great Hearts after ten years of working in school districts around the US and abroad in Germany. She is the Director of Career Pathways on the Great Hearts America Professional Development Team. Prior to this role, she served as a teacher in various grades K-8, mentor teacher and instructional coach, and as a Headmaster. She is passionate about the impact of instructional coaching on both teacher development and student outcomes, which has led her to this current role. Jennifer and her husband Rogelio are the proud parents of five kids, three of which are still school-age and attend Great Hearts Forest Heights as 9th, 8th, and 5th graders. Outside of education, Jennifer enjoys hitting the trails with her dog and volunteering in various children's ministry programs.