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The “Old Yeller” Teacher (This has nothing to do with screaming at kids.)


When I was a 7th grader, I read Old Yeller for English class. Well, I didn’t actually read it. My teacher assigned it to the entire class. I wasn’t the only one who didn’t read it, however.

In a class of nineteen students, seven of my friends didn’t read it, either. Twelve of my other friends did read it. Fourteen of us (whether we read it or not) hated the novel (a major reason why the non-readers didn’t read it in the first place). Five of my friends in class loved Old Yeller.

So, why do these statistics speak to me so loudly years after I graduated from 7th grade, years after I was an English teacher, myself; but, years after, and still seeing the same practice taking place in schools today: assigning whole class novels that do not engage the whole class?

While many may argue with me that to collectively study a piece of literature is important, I look back on my teaching career and only think about how unimportant and disengaging it really was.

I taught 7th grade English for five years. Ironically, I remember taking a pushcart to the middle school book room at the beginning of the year in order to grab class sets of the novels that I wanted my students to read and study. I was my own 7th grade Old Yeller teacher, with the same philosophy as she—that this was GREAT literature that I should be exposing students to. I prided myself in knowing so much about the literary elements of MY CHOSEN novels that we were going to study them together and learn about what GREAT literature really was!

Here is a portion of what Amazon includes about Old Yeller in their book synopsis section:

  • Awarded the Newbery Honor in 1957.

  • When a novel like this comes along just as Huckleberry Finn or The Yearling did, it defies customary adjectives because of the intensity it evokes in the reader.

  • Fred Gipson's Old Yeller stands as one of the most beloved novels ever produced in this country and one that will live in the hearts and minds of readers for generations to come.

So, what makes a novel . . . any novel . . . an award winning novel if it doesn’t really evoke all readers (and it isn’t supposed to)?