---
title: "1 English class Quotes By Michael Sokolove"
description: "1 English class quotes by Michael Sokolove. Plus more from Michael Sokolove and more English class sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a5f/michael-sokolove-36549_books_in-april-2012-the-new-york-times-publish_1289503.jpg"
---

> [“In April 2012, The New York Times published a heart-wrenching essay by Claire Needell Hollander, a middle school English teacher in the New York City public schools. Under the headline “Teach the Books, Touch the Heart,” she began with an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-sokolove/in-april-2012-the-new-york-times-published-a-heart-wrenching-essay-by/)

[Michael Sokolove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-sokolove/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a5f/michael-sokolove-36549_books_in-april-2012-the-new-york-times-publish_1289503.jpg)

## More by Michael Sokolove

> [“There are amazing stories of people who made it from the bottom to the top. But what happens on average? What is the chance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-sokolove/there-are-amazing-stories-of-people-who-made-it-from-the-bottom-to/)

[Michael Sokolove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-sokolove/)

> [“He does not tell her how. He never does. It is the essential aspect of his genius as an educator. The world is full…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-sokolove/he-does-not-tell-her-how-he-never-does-it-is-the-essential-aspect-of/)

[Michael Sokolove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-sokolove/)

> [“some ways, this is the most difficult aspect of the role; it demands that Mariela portray a wealthy, professional, and mature woman, accustomed to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-sokolove/some-ways-this-is-the-most-difficult-aspect-of-the-role-it-demands/)

[Michael Sokolove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-sokolove/)

> [“One part of the study looked specifically at the impact on students involved in theater. Between ninth and twelfth grades, their reading levels increased…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-sokolove/one-part-of-the-study-looked-specifically-at-the-impact-on-students/)

[Michael Sokolove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-sokolove/)

> [“Theater gives them what a computer takes away, what no classroom teacher can teach. They learn to work with other people. They learn patience…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-sokolove/theater-gives-them-what-a-computer-takes-away-what-no-classroom/)

[Michael Sokolove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-sokolove/)

> [“In April 2012, The New York Times published a heart-wrenching essay by Claire Needell Hollander, a middle school English teacher in the New York…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-sokolove/in-april-2012-the-new-york-times-published-a-heart-wrenching-essay-by/)

[Michael Sokolove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-sokolove/)

> [“series The March of Time visited”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-sokolove/series-the-march-of-time-visited/)

[Michael Sokolove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-sokolove/)

> [“Volpe expands their worldview and shows them that struggle and suffering are universal, but so are hope and resilience.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-sokolove/volpe-expands-their-worldview-and-shows-them-that-struggle-and/)

[Michael Sokolove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-sokolove/)

> [“Along the way, he published a novel about the music business with the title Sweetie Baby Cookie Honey.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-sokolove/along-the-way-he-published-a-novel-about-the-music-business-with-the/)

[Michael Sokolove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-sokolove/)

> [“Maybe that kid was in the back of the ensemble and he wasn’t even good, or he was an abomination. I don’t care. He…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-sokolove/maybe-that-kid-was-in-the-back-of-the-ensemble-and-he-wasn-t-even/)

[Michael Sokolove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-sokolove/)

> [“I’m sorry, but this is musical theater, guys. Okay? You’ve just got to do it all.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-sokolove/i-m-sorry-but-this-is-musical-theater-guys-okay-you-ve-just-got-to-do/)

[Michael Sokolove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-sokolove/)

> [“Everything now has to be fully accountable,” Peter Plagens, a New York painter and art critic, told the online magazine Salon in a 2012…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-sokolove/everything-now-has-to-be-fully-accountable-peter-plagens-a-new-york/)

[Michael Sokolove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-sokolove/)

> [“What I know now is that I would be a different person, or at the least a better version of myself, more rounded, more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-sokolove/what-i-know-now-is-that-i-would-be-a-different-person-or-at-the-least/)

[Michael Sokolove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-sokolove/)

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                        "text": "“In April 2012, The New York Times published a heart-wrenching essay by Claire Needell Hollander, a middle school English teacher in the New York City public schools. Under the headline “Teach the Books, Touch the Heart,” she began with an anecdote about teaching John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. As her class read the end together out loud in class, her “toughest boy,” she wrote, “wept a little, and so did I.” A girl in the class edged out of her chair to get a closer look and asked Hollander if she was crying. “I am,” she said, “and the funny thing is I’ve read it many times.” Hollander, a reading enrichment teacher, shaped her lessons around robust literature—her classes met in small groups and talked informally about what they had read. Her students did not “read from the expected perspective,” as she described it. They concluded (not unreasonably) that Holden Caulfield “was a punk, unfairly dismissive of parents who had given him every advantage.” One student read Lady Macbeth’s soliloquies as raps. Another, having been inspired by Of Mice and Men, went on to read The Grapes of Wrath on his own and told Hollander how amazed he was that “all these people hate each other, and they’re all white.” She knew that these classes were enhancing her students’ reading levels, their understanding of the world, their souls. But she had to stop offering them to all but her highest-achieving eighth-graders. Everyone else had to take instruction specifically targeted to boost their standardized test scores. Hollander felt she had no choice. Reading scores on standardized tests in her school had gone up in the years she maintained her reading group, but not consistently enough. “Until recently, given the students’ enthusiasm for the reading groups, I was able to play down that data,” she wrote. “But last year, for the first time since I can remember, our test scores declined in relation to comparable schools in the city. Because I play a leadership role in the English department, I felt increased pressure to bring this year’s scores up. All the teachers are increasing their number of test-preparation sessions and practice tests, so I have done the same, cutting two of my three classic book groups and replacing them with a test preparation tutorial program.” Instead of Steinbeck and Shakespeare, her students read “watered-down news articles or biographies, bastardized novels, memos or brochures.” They studied vocabulary words, drilled on how to write sentences, and practiced taking multiple-choice tests. The overall impact of such instruction, Hollander said, is to “bleed our English classes dry.” So”",
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