Barbara Nowacka recently announced changes in the core curriculum regarding school readings. “I signed a document in which Mr. Rymkiewicz and Dukaj do not appear,” announced the Minister of Education and noted that the topic was now closed. The new list of required reading materials will be announced at the end of June, but Nowacka’s statement sparked another discussion about the books that students should read, as well as about the very validity of the existence of such a canon.
There is an ongoing discussion about school reading materials. Marcin Kończewski teaches in primary school: You have to trust young people
“I consider the model of shaping civic attitudes through literature to be archaic and conservative, incompatible with the reality of 2024 AD,” says Jakub ¯ulczyk, one of the most widely read Polish authors in recent years. “It is not without reason that it is said that the most nasty thing that can happen to an author is to be included in the canon of reading material” – notes Marcin Kończewski, a cultural blogger on the Internet known under the pseudonym Koń Movie, offline – a Polish language teacher at the Montessori primary school in Poznań Harmony.
Kończewski emphasizes that the list of compulsory reading should be regularly updated, and some classics of literature should be known by students only in fragments. Books often have no chance in the race for children’s attention, but not always. “We in this country do not trust young people too much, we look at them from above, critically. And we need to skillfully encourage certain things. There is a certain psychological problem with imposing content. Contemporary youth have much more developed tastes, access to the first selection thanks to their favorites. podcasters, YouTubers – there used to be no such people,” notes a primary school teacher from Poznań.
“It is not without reason that youth books are currently the most profitable. Young people want to read, but they do not want to read old books. Should Mickiewicz, Prus, Sienkiewicz be forgotten? Absolutely not. But young people will not read their works under duress. Even if we are talking about real bookworms,” he adds.
Five students of a primary school in Poznań published a collection of short stories
Marcin Kończewski’s students read, how does he encourage them to do so? “I work quite unusually – I provide space to carry out projects related to a given book. If someone doesn’t know it, they won’t be able to complete an interesting task, e.g. they won’t complete the reading Escape Room” – says Koń Movie. Kończewski swears that he does not make quizzes about reading and does not give negative ratings when someone does not read the book. “I allow students to understand that without knowledge of reading, they are missing out on something cool. I always try to adapt my methods and content to what interests my students. This is the absolute basis of my work.”
One of the projects mentioned by Marcin Kończewski ended up being an amazing undertaking. As it turns out, the teacher’s students not only eagerly consume literature, but also develop a dream to create it themselves. As part of their semester work, students of primary school in Poznań started writing stories, and when they put their extraordinary stories on paper, they wanted to publish them.
“We didn’t plan it from the beginning. I always emphasize to my students that dreams and our projects have no limits. I suggest ideas, I sow certain ideas, but the decision always depends on them. And so it was – these are Liliana, Liwka, Marcin, Julka and Mikołaj decided that they wanted to try to do something great and publish their stories,” says Marcin Kończewski with pride. The process turned out to be very demanding and complicated because the young authors decided to publish the book themselves.
“Fantastic Harmony” has gone to press. Pulp Books has created a free audiobook
The teacher was mainly surprised by the maturity of his students and their determination to achieve their goals. “During the editorial work, there was discouragement. However, I was amazed by the determination of the children, their resistance to my comments and the editors’ corrections. There is enormous strength in young people, which you just need to unlock in them. Later, they can move mountains,” emphasizes Koń Movie.
However, to move mountains, the five debuting young writers needed not only skills, inspiration and perseverance, but also money. Marcin Kończewski started an online collection, he also managed to organize a school fair and, thanks to the collected funds, print as many as 400 copies of “Fantastic Harmony”.
“‘Fantastic Harmony’ is a collection of 9 different stories. We are the authors of eight of them, and one of them is our teacher. And what will they be about? In the collection you will find stories from the broadly understood fantasy genre – fantasy, fairy tales, adventure and science fiction. Everyone will find something for ourselves. We want to prove that imagination knows no limits, transcends barriers, helps overcome the greatest difficulties and restores… harmony,” we read on the zrzutka.pl website.
Professional help was offered to Kończewski’s students – illustrator Piotr Sokołowski and Alicja Szalska Radomska, who supervised the editorial process. Finally, the Pulp Books publishing house, co-created by , became interested in “Fantastic Harmony”.
The Pulp Books team created an audiobook for the book, which is available in the publisher’s application completely free of charge. Professional lectors were engaged in the project: Marcin Kardach, Mateusz Kapusta and Przemek Corso, who, like the editorial and proofreading team, performed their non-profit work. “Now these stories are available to all of Poland. It’s hard for me to believe that it all really happened,” says Marcin Kończewski, clearly moved.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
