Charles Dickens has a birthday this month (February 7th), and some of us are already reading A Tale of Two Cities for the British Literature class I’m teaching at co-op. I would like for the family to read Nicholas Nickleby aloud together in the evenings, but the teenage urchins aren’t being too cooperative about working some read aloud family time into their busy schedules. Any suggestions?

Oh, by the way, I want us to read Nicholas Nickleby because two of the aforementioned teenagers are performing in a play based on that book in May. It promises to be a long, complicated and enjoyable drama, but I thought it would be helpful if some of us knew the basic story before we saw the play. Does anyone else have what they think are wonderful educational ideas in which no one else in the family wants to participate? Do you compel participation? Do you give up? I told someone the other day that I don’t think I know how to be an inspirational teacher. I have lots of what I think are good ideas, but I’m not too good at getting everyone else “on board” so to speak.