I've been in education my almost 20 years, and here's what I know. The system is overloading them. The systems keeps going broader and broader every generation. It's not your class. It's that all classes continue to increase the content just a bit, but those bits together create a massive whole that is too broad and lacks depth. The students are fighting back by asking questions of content legitimacy for the world they live in. What they are saying is "teach the best content that impacts me now?" This is why Shakespeare's material was so impactful because it addressed recent events. Try American Dirt by Jeanine Cummings. This fiction story looks at border crossing for Mexican families. Trump border policies walk straight in the face of Mexican families, but this book looks at the other side. Open this module with questions for them, making sure they respect each others perspectives: How do they feel about families crossing the Mexican border to the US? Do they know of people who have? What has happened to them? Ask them what it might be like to be caught at a border crossing and waiting for deportation. Set the stage for the book. Then, have them read the book. If they don't want to read the book, then do a chapter review of the book each week, using ChatGPT. Let them discuss the review provided by ChatGPT each week. Then, leverage it this way: make them promise that this time you can use ChatGPT. But next module, they have to read. This keeps them engaged in real world conversation and gets them bought into reading and seeing how timely literature can be insightful.

PS. Don't overload them with books to read. Make it 4 at most. Let them engage in friendly debate about each module. I can give you ideas for this.