Teaching Literature

Since I have been interning I have found that many students do not enjoy reading old literature. So, is old literature still relevant in today's classroom? Of course literature is very important in the English classroom! There are some many genres of Literature, which helps us to understand the world around us. Through literature, we explore the human mind and analyze how and why people engage in some of their actions. Literature enables us to think critically about what an author was trying to say and it promotes an open mind. Thorough literature we are able to see the world from different perspectives of many writers and their culture. Without literature, we lack all of these great qualities in the English classroom. Therefore, it is my personal opinion that literature should still be taught in the classroom.

How would I teach literature? Well, everyone has his or her own teaching style, but for me I would teach lit by using technology and hands on activities. In media class we discussed a few inovative activities that can be used in the English classroom. The activity that sticks in my mind is the Facebook activity, which involves students creating Facebook accounts for characters. I really like this activity because it can be adapted to so many different social networks. For example, instead of using Facebook students may be asked to create an account for a character on myspace. I believe that students would really get into an assignment like this because it is in their comfort zone. I think that it is a great idea to bring something into the curriculum that most students utilize on a daily basis. Other examples of teaching literature through media would be blogging and discussion post. Blogging would allow students to go away from the traditional journal writing to putting their thoughts online. Because literature can be so complex, discussion post would allow students to share their opinions about different text. Both blogging and discussion post could help students to better understand text.

Can literature be taught in a fun and engaging way? Yes, I believe that literature can be manipulated in a way that students are comfortable reading the text. There are many students that still enjoy old literature, but then there are the few that don't enjoy lit. To accomodate both groups of students I think that technology and hands on experiences are the perfect answers. Students will become more engaged in lessons when they are in their comfort zone, and for many students technology is comfort!