Hello Educators,
As educators we are constantly challenged with better ways to facilitate our classrooms everyday. Most importantly the six key topics in teaching literature which include:
1. Student motivation with reading-There are many ways to motivate our students to read more. I believe we must first start with content and how it pertains to our students own lives. Many teachers approach their reading assignments with the thought of what will students learn from this literature? I think that a better way to go about it is to think about how it relates to current affairs. What can students learn about themselves from reading this literature? Those questions as well as engaging assignments that pull the main ideas out of the literature and simplify them for your students are the key to getting students excited about reading. The main goal when motivating students to read should be comprehension as author Chris Tovani discusses in her book I Read it, But I don't get it, students need to comprehend what they are reading in order to gain anything from what they read and it is not necessarily our job to formulate their conclusions about the literature but its our job to guide them to a better understanding of the literature and its content.
2.State Standards and literature- Common Core Standards ask teachers to make sure students understand how to comprehend what they are reading. As a standard for reading literature students are expected to understand how to analyze, interpret, and integrate their own ideas about what they read in a thoughtful way. Our job as teachers is to provided them with the tools they need in order to do so efficiently. The curriculum that we present to our students must engage their thinking to an extent that they must analyze and interpret in order to understand. For example when approaching a reading assignment most students focus on just getting it done and as teachers the assignments we provide should make it so that students can't possibly just read to get it done but read to find answers to not only your questions but their own. Reading logs are a great example of a way to engage the students thinking while not forcing them to answer specific questions. The reading log challenges the students to retain information in order to understand which is the main focus of this standard.
3. Reader Response vs. New Criticism Theory- These two theories although often placed against each other in my eyes go hand in hand when approaching reading literature and teaching students how to understand. Reader Response asks the students to relate to the reading while New Criticism asks them to analyze the reading in depth. Both subjects are virtually impossible to do without the other. What you already know is what helps you to determine your criticism of the author or the author's intentions and that is exactly what reader response asks you to do, it asks you to put yourself in the shoes of the character and make a conclusion based on what you have experienced in life. New Criticism Theory is based solely on in depth thought and analysis of what the authors goal was and the only way to formulate answer is to understand the character and reader response theory helps you understand the character so that you can better understand the author main idea or focus. So these two worlds can work together to help your students understand better which is to me the main focus of teaching literature.
4.Choosing YA literature-Choosing Young Adult literature can become one of the most challenging tasks for teachers because content is the most important aspect of getting students to comprehend. Students have to feel like they can relate in a sense to what they read in order to keep them engaged in what they read, so choosing the right material is crucial when it comes to teaching literature. The most important and challenging factors that teachers must face are whether to focus on the classics like say Shakespeare or how to integrate current young adult reading like Harry Potter into their lessons and ultimately whats most important to the students growth in understanding literature. I believe that both the classics and current literature is important and possible to accomplish while still meeting the requirements placed in front of us.
The classic provide students with a knowledge or idea of history that is most valuable when approaching comprehension because it allows students to connect with the past and compare it to their own lives so that they are able to relate and understand the importance and similarities to their lives that reading offers. The current literature allows students and teachers to connect and students find it sometimes much easier to connect to a character that they can relate to on a surface level, who deals with the same issues that students can relate such as the character of Speak her most challenging moments are often faced and relate-able to most students who read the book because many if not all of them have faced these issues or know someone who has. So this reading is just as important and beneficial as reading classics and as long as the content and strategy remains to connect the students to the literature that is all that matters when choosing literature for your classroom.
5.How to create engaging writing assignments- Writing assignments are also very important to your curriculum because writing is what connects the student to the teacher. Writing allows the teacher to assess the progress of their students and tells them exactly what the student does and does not and understand. the best way to create engaging writing assignments is to fully understand what the purpose of the assignment is pertaining to the reading. Reading and writing go hand and hand so what your students are reading must be the main focus while still being able to allow the students to interpret and comprehend correctly. The content must reqiure the students to dig into their own thoughts as well as incorporate the ideas that are most important to the reading.
6.Facilitating classroom discussions- Facilitating classroom discussions is to me the most challenging part of teaching literature, because getting students to not only feel comfortable but getting them to participate at all while staying on task is the hardest part. The first most imprtant thing to me when considering classroom discussions is the respect level amongst the students. Bullying and popularity sometimes can hinder a classroom discussion because no one want to look unintelligent or be different from anyone's opinions. I think that this is the most important aspect to tackle when facilitating class discussions because once the students feel comfortable and don't have to worry about embarrassment then the class as a whole can benefit from the conversations. The other aspect of class discussions is staying on task and guiding the discussions in the right direction. When students get involved in discussions the opinions and ideas of each student are laid out and this can sometimes cause students to get off task. I think it is the teachers most important responsibility to keep the students focused on the task at hand. The teacher is given the ability to ask the students to think critically while cahllegieng their students ideas, when students lead the conversation it gives the students a sense of pride in what they accomplsih during the discussion as well as making them comfortable because their opinions are validated. When students are able to lead the teacher is provided with an opportunity to ask questions to provoke the discussion and its main ideas.
As educators we are constantly challenged with better ways to facilitate our classrooms everyday. Most importantly the six key topics in teaching literature which include:
- Student motivation with reading
- State standards and literature
- Reader response vs. New Criticism Theory
- Choosing Young Adult literature
- How to create engaging writing assignments about literature
- Facilitating classroom discussions about literature
1. Student motivation with reading-There are many ways to motivate our students to read more. I believe we must first start with content and how it pertains to our students own lives. Many teachers approach their reading assignments with the thought of what will students learn from this literature? I think that a better way to go about it is to think about how it relates to current affairs. What can students learn about themselves from reading this literature? Those questions as well as engaging assignments that pull the main ideas out of the literature and simplify them for your students are the key to getting students excited about reading. The main goal when motivating students to read should be comprehension as author Chris Tovani discusses in her book I Read it, But I don't get it, students need to comprehend what they are reading in order to gain anything from what they read and it is not necessarily our job to formulate their conclusions about the literature but its our job to guide them to a better understanding of the literature and its content.
2.State Standards and literature- Common Core Standards ask teachers to make sure students understand how to comprehend what they are reading. As a standard for reading literature students are expected to understand how to analyze, interpret, and integrate their own ideas about what they read in a thoughtful way. Our job as teachers is to provided them with the tools they need in order to do so efficiently. The curriculum that we present to our students must engage their thinking to an extent that they must analyze and interpret in order to understand. For example when approaching a reading assignment most students focus on just getting it done and as teachers the assignments we provide should make it so that students can't possibly just read to get it done but read to find answers to not only your questions but their own. Reading logs are a great example of a way to engage the students thinking while not forcing them to answer specific questions. The reading log challenges the students to retain information in order to understand which is the main focus of this standard.
3. Reader Response vs. New Criticism Theory- These two theories although often placed against each other in my eyes go hand in hand when approaching reading literature and teaching students how to understand. Reader Response asks the students to relate to the reading while New Criticism asks them to analyze the reading in depth. Both subjects are virtually impossible to do without the other. What you already know is what helps you to determine your criticism of the author or the author's intentions and that is exactly what reader response asks you to do, it asks you to put yourself in the shoes of the character and make a conclusion based on what you have experienced in life. New Criticism Theory is based solely on in depth thought and analysis of what the authors goal was and the only way to formulate answer is to understand the character and reader response theory helps you understand the character so that you can better understand the author main idea or focus. So these two worlds can work together to help your students understand better which is to me the main focus of teaching literature.
4.Choosing YA literature-Choosing Young Adult literature can become one of the most challenging tasks for teachers because content is the most important aspect of getting students to comprehend. Students have to feel like they can relate in a sense to what they read in order to keep them engaged in what they read, so choosing the right material is crucial when it comes to teaching literature. The most important and challenging factors that teachers must face are whether to focus on the classics like say Shakespeare or how to integrate current young adult reading like Harry Potter into their lessons and ultimately whats most important to the students growth in understanding literature. I believe that both the classics and current literature is important and possible to accomplish while still meeting the requirements placed in front of us.
The classic provide students with a knowledge or idea of history that is most valuable when approaching comprehension because it allows students to connect with the past and compare it to their own lives so that they are able to relate and understand the importance and similarities to their lives that reading offers. The current literature allows students and teachers to connect and students find it sometimes much easier to connect to a character that they can relate to on a surface level, who deals with the same issues that students can relate such as the character of Speak her most challenging moments are often faced and relate-able to most students who read the book because many if not all of them have faced these issues or know someone who has. So this reading is just as important and beneficial as reading classics and as long as the content and strategy remains to connect the students to the literature that is all that matters when choosing literature for your classroom.
5.How to create engaging writing assignments- Writing assignments are also very important to your curriculum because writing is what connects the student to the teacher. Writing allows the teacher to assess the progress of their students and tells them exactly what the student does and does not and understand. the best way to create engaging writing assignments is to fully understand what the purpose of the assignment is pertaining to the reading. Reading and writing go hand and hand so what your students are reading must be the main focus while still being able to allow the students to interpret and comprehend correctly. The content must reqiure the students to dig into their own thoughts as well as incorporate the ideas that are most important to the reading.
6.Facilitating classroom discussions- Facilitating classroom discussions is to me the most challenging part of teaching literature, because getting students to not only feel comfortable but getting them to participate at all while staying on task is the hardest part. The first most imprtant thing to me when considering classroom discussions is the respect level amongst the students. Bullying and popularity sometimes can hinder a classroom discussion because no one want to look unintelligent or be different from anyone's opinions. I think that this is the most important aspect to tackle when facilitating class discussions because once the students feel comfortable and don't have to worry about embarrassment then the class as a whole can benefit from the conversations. The other aspect of class discussions is staying on task and guiding the discussions in the right direction. When students get involved in discussions the opinions and ideas of each student are laid out and this can sometimes cause students to get off task. I think it is the teachers most important responsibility to keep the students focused on the task at hand. The teacher is given the ability to ask the students to think critically while cahllegieng their students ideas, when students lead the conversation it gives the students a sense of pride in what they accomplsih during the discussion as well as making them comfortable because their opinions are validated. When students are able to lead the teacher is provided with an opportunity to ask questions to provoke the discussion and its main ideas.