I was greatly intrigued by the reading from the text Teaching Literature to Adolescents. The chapter we read for this week focused on censorship in the classroom and how a teacher goes about the exciting and arduous task of deciding which texts to include in the classroom. An important moment for me in the text was the question, "how do you design a curriculum that takes students beyond books, preparing them for the host of ethical and moral decisions they must make each day of their future lives as members of a democratic society?" ( Beach et al. 243-244). This question is a daunting one and made me stop to think about my future goals for my future classroom.
In my class I want to explore a variety of texts that illustrate the cultural diversity of our nation. This will be an important aspect of my curriculum no matter where my teaching career might lead me. It is important to explore and discuss issues of diversity--be it diversity of culture, religion, sexual orientation, etc.--in even the most homogeneous of societies. It is only by educating students to accept and embrace the differences they will most certainly face in our ever changing world that we can attempt to create a society based on tolerance, acceptance, and understanding. This connects with another idea in the book which focuses on creating a "socially responsible" students (Beach et al. 244).
What amazed me about the need to use classrooms as a melting pot of differences and create an atmosphere of respect was the lack of this, for the most part in my own education. Upon reading the text I struggled to remember instances of diversity in my own learning processes. I was interested to note that the text specifically mentions the influence of conservative Texans in monitoring the the "text-book adoption process" (Beach et al. 244). I spent my middle school and high school years in Texas and I can not remember ever reading or encountering literature in my English classes that explored the great realm of diverse texts available for students. Sandra Cisneros and Langston Hughes are the only non-American or European authors I remember encountering. The realization that I never would have noticed this in high school and it is only since entering college that I can reflect on this is disturbing to me and I realize how important it is to expose students to texts that either introduce them to or reflect their own experiences.
I also agree with the argument in the text that many adults do not give enough credit to their children when it comes to how they will perceive or react to a text. The writers cite a woman who claims that the influence of family values and culture has much more to do with how a child will interpret a text than the books they read. I again look at my own experience with this one. I read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and afterwards I did not suddenly have racist beliefs. I think that we need to give children more credit and understand that if we can use these materials to bring up difficult subjects or connect them with things they may or may not have been exposed to before we can stimulate their minds in a way that will better prepare them for the future.
Beach, Richard., et al. Teaching Literature to Adolescents. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, Inc., 2006.
I heartily agree with your statement about giving our students more credit in regards to their ability to deal with the complex issues that often come up in the study of literature. Your reflections on your own school experiences mirror my own, and I'm sure that of many other students. It's too bad that the politics of education so often get in the way of actually teaching. Huck Finn is a great example. Its value as a text is largely unquestioned, but the teaching of that text is often controversial. Perhaps if we all gave students a little more credit, we wouldn't be stuck with only "safe" texts when we teach.
ReplyDelete