Teaching Literature to Adolescents (Chapter Thirteen)

 

What I particularly liked about chapter 13 of the book Teaching Literature to Adolescents was the concept that teachers everywhere have a different notion of what it means to really "teach" literature. Some simply want you to know the facts of the text, time periods, etcetera, and on their tests, the answers are generally true/false questions. There is no flexibility to them. I plan to teach literature in a way that my students gain life experiences through the realities of the characters we encounter. I want their eyes to be opened to new experiences, new points of views, and new lives that circumstances have prevented my students from living. I want them to become better human beings. That is my main goal. So, although I am teaching to the common core standards (of course), I am asking them to provide me with the new insight they have gained from pieces of literature. A majority of my questions will be open-ended with no right or wrong answer. I just want to see that they've read it, they understand it, and see what impact it has made on their lives.

I really like the idea of using blogs as a form of evaluating. A blog is a form of social media, so student automatically like it, it's something they can come back to in the future, it gives them a place to display their work to the public, their creative abilities can be shown, and parent involvement is a checked box as well because they will have access to their student's work at all times. An alternative to a blog is a journal. Some prefer handwriting, and I respect that. Any way we can switch it up from a regular paper and pencil test, I think will really better the learning process as well as student enjoyment.