I have always dreaded having to teach stories and authors that I personally didn’t enjoy as a student. I have gone back and read some of them in my
free time to see if age and time had perhaps somehow changed how I felt about the pieces. In most cases, the rereads did not change
my opinion. A prime example would be The Great Gatsby. I have read the story twice in
my life. Neither read was enjoyable to me. Many of my classmates have heard me
speak about the story and my distaste for it. It is not the plot of the story
or the characters that I do not enjoy. I personally just do not care for the style. It is very
wordy and drawn out. Fitzgerald has written stories that I enjoy, but Gatsby is
not one of them.
I
have given some thought on whether to share my opinion of the story with my student and decided that if a student asks me, then I will be honest. It is a story that
many people love and is common reading for many high schools, but I do not
actually personally enjoy it. I think it will be good for students to know that
I love to read, but I do not enjoy every story the same. There are many styles
and genres of literature and we all have ones that we like better. I think that it will be a good
life lesson. Ultimately, students should know that there are things that we all
must do in school and life that are not enjoyable for everybody, but there is
still knowledge to be gained from them.
On
the other hand, there are stories and authors that I can’t wait to teach. For
example, I was fortunate enough to be able to assist with a lesson based on A
Rose for Emily. I love Faulkner and story has a shock value that I felt that
the students would enjoy. The class discussion was great and the students
seemed very interested. My cooperating teacher split the reading over a few
days. There were students who finished the reading in their free time because they were
so curious about how the story concluded that they could not wait until the next class to discover what happened. It was great to see them so engaged. I
can only hope that this will continue throughout the semester. I know that I
will probably have to push for more information from the students and use good
questions to engage them because in a few weeks we will begin The Great Gatsby.
I hope they enjoy it more than I did at their age, but despite how they feel
about the story they will need to be able to discuss and write about it. I do
have one thing on my side though; Leonardo Dicaprio was in the movie. Hopefully
the movie will peak some of the students’ interest in the story, and hopefully
none of them will think that watching the movie is a substitute for reading the
book. I am curious to see how they will respond, and I hope that my cooperating
teacher and I will be able to make the assignments and reading entertaining and
enlightening.
I had a parallel experience last year in my co-op experience! I had a substitute who had to start The Great Gatsby while the teacher was away doing admin work. The sub got up there, talked about himself, then introduced the book as something he hated and was hard to read. Those kids shut down instantly and when the teacher returned and showed her love for the book, she was surprised to their response. I mentioned to her what happened last time and let's just say, the sub was not asked back. It was the hardest unit to get through. However, I do agree you should be truthful but tread lightly. Don't forget or be afraid when expressing your love for certain literature, students will feed off of it sometimes!
ReplyDeleteI love The Great Gatsby. That being said, I can’t stand Hemingway but I know that someday I may have to teach one of his novels. In my mind when that day comes I will have to find a way to excite my students. Other teachers can be a great resource at this time. Obviously I would reread whatever novel I would be teaching, but if a colleague has taught the novel before I would be sure to tap them as a resource for ideas on how to teach it. Furthermore, they may have a way to teach the novel that would get me interested in the novel in a way I had not thought of before. Anything is possible. I don’t think that I would be honest with my students about my distaste for Hemingway until after we finished the unit. I have heard teachers ask their students, in an informal way, what they thought of the book or unit that they had just completed. At that point I think that it is okay to discuss every ones thoughts openly and honestly.
ReplyDeleteMr. T.,
ReplyDeleteI do completely agree with your distaste for The Great Gatsby. I have had to read the story multiple times throughout my education, and I have come to the same conclusion as you. Despite what we might believe about the text, or it's author (in my case, that is the reason for my dislike of the story), we must not "share" our opinions with our students up front. Let the students read the story and form their own opinions. Let them get to know all of the text and all of the "hidden gems" that can emerge from the story. That story has one of the best uses of symbolism (especiallly color symbolism) and metaphors that we can use as teachers to teach our students.
I would then take the opportunity to maybe use a shared inquiry in the class to have the students discuss the text. Join in with your students during the shared inquiry. At that time, I would tell my students how I felt about the text. It is unfortunate to let your students know that you dislike something that they have to read. It can make the students not like what they are reading because of it. I also agree with you though that it is a good life experience for our students to know that they will not agree with everything that they have to do in life. Thank you for the ideas, because it did spark ideas for me on how I would handle this situation. I have not actually come acrossed this particular situation. It was a good way for me to think of a way of how I would handle it.
I actually mostly agree with Dk Martin on this regard. Even though I believe completely in being honest with students in just about everything (not including personal matters which they should not know about), there does come a point where you have to decide whether your distaste for an author will influence how a student feels about a book. While you are co-teaching it may not be such a big deal as long as the other teacher does not have any issues with "The 'Great' Gatsby," but if both of you despise the book and show it, it'll be harder for the student to grasp it as well. There aren't many books I have a great distaste for (although "Gatsby" would probably be one of them.
ReplyDeleteHowever, at the same time: I honestly feel like someone who dislikes a work may potentially be able to teach it better simply because they are not going to be stuck in some nostalgia-type "fanboy/girl" mode and will have to look at what makes the book a classic/well-known, not just their own personal perceptions of it. I know how fond you are of Mr. Fitzgerald--in fact, we had this discussion a day ago--but you also know how to dance around the subject if you need to for a classroom, so I feel like you will be easily able to say "You know, I really despised this book, BUT here's why I am required to teach you it."