I feel as though English majors are one of those majors grouped into the little stereotype of uselessness...like philosophy and Liberal Arts.
I'm also kind of not happy about my English major status equaling me to being a Shakespeare freak. For the record I don't even like Shakespeare. I think he is overrated and I don't care if Phebe Jensen knows it or not.
This is why I plan on using lots of different texts in my classroom. Including (gasp!) graphic novels. My multicultural American literature class showed me that just because I thought graphic novels were for weirdos that they could in fact be literature. I wish I would have had that experience prior to my freshman year of college, because believe me I think I would have been a lot more open to books if I had a teacher like that.
I plan on being that teacher, the one that shows their students that literature isn't just Shakespeare and Hemingway.
I think my most unpleasant reading experience in English had to be trying to muddle my way through Derek Walcott's Omeros. I didn't even read the whole thing. I gave up on it. I know he won a Nobel Prize and all, but that book was the bane of my existence. Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of his other works, including his plays. The guy just shouldn't write an entire book of epic poetry that is unintelligible. I keep thinking that someday I might actually attempt to read it again, just to say I had done it, but then I remember we were supposed to read it twice in my World Writers class (yes it was assigned TWICE) and I didn't even get through it once, so I shoot down that idea.
I think that maybe it would help my students to know that even I, who love English, struggle with texts sometimes. It might make me seem a little more human to them.
I like your idea of teaching other parts of literature other than Shakespeare. I think when kids are hammered with all of these kinds of texts they usually end up disliking a subject most of the time. I think if you can mix up the books and be more open like you have discussed your students will really benefit. This was a fun blog to read, and it was easy to see that you are very passionate about this subject and the stereotypes that English majors are often placed in.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you aren't afraid to speak your mind about Shakespeare. I may enjoy some of his plays but I am not a Shakespeare fanatic. I actually found a graphic novel of MacBeth and it looked really cool. I told Phoebe about it once and she wasn't as excited about it as I was.
ReplyDeleteI totally think that bringing in different texts is important to appeal to the different readers. There are so many different ways to present ideas that I think our generation of teachers are really going to utilize. And the resources we have, look at how many web-comics are out that at our disposal!
Omeros was an extremely challenging text, especially the second time through. I managed to make it through it once, and barely survived round 2. I think there's learning to appreciate a text without hitting us over the head with it. (Remember our great debates on whether Omeros was an epic or not?)
Mikayla, You are definitely not alone in your dislike for Shakespeare. I went into Shakespeare thinking "Now I will finally understand Shakespeare and why he is so valued.".........Nope! On a different note, I love your idea of introducing all kinds of books and letting students know that you too struggle with texts. I think students get the idea that we love and understand all books which is definitely not the case. Students need to know that we all struggle with different things. It will help them be more confident in their reading abilities.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you've probably read Paulo Freire in some of your other classes, yes? He talks about making education a "humanizing" experience for students and teachers. Sometimes we get caught up in our institutional roles and we forget that we are dealing with human beings with feelings, self-perceptions, preferences, and so forth. I like that you are thinking of ways that you might make English "humanizing" for your students as well through showing them your own struggles and preferences.
ReplyDeleteI love that you want to be human to your students. I think your take on English will be valuable and that your students will love you. What are you going to do when you are required to teach Shakespeare?
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