I read a line from Alsup and Bush’s book “But Will It Work With Real Students?” that illustrated some of my teaching issues perfectly. “Many teachers are so adept at reading and writing, and have been doing it so successfully for so long, that they cannot easily articulate the process to their students” (Alsup and Bush, pg. 4). I went into teaching English because I love literature, and I hoped to teach my students its “secrets” and even learn some new ones. Nothing rained on my parade more than seeing that, not only did most of my students not understand what I saw in the stories, they had no interest beyond getting a decent grade and passing on to the next step.
I began to see the text through their eyes, and I was disappointed. It reminded me of the same reason I would never teach music – “I love music too much to teach it.” Did I love literature too much to teach it to my students? We could not go in-depth like I had envisioned, and I certainly was not learning any new insights for my own development. It was frustrating, and I think my biggest mistake was really not taking enough time with the text. I was used to analyzing as I went, and here my students were, barely hanging on.
I think that taking more time with the text so that the students are not rushed will help them to understand it better and be more receptive to deeper issues. I am under no illusions, though, on the time restraints teacher’s face. However, if it is possible, at least an extra day on a text could be enough to help address those issues. In the past, I have set aside a special day for discussion in order to directly go after deep themes and messages within texts. I believe that giving just a little extra time could really make a difference as far as student analysis is concerned.
