While talking with my parents over lunch, the subject of teaching the novel and analysis came up. My Dad was reflecting on his English education at Rosseau Lake College, saying that his teacher would have him read a book, then ask "So, what was it about?". As a high school student, he would of course respond with a literal summary of the story, but have no idea of the great significance, themes, symbols or intertextuality present in a text. His teacher would then explain "The Meaning"of the novel, and my Dad would respond by saying "Yeah....I didn't get that". My Dad went on to philosophize that this seems to the the backwards way of teaching analysis. He explained that he would teach a novel by telling his students the greater significance before they read a chapter, telling them what to look for, what themes to watch for, so that students can read a text with purpose and interest. I explained that analysis is something that has to be learned, and that we don't "give away" the answers before students read because it is meant to be a constructivist inquiry process where students create their own meaning and are responsible for their own learning. He argued that this method is obsolete if students don't have analytical skills under their belt yet. I explained that analysis comes with practice, and that the more texts you read the greater your understanding of themes, archetypes and intertextuality.
Teaching English seems to have evolved from a focus "the basics" such as grammar, punctuation, and the parts of a sentence to more of an emphasis on "the bigger picture", on identifying greater themes and connecting them to our lives. My Mom couldn't remember the name of a single book she read in high school, suggesting that aside from teaching her to write well, her English education had little impact on her life. In a recent interview to teach overseas in the U.K. my interviewer informed me that in England the focus remains on the structure of writing, instead of the big picture. These conversations got me thinking about what is most important in an English education. Is it more important that our students understand how to use commas and pronouns or that they are able to identify bigger themes in a text? Are these ideologies mutually exclusive? Should structural writing be taught in elementary school so that we can move on to textual analysis in the secondary years? Are we doing our students a disservice by focusing on one more than the other? Something to ponder as I continue through my career as an English teacher.
I know this is a topic we discussed earlier together as well. The questions you pose are very interesting and I agree it is something to keep in mind throughout our teaching career. In reality, there is not time to teach our students everything and we need to make sacrifices somewhere along the line.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion I lean more toward critical thinking skills. I see a great amount of value in having student’s to analyze and reason when reading a text. These skills are transferable beyond high school. I think it’s important that students learn to think outside the box, ask questions and examine the life they are a part of and literature can be a great window of opportunity to gain these skills.
A lot to consider! Thanks for sharing!
Christine
I was interested in the discussion you had with your father about whether it is best to first have students try to analyze a text for themselves or to provide students with the greater significance and ideas of what to watch out for when reading before they even open the chapter. I am kind of on the fence about the topic. I think it is important for students to practice and learn how to draw significances out of a narrative or piece of literature on their own. However I can also remember the confusion of bumbling my way through novels and stories, and having the story click together and make sense once the teacher explained the themes and significances. I guess for me the answering is scaffolding throughout the grades: by first providing students with the themes and ideas before reading, and modeling inquiry process while reading aloud, then gradually progressing to providing smaller hints as to the significances until students can do it all on their own.
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