I had to teach young adult literature when I was teaching The Ministry of Education Matriculation Programme once. It was my first experience teaching literature without any training to do so. All I had was a guide book for teaching the novel (I’ve forgotten the title) and set of questions with accompanying answer scheme to be done with students.
It was purely trial and error basis of teaching literature. Sometimes I was confused myself on what actually I was supposed to be teaching. However, by analyzing the sample questions given, I managed to get the idea that I was to somehow discuss the theme and characters. Those were my focus at that time. My first approach was to try to go by the set of questions.
Later on, when students seemed to be nonplussed most of the time and keep whining that they couldn’t understand the story, I changed my approach to discussing the plot, chapter by chapter, with my students. It was better but I still couldn’t get students motivated to read on their own and come up with their own synopsis of what they have read.
It was a very frustrating experience for me. A few years after that experience, I’ve tried to teach another novel with students from a different programme. This time, I’ve some basic understanding of the approach to teach literature after taking KPLI course in TESL. However, I still find that students are not very motivated in reading and analyzing the story. Unfortunate to say, I was also not someone who is passionate about teaching literature.
Since those two experiences, I’ve always avoided having anything to do with teaching young adult literature. I think the topic is too abstract and I wasn’t really keen on the subject. I personally believe that literature should be taught by someone who is passionate about it. Students will gain more by the depth of input that passionate teacher can share with them instead of someone very “concrete” like me.
Although I love to read books and novels, I think teaching literature does not suit me. Perhaps this is due to my lack of competence in analyzing literature at a deeper level. I think I rather simply enjoy the story. For me, young adult literature is interesting to read for leisure. It also provides me exposure on teenagers’ life. At this point in time, I have little confidence that I could contribute to students understanding and appreciation towards literature. Hopefully with training in the course of Teaching Young Adult Literature for my Masters programme, I would change my mind.
It was purely trial and error basis of teaching literature. Sometimes I was confused myself on what actually I was supposed to be teaching. However, by analyzing the sample questions given, I managed to get the idea that I was to somehow discuss the theme and characters. Those were my focus at that time. My first approach was to try to go by the set of questions.
Later on, when students seemed to be nonplussed most of the time and keep whining that they couldn’t understand the story, I changed my approach to discussing the plot, chapter by chapter, with my students. It was better but I still couldn’t get students motivated to read on their own and come up with their own synopsis of what they have read.
It was a very frustrating experience for me. A few years after that experience, I’ve tried to teach another novel with students from a different programme. This time, I’ve some basic understanding of the approach to teach literature after taking KPLI course in TESL. However, I still find that students are not very motivated in reading and analyzing the story. Unfortunate to say, I was also not someone who is passionate about teaching literature.
Since those two experiences, I’ve always avoided having anything to do with teaching young adult literature. I think the topic is too abstract and I wasn’t really keen on the subject. I personally believe that literature should be taught by someone who is passionate about it. Students will gain more by the depth of input that passionate teacher can share with them instead of someone very “concrete” like me.
Although I love to read books and novels, I think teaching literature does not suit me. Perhaps this is due to my lack of competence in analyzing literature at a deeper level. I think I rather simply enjoy the story. For me, young adult literature is interesting to read for leisure. It also provides me exposure on teenagers’ life. At this point in time, I have little confidence that I could contribute to students understanding and appreciation towards literature. Hopefully with training in the course of Teaching Young Adult Literature for my Masters programme, I would change my mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment