Teaching and learning literature

Literature? Scary and intimidating word. Honestly speaking, many of us think that literature is for the gifted. Some people are born for literature and some are not, just like talents for numbers. Mc Rae asserts that this is the typical excuse for not bringing literature into the classroom. We put limitations on ourselves. Anybody, he says, could teach and learn literature. Especially the small "l".

True to some extent, yet the opposite view still rules in practice. Somehow, it seems that literature talent lies with the right brain persona, the more intuitive individuals. They are emotionally rich and articulate their thoughts and feelings fluently. The rest of us use language mainly as a basic function, that is to convey messages and put meanings across.

To employ literature in the classroom is to expand this basic communication into more complex activities. Language is used not just to deliver important messages but also to express viewpoints, thoughts, insights and our own personal revelation. It demands courage to expose our inner turmoils. It demands us to unravel the ideas inside us and put them into coherent thoughts to be expressed to others. It demands us to share our understanding of our surrounding.

This openness and sharing may subject us to personal attack. This becomes another fear of teachers teaching literature. Some people are not prepared to reveal themselves in the sharing component of literature discussion. Some may value their internal privacy and try to preserve this private space as much as possible.

It can be argued that literature is reserved for those who are talented in the field. The resistance is not simply due to misunderstanding of the correct approach but could be because of some people lack the artistic capacity to express themselves unlike others. It is for the same reason why you can't force some people to love math.