If You Teach It, They Will Read: Literature's Life Lessons for Today's Students

by John V. MacLean

Overview

What does it mean to 'teach' a poem, novel or play? Surely it is about lessons in comprehension and improvements in language facility, but what does literature teach us beyond literacy? Students can read substantive literature for what its authors intended: an insight into the human condition. Students, even those who appear indifferent, struggle with questions of right and wrong, good and evil, love and loss, self-interest and self-sacrifice. Using literature he has used with his students, MacLean insists that asking the right questions, discussing ideas that still matter, will show students that others have wrestled with the same issues, expressing that struggle in timeless stories. For the teacher of literature, the student of literature, the lover of literature, this book is a reminder of why, in the words of Maya Angelou, 'we stumble and fall, and how, miraculously, we can stand up.' What more important lesson is there?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781607097785
Publisher:	R&L Education
Publication date:	09/16/2010
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	166
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

With degrees in English literature from Fordham University and the University of Oxford, John MacLean has been a mill hand, merchant seaman, church sacristan and assistant district attorney, all of which has helped him teach high school English for twenty-eight years.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Why Read Good Books" vii

1 The Search for Identity: Cyrano de Bergerac and A Lesson before Dying 1

2 Rite of Passage: The Odyssey, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Heart of Darkness 9

3 The Quest: Arthurian Legends, Siddhartha, and Song of Solomon 25

4 I Want a Hero: The Canterbury Tales, Beowulf, and Hamlet 37

5 The Anti-Hero: Native Son and The Stranger 47

6 Literary Devices 55

7 A Woman's Place: Medea and A Doll's House 65

8 The Little Things that Matter: Emma and Pride and Prejudice 75

9 Dealing with Loss: "The Wanderer," the Hemingway Hero, and The Tempest 85

10 The Need to Dream: Of Mice and Men, The Glass Menagerie, and The Great Gatsby 91

11 The Weight of the Past: Oedipus and The Piano Lesson 101

12 Private Morality and Second Chances: The Scarlet Letter, The Crucible, and The Kite Runner 107

13 Throwing the Good Away: Macbeth, Fences, and Death of a Salesman 121

14 Love, Actually: Twelfth Night, Othello, and Wuthering Heights 127

15 Some Great Deed: The Iliad 137

16 Final Thoughts 145

About the Author 149

Editorial Reviews

MacLean makes a compelling argument for introducing the classics in high school English classes. He cites the universality of themes such as the search for identity, dealing with loss, the need to dream, and other topics with which today's adolescents struggle, just as did those of previous generations. For each topic, MacLean provides activities and questions he has used to promote introspection while teaching such classics as The Odyssey, Canterbury Tales, and The Great Gatsby. He includes a wealth of information about books that could stimulate students' thinking and also help them realize that many of the choices, fears, etc., that they face have plagued humans for centuries. If You Teach It, They Will Read is a must read for teachers as well as administrators whose primary concern, in many case, has been to prepare students to pass state mandated tests, thus limiting students' exposure to quality literature. Summing Up: Highly recommended.

Choice

MacLean makes a compelling argument for introducing the classics in high school English classes. He cites the universality of themes such as the search for identity, dealing with loss, the need to dream, and other topics with which today's adolescents struggle, just as did those of previous generations. For each topic, MacLean provides activities and questions he has used to promote introspection while teaching such classics as The Odyssey, Canterbury Tales, and The Great Gatsby. He includes a wealth of information about books that could stimulate students' thinking and also help them realize that many of the choices, fears, etc., that they face have plagued humans for centuries. If You Teach It, They Will Read is a must read for teachers as well as administrators whose primary concern, in many case, has been to prepare students to pass state mandated tests, thus limiting students' exposure to quality literature. Summing Up: Highly recommended.

CHOICE

MacLean makes a compelling argument for introducing the classics in high school English classes. He cites the universality of themes such as the search for identity, dealing with loss, the need to dream, and other topics with which today's adolescents struggle, just as did those of previous generations. For each topic, MacLean provides activities and questions he has used to promote introspection while teaching such classics as The Odyssey, Canterbury Tales, and The Great Gatsby. He includes a wealth of information about books that could stimulate students' thinking and also help them realize that many of the choices, fears, etc., that they face have plagued humans for centuries. If You Teach It, They Will Read is a must read for teachers as well as administrators whose primary concern, in many case, has been to prepare students to pass state mandated tests, thus limiting students' exposure to quality literature. Summing Up: Highly recommended.

Choice Reviews