Teaching Literature in High School: Principles into Purposeful Practice

In looking for an approach to teaching literature in high school, teachers largely fall back on the methods that they had experienced as students. These practices often involve a teacher assigning a complex work of literature and then assessing students’ reading through in-class recitations or quizzes. Teachers typically dominate the discourse and sometimes take charge of the task by reading aloud whole swathes of texts to their students. We know from our own experience as teachers, supervi...