Literacy is extremely important to teaching English Literature classes. Reading, writing, and thinking are essential to the class. However, not all students like to read. As a way of getting students more involved with the books that they might read and encounter I had devised an exploratory activity to engage the students in the next book they would be reading.
The copy of The Odyssey that I have has a very dull and boring cover, it is blank. When a student goes to pick up a copy of the book they will find it boring and probably would want to read something else that is more entertaining. Therefore, as a homework assignment the students would need to do some research on the Internet, go to the library media center if they do not have a computer in their home, and see what The Odyssey is really about. Find summaries, or websites that take them through the adventure, so that when they get to class the next day they will have some semblance of what the book is about.
The next day in class I would have the students discuss what they found and share the information with their peers. I would hope that the students would find the story fun and engaging and that they would want to read it after all the research that they did about The Odyssey. The other point is to have them not judge a book by its cover. As much as we try not to prejudge anything, we do anyway. Hopefully this approach to the book would help students see that prejudging is not always an accurate course of action to take. Especially when it comes to a book.
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3 comments:
Teaching literacy in English Literature classes can definitely be challenging, especially with books like The Odyssey. I think the method you explained is an extremely helpful one. Personally, I know I'm always more interested in a book before hand if I know some background information on it, especially if it's a historically based piece. Knowing the background information gives you more of a bond and deeper interest with the book.
This was actually a good post that relates to me. I find that I am more inclined to read books where the cover is colorful and pops out at me than books where the cover hardly "speaks" to me at all. I think you have a good idea about assigning the kids a research project so that they can learn more about the book and I agree that it would probably help to change their original outlook on reading the book.
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