Literary history

When I was younger reading was somewhat of a challenge for me.  I really cannot remember why this was so, but prior to third grade I had no desire to read and the school thought it was necessary to put me in the reading readiness program.  The memories of this class are vague but I do know that the actual act of reading was not an issue for me like some of my other classmates; it was the idea and desire to read that I did not have.  This all changed however, after my time in the readiness class.  Since then I have been an avid reader who at times would push off work in class so I could read whatever Stephen King novel I had that month.  The rest as they say is history, and now I read all genres that I can.   Some of my favorites are the thrillers King has, any sort of biographical novel, down to the book that may be my favorite Dante’s Inferno.  Dante turned into a small labor of love for me because even though I enjoyed it, it took me many years to read it through, and understand what I was reading.

What this course had taught me so far is to fully consider everyone’s view of the work.  I take both literary interpretation and adolescent literature, and both classes rely heavily on dissecting these works.   Often times my view of the story is completely different than others.  That however, does not mean that one of us is wrong and one is right, and I think this is the beauty of having a classroom discussion about completed works.  I know I have been able to put forth ideas that others did not have, and my classmates have been able to put forth thoughts that I hadn’t considered.  I think this is an important lesson to remember for prospective teachers.  The students in your class may not see Romeo and Juliet the way I do, and I may not be teaching it the way they understand it, but by opening the room to discussion we may be able to get a common ground where we all agree. 

Sharing with students my passion to digest good literature may be something that I will have to work on as I grow during my undergraduate degree.  I think that one thing I will need to consider is how you actually can us YA lit as a stepping stone toward what many people define as the “classics.”  My ultimate goal would be to share authors like Dante, Hemmingway, Bradbury and Kundera.  I do understand, that all student’s may not ever reach that level, but by using YA lit to open their eyes to reading for pleasure, I may be able to inspire some to reach out on their own.  From the start I do plan on having a teacher’s recommended reading list in my classroom that has a wide variety of both challenging and fun novels.

If I had to recommend a stepping stone for other adults to start enjoying YA lit, then I would try to lead them toward a novel that mirrors their own childhood.  When I was an adolescent, I could not get into The Scarlet Letter, or The Great Gatsby, and looking back on it I think that is the inability to relate to those stories.  I was too young to really understand what adultery was, and was not close to being rich at all.  I feel like the ability to see you in the story somewhere can be a key ingredient to enjoying literature.  This way I can open that adult up to reminiscing about their youth, and hopefully the mirror effect will make them enjoy it all the more.