A Modified Version of My Philosophy of Teaching

As I read the Timothy J. Clutter and Jim Cope critique and response in "Beyond Voices of Readers: A Dialogue Between Teachers" (February 1998), I felt like playing the role of moderator, to bring the two to the table and help them see just how right they both are.I understand Cope's argument perfectly because I am also a strong advocate for Louise Rosenblatt's transactional approach to the teaching of literature. And, like Clutter, I believe that there are great works that transcend time in the consideration of their themes. The problems, as I see them, are two-fold: why do we teach these works? and how do we teach them?

It is not enough to teach selections from the pantheon/rubric of "classics" just because they have been so designated, because they have acquired a place on the pedestal of cultural knowledge to which ever mortal must genuflect and pay obeisance in order to make a case of inclusion into the clique of civilized human beings. In other words, the teaching of James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, for example, will be boring and tortuous to students if the sole reason for its being taught is because it is now a "classic." In the same issue of EJ, “Bridging the Gap: Integrating Video and Audio Cassettes into Literature Programs," Avery, Avery, and Pace encourage us to "relate literature to the real world by motivating students to defend their opinions on current social issues." And that is how it should be. What better time to engage students in an in-depth understanding of the troubles in Northern Ireland than that which is presented when one is teaching Portrait? Imagine the wonderful opportunity presented for the examination of colonialism and racism by discussions on James Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart!If we want to make our students lifelong readers, we have to make them own what they read. We have to engage them by giving them the tools with which to conduct independent research in order to better broaden their understanding of assigned works, be they “classic" or contemporary.

I do not think the issue is one of either/or. It is both. We need the dual approach of Cope and Clutter to successfully teach and enjoy a subject about which we care so much and defend with such passion.