Teaching literature comes with its challenges, particularly in today’s fast-paced, social media-focused world. According to the Nation’s Report Card from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NEAP), students are scoring lower and lower on reading metrics, representing a troubling continuation of decreasing reading skill achievement exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This area of skill development and achievement is critical, given the distinct correlation between independent reading habits and overall student performance. Students who read for pleasure tend to score higher on achievement tests in all subject areas and have greater content knowledge than their non-reading peers. So how can the literature teacher be the front line of defense against this widespread decline?
Many educators are asking this tough question. Those who seek to tackle this challenge can enhance their teaching skills and instructional methods by completing an advanced degree program like the online Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Curriculum & Instruction – English program from Southeastern Oklahoma State University. In this type of comprehensive program, educators will discover updated methods of teaching literature to engage students, equipping them with useful reading strategies and helping them foster a love for reading.
Proven Methods of Teaching Literature
Teachers use many methods to help students learn how to read. Reading education methods continuously evolve as teachers and researchers find new evidence-based techniques to address the learning needs of students.
Many teaching methods and techniques currently practiced are quite different from traditional reading instruction. Today’s teachers seek to help all students gain reading skills, including students who face academic challenges. This requires moving away from the outdated one-size-fits-all approach to teaching literature and reading by embracing multiple evidence-based methods proven to be beneficial to students. Here are four of the many effective ways that literature teachers can help modern students succeed:
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Expanding Representation in Classroom Texts
Changing social attitudes and population demographics contribute to the sense that the classic, traditional literary canon is outdated and unrelatable for many students. Teachers across the country are calling for a broader selection of texts that reflect students’ varied experiences and backgrounds in multiple genres and formats.
However, teachers may also worry that contemporary and digital texts are not challenging enough for students. Those looking to expand their reading lists to increase student representation and engagement can tap resources available through organizations like Reading Rockets and publishing houses like Lee & Low Books.
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Complementing Novels With Films
One of the more popular methods of teaching literature is connecting it to other media. The use of film to supplement written texts has the potential to enhance student interactions with texts, increase real-time emotional engagement with literature, and promote content retention and knowledge transference. ReadWriteThink offers a variety of lesson plans to help teachers effectively introduce film into their literature classrooms at all levels.
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Scaffolding Student-led Literary Analysis
Traditional methods of literature instruction rely on teacher-led discussions based on a set of questions often developed by textbook publishers. While this method can model effective analysis for students, it also encourages students to think about what others got from these works, rather than to engage in inquiry themselves.
Teachers like Marisa E. Thompson are adopting student-centered approaches, like the Thoughts, Lingering Questions or Epiphanies method (TQE), which requires students to come up with questions and discussion points themselves. Thompson found that, after modeling discussion with handouts and initial guidance, her students started identifying themes and questions entirely on their own. Furthermore, students began reading the assigned texts in preparation for class discussion.
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Utilizing Creative Student Reading Responses
While approaches like TQE focus primarily on class discussion, teachers can further challenge students by offering them new ways to think about a work of literature. Since some students are not comfortable speaking up in class, and others are more artistically or visually inclined, the option of using creative response techniques is available to teachers.
For example, ReadWriteThink offers resources for alternative response options, such as comic strips and cartoon squares. Creative response techniques encourage students to think analytically about characters, events and themes, and help them hone their summary and critical analysis skills.
Through integrating effective, evolving ways to teach literature, teachers can help students explore and engage with reading. Whether by offering more representative texts, encouraging student inquiry and analytical thinking, enhancing instruction by incorporating various media formats, or expanding response and assessment modalities, the creative literature teacher can positively impact the long-term achievement of all readers while instilling a vital love for literature.
Learn more about Southeastern’s online M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction – English program.