On Literature and Teaching

I said last week that a distinction needs to be made between a Readable text and a Teachable one. Of course, my approach to using fiction in class (which you can read more about here ) puts a premium on developing critical thinking, awareness of the other and, generally speaking, focuses on aspects of citizenship, so those will be my criteria. In that sense, ‘Teachable’ means (but I simply repeat what I wrote earlier) a text that offers guidance and nuances, while leaving space for the reader to co-create the meaning of the text. And it is in that act of co-creation that a mind can flourish – that is, open up. This act of opening up is paramount here, since it really means ‘ Shifting your perspective ’, ‘ Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes ’, ‘ Trying to think like someone else ’, ‘ Trying to understand someone else ’ (among others). Those things require, from the reader, a certain dose of curiosity and willingness of course, something we teachers are here to foster,

  How do you select a text for class? Are there criteria you should follow? Should it be exciting, or topical, well-known, age-based? These questions might at first seem less important than the goals you have with your literature lesson, or the themes you would like to touch upon with your students/pupils, but it actually is a crucial one to consider. A poor text will provide poor support; a poor text will undermine your goals; a poor text will let you down. Now, I hear you say: ‘ What do you mean by a poor text ’? Do you mean ‘poorly written’, or ‘poorly put-together’, or ‘poorly plotted’- anything like that? Well, not necessarily: I’d rather think in terms of ‘teachability’, that is, in terms of how much a text can give you , the teacher, to work with. And in that sense, what is very readable is not necessarily teachable, at least not in the sense that I give to ‘teachable’. Equally – and very importantly – what is full of good intentions and readable might not be that teacha