Step Five - Literature

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Literature is defined as “a body of writing in prose or verse, especially writing having recognized artistic value.”
Remember that literature comes in many different forms: short stories, plays, essays, novels, poetry, journalistic prose, letters, dialogues.

Introduce the world of literature to your students as soon as you possibly can.
Consider silly dialogues, campy adventures, melodramatic plays for beginning students.
Select and assign an appropriate piece of literature for homework.
Encourage your students to get involved in the story line and the lives of the characters as they do their reading homework.
- Consider giving your students a true/false quiz on the homework before discussing it.
In class kick off discussion with questions in Groups of Two.
- Develop questions that begin with plot, become more personal, and end with some things to mull over.
When students have finished in Groups of Two, move to a class-wide discussion.
- Use classroom discussion to point out great grammar in action.
- A class-wide discussion should mirror the Groups of Two format: begin with plot-based questions posed to individual students and move toward a roundtable of differing interpretations of the text.
- Generate a list of interpretations of the text and write them on the board.
Stick to the basics at the start in your class discussion of literature.
Don’t overwhelm your students with literary “fluff” when factual information is what they need first and foremost.
Remember to begin with: PLOT, PLOT, PLOT!

Using literature in your class is essential for seeing language in action and in context.
When students become invested in the characters and plot of a story, their interest grows.
High interest results in greater reader competence and self-confidence.
Students read more carefully when they know they will be quizzed regularly on homework assignments.
The Groups of Two format encourages students to speak in front of the entire class. It begins privately between two students and ends with a roundtable discussion among the entire class.
Literature teaches students that ambiguity and differing opinions are essential ingredients of art as well as life.

Reading literature is one of the great rewards of language study.
Introduce literature to your students as soon as possible. Don’t wait until you think they are fluent.
Remember that literature comes in many forms.
Literature provides a clear window into different cultures.
Literature elegantly illustrates “language in context” and “grammar in action.”
Choose literature that’s at an appropriate grade level and whose characters engage the interest and imagination of your students.
Positive engagement with literature encourages students to read more.
Remember this maxim when discussing literature: Begin with PLOT, PLOT, PLOT!
Just because you love discussing the intricacies of literature with friends and colleagues, resist the temptation to do so right away with your students. Most likely, you’ll overwhelm them. Stick to the basics.
Save discussions of literary theory and nuance for your advanced students.

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