![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I was writing to a former student, saying that I was no good at teaching English. Some of the things I wrote I think are worth putting here, especially if someone reading this might end up teaching English as a second field.
***
Here's my problem with English: nothing I do can get them to pick up a book and read it. I can't make them read Fahrenheit 451, even if my readings of the first page in class and any other passages got me an Acadamy Award.
I always feel defeated. With Latin, I could look at test grades and see how *I* was doing. Did I teach the material well, did the students understand the concepts, etc. And when I got those kids that froze on tests and couldn't/wouldn't do the reading comprehension on the front, I pondered that and figured out WHY and helped them do better at those. I could FIX problems in Latin 1. All I needed was a student who wasn't actively determined not to learn. You can't help those kids. But those who participate and play along, you can get them to pass, ya know? You can even get them to excel!
There's nothing like that in English. So I hate this. I hate this because I don't want to make reading books any more hateful to students and I'm teaching a book about people no longer wanting to read books and thus sanctioning their distruction and I can't get the message across.
SO WHY THE HELL DO I HAVE TO TEACH THIS? THEY DON'T WANT WHAT I'M SELLING.
I can sell Latin. I can't sell English. I can only pass it off to a few. Maybe. But not to the majority. And I find that troubling and disturbing. Then I go home and wonder why I'm literally killing myself teaching school for something with so little reward. Latin has rewards; English does not. And I have essays at school that need grading and I just don't know when I'll grade them. I have no idea when. I have 100+ Latin tests and quizzes I want to do first because those have purpose. They are feedback for both the kids and myself--where we need to work harder, who's slipping, what I need to teach better or reteach. They are as much a reflection on past work as future work.
The test I just gave on Fahrenheit 451 which most people bombed utterly EVEN THOUGH it was an easy test if you had read the book, just tells me who is reading. It tells me about their work ethic, not about their brains.
***
So, if you haven't settled on a second teaching field and think English would be easy, think again. Go add another modern language. Go take French or German. Don't do English as your second field. Your time gets sucked away and there's little reward outside of the joy of spending time with the authors on your reading list.
I've really enjoyed reading Ray Bradbury and have picked up some of his other works.
But this isn't the kind of teaching I wanted.
***
Here's my problem with English: nothing I do can get them to pick up a book and read it. I can't make them read Fahrenheit 451, even if my readings of the first page in class and any other passages got me an Acadamy Award.
I always feel defeated. With Latin, I could look at test grades and see how *I* was doing. Did I teach the material well, did the students understand the concepts, etc. And when I got those kids that froze on tests and couldn't/wouldn't do the reading comprehension on the front, I pondered that and figured out WHY and helped them do better at those. I could FIX problems in Latin 1. All I needed was a student who wasn't actively determined not to learn. You can't help those kids. But those who participate and play along, you can get them to pass, ya know? You can even get them to excel!
There's nothing like that in English. So I hate this. I hate this because I don't want to make reading books any more hateful to students and I'm teaching a book about people no longer wanting to read books and thus sanctioning their distruction and I can't get the message across.
SO WHY THE HELL DO I HAVE TO TEACH THIS? THEY DON'T WANT WHAT I'M SELLING.
I can sell Latin. I can't sell English. I can only pass it off to a few. Maybe. But not to the majority. And I find that troubling and disturbing. Then I go home and wonder why I'm literally killing myself teaching school for something with so little reward. Latin has rewards; English does not. And I have essays at school that need grading and I just don't know when I'll grade them. I have no idea when. I have 100+ Latin tests and quizzes I want to do first because those have purpose. They are feedback for both the kids and myself--where we need to work harder, who's slipping, what I need to teach better or reteach. They are as much a reflection on past work as future work.
The test I just gave on Fahrenheit 451 which most people bombed utterly EVEN THOUGH it was an easy test if you had read the book, just tells me who is reading. It tells me about their work ethic, not about their brains.
***
So, if you haven't settled on a second teaching field and think English would be easy, think again. Go add another modern language. Go take French or German. Don't do English as your second field. Your time gets sucked away and there's little reward outside of the joy of spending time with the authors on your reading list.
I've really enjoyed reading Ray Bradbury and have picked up some of his other works.
But this isn't the kind of teaching I wanted.
