Fellowship Paper

Living Literature:
Making Literature More Accessible to Students

By Jack Peltz

Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School

Massachusetts Charter School Association
Fellowship Program

2002

There are students in our classes who have no idea that Holden Caulfield is not much older than they are. It is not that they do not understand the book. They have aced the reading quizzes and have written essays about Holden’s motivations for acting as he did in A Catcher In The Rye (Salinger 1951). But the book is still a piece of history. It was written by a man our students have never met about a boy with idiosyncratic habits. Holden never listened to alternative music, never surfed the Internet. His is a story set in a world seldom seen by most students these days.

Despite all this, A Catcher in the Rye is still a core text for many high schools. Beyond the accessibility of a text, we must also contend with the students who both openly and silently refuse to engage in class discussions. Some sit quietly in the corner, do their work, and leave little legacy of their existence in the class once they pass. Others take great pains to disrupt the flow of the class, making it known that they will not willingly take part in the lesson we have created.

This practice is designed to address both the tough-to-reach students in our English classes as well as the students we wish more kids would emulate. All students need to be, and in many ways want to be, engaged by literature. Literature offers them a chance to step outside of themselves and see the world anew.

The essay is divided into several sections. The sections cover the importance of interdisciplinary work, choosing relevant texts, setting up a safe and open classroom, and some practical suggestions for how the reader might implement these practices in his or her classroom. A lesson is also included as an example of how I have brought this practice into my classroom. Though there are many great ways to teach literature, I feel that lessons and courses must be designed to engage all students and address the issues which most pertain to their lives. It is my hope that the words and ideas that follow offer some insights and opportunities for a teacher to do just that.

Making literature more accessible to students involves both conceptual as well as practical elements. For the lone English teacher, it is relatively simple to adjust what one does in one’s own classroom. Choosing a good short story or novel, setting up a safe classroom environment, and planning exciting lessons can be accomplished on one’s own. Some of the larger, more wide-scale changes (like teaching interdisciplinary material) also depend on the community in which one teaches. In either case, helping students engage in literature helps the teacher to truly teach and allows the student a greater number of entry points into the material.

Despite the typical breakdown of disciplines in schools, which allots fifty minutes each for English, history, math, science, physical education, and such, literature does not neatly fit into one category. It cannot exist in a vacuum. In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien wrote about the Vietnam War as much as he did about the fears and other feelings that accompanied soldiers. He used similes, metaphors, and other literary devices to describe one of the most divisive military actions in one of America’s most divisive eras. So how do we choose which topic or focus is most important when we read the book?

There are many ways a teacher might conceive of their courses. Some prefer theme-based curriculum, while others rely on skill or text-based curricula. Many teachers are simply given a list of books to teach at the start of the year and encouraged to cover them all.

If we believe that literature cannot exist in a vacuum, then it cannot be taught in one. The qualities of a novel, poem, or short story often expand beyond the borders of a discipline. Let’s take the short story "Sonny’s Blues" by James Baldwin as an example. Baldwin’s evocative imagery and incredibly concise prose certainly offer wonderful examples of what we would like our English students to emulate. But without a working knowledge of jazz music, racism in America, or even the fifties, students will not be able to fully grasp the ideas and images in the text. This leads to their disengagement.

We must be willing to connect the many aspects of a literary work to our student’s lives, otherwise we perpetuate their disengagement. By conceiving of our classes as interdisciplinary, we are better able to get at the heart of a text. English class thus becomes a combination of language arts, social studies, history, sociology, and more.

Topics can be linked in many ways. If a work of literature focuses on issues of race, a study of discrimination in America or of white privilege can help to show causes and effects. Stories that deal with relationships or a loss of innocence are ripe territory for a more personal investigation of students’ relationships or their understanding of innocence. Works of literature also represent specific periods in history. By reading about the time period when a piece was written and the history leading up to that period, students are given a much fuller understanding of what might have produced such a work.

Teaching literature can be difficult when disciplines are rigidly separated as they are in many schools. Often times, it is the teacher who must try to integrate the text with other disciplines, rather than the school that insists on curricular integration. It can be daunting to teach beyond one’s area of expertise, but coordination with other curricular departments can help. This said, the experience of learning new material alongside the kids can also be a powerful and instructive process.

Any novel, poem, or short story can be made accessible to students. But there are some literary works that have a greater draw for students. These texts are more relevant to their lives. The degree of their relevance depends on many different factors. Here are several suggestions of the qualities in texts that can make them more easily accessible for students:

Issues in the work pertain to the students’ habits, pursuits, desires, or culture. Knowing your students becomes essential, as you must try to connect issues in a novel or short story with the issues your students face in their lives. This also opens up many avenues for creating projects more personal in nature.

The text opens their eyes to the world beyond their everyday experience. When we offer students a chance to better understand the condition of those outside of their normal environment, they grapple with difference and can use their new knowledge to re-examine their own lives.

The text or issues in the text deal with change. Adolescence is a time of change, a time well suited for comparing the developments in a character’s life and the changes our students experience in their own lives.

The work treats the subject of relationships. In the classroom, students often work collaboratively, providing a forum for establishing relationships and working through differences. In addition, because adolescence is a difficult period during which both familial relations as well as peer relations can be hard to navigate, texts that touch on inter-personal relationships can illuminate relational possibilities for the reader.

The text involves aspects of self-knowledge or identity. As students develop their individuality, they become more inclined to want to learn about themselves. Texts that deal with this subject also allow readers the chance to understand how others might perceive them.

The text touches on issues of free will and/or control. As students mature, they must face the burdens of responsibility and employ their ability to make good decisions. The subject of free will allows the student to explore the complexities they face as they navigate the decision making process.

The text presents characters with which the students can connect. The time spent reading a work of literature can be thought of as time spent developing relationships with the characters in that piece. Examining a character’s flaws and capabilities allows students to commune with these "people." This in turn allows students to internalize the work by comparing aspects of it to their own lives. Literary works offer another forum through which students can find role models and examine the potential pitfalls of certain human traits.

The bridges we forge between text and student must ultimately be plausible. It’s important to allow students to explain which connections feel most real to them. Literature can be a springboard from which they can look back into their lives, but not if the students feel their relationship to the text is too contrived. Reading a "classic" because it is a classic can be problematic; we can’t assume that the legacy or historical importance of a work will automatically engage all of our students.

There is a technical side to teaching literature; teachers must choose appropriate texts, create useful lessons, and assess students properly. But the teaching of literature also necessitates a more personal element. The passionate words of William Shakespeare or Toni Morrison penetrate deeply into their readers if they are given a space where this can happen. How a classroom is set up is immensely important. As mentioned, linking subject matter and choosing engaging texts are essential pieces in this practice. Creating an open classroom environment is also critical, and these elements are dependent upon one another.

A classroom environment is established the first time a teacher and his or her class is assembled in a room. From the moment a teacher takes attendance or introduces him or herself to the class, a feeling is established. The first few weeks of school become incredibly important as students get to know one another and their teacher, and their teacher gets to know them.

As teachers, we believe in the literature we teach, and it is often frustrating when we feel students easily dismiss the importance of the texts we employ. Just as we value the authors and the characters they create, we also need to make it clear that we value our students’ experiences. How can we expect our students to value Holden Caulfield if we do not value our students? One way to demonstrate our respect for our students is to create an environment in which each member of the class consistently respects and even honors the others in the classroom. Creating such an environment begins with setting guidelines with which the students can safely approach the material and each other. If students do not feel a need to buy into the guidelines, however, they will neither respect nor follow them. Allowing the class to set its own norms is essential.

Here are some questions that I have found helpful in beginning a discussion on classroom norms:

• What does it mean to have a safe classroom?
• Why is it important for a person to be able to share his or her ideas?
• What do you need as individuals or as a group to feel like you are being heard?

The ensuing discussions are usually full of students expressing mature ideas about what learning environment is best for them. Such activity does not preclude the teacher from taking part in the discussion, but I’ve found that students will best buy into and remain accountable for norms that they establish.

When a set of norms is created, it is often helpful to post them on the classroom wall. Here is a list of some norms that have been established at various times in my classroom:

• Seek to understand before being understood.
• Respect yourself.
• Respect other’s opinions, no matter how different they are from your own.
• If you do not have something nice to say…
• Sometimes we will have to agree to disagree.
• Laughing is certainly acceptable, but not at the expense of others.

Some discussions can get very personal. Literature delves into painful places at time. Divorce, death, sickness, and depression, while all parts of our students’ lives, can be difficult to deal with, much less share, in public. In asking students to make connections to what they read, I’ve sometimes found the need to discourage students from sharing issues of an intensely personal nature. I’ve addressed this subject by explaining to students that the classroom cannot always offer them the support they need and deserve when making such declarations.

As a class makes its way through the year, it is important to revisit the norms. Classroom issues like talking out of turn or acting inappropriately should be brought up, allowing students a chance to voice concerns. More importantly, periodic check-ins remind students that the classroom community is important and must be properly tended.

When we view the teaching of literature as both an interdisciplinary and a personal experience, we look to develop lessons and activities that will support that experience. There are many different directions possible. This next section explores some of these possibilities and provides examples of configurations and exercises I have used in class.

I did not create some of the configurations and activities that appear in this section (pair shares, continuums, snowballs, role playing, and five minute in-class writings). They've been passed down, teacher to teacher, perhaps modified along the way, and I am grateful to my colleagues for sharing what they've learned. It is hard to say where good teaching ideas originate, but whatever the origins of good practices, all teachers stand to benefit when they can share and compare ideas and practices. The more we expand our bag of "teaching tricks," the better we are able to positively affect our students.

Depending on the size of the class, splitting students up into pairs or groups can be useful. Here is a list of techniques I’ve used when breaking the class into smaller units.

Pair Share: Ask students to partner up and share their writing, opinions, or ideas on a subject. This is best done when students have a limited amount of time to share with one another. Anywhere from 30 seconds per person to a few minutes is enough. To take this a step further, the students might be asked to report back on what the other one said to make sure that they have been listening to one another. A pair share is a good way to allow everyone in the class to express themselves without having to be accountable before the entire class. While some students may use the time to simply talk about other subjects, the exercise enables most students to speak directly to one another about the subject matter. I find pair shares especially useful in starting discussions because they ask students to listen to one another and allow students to verbally form their ideas in an informal setting.

Small Groups: Small groups range in size from three to six students. This configuration is best used when students are working on a more complex assignment, one on which they’ll need to report back to the whole class. In order for everyone to be engaged in a small group, it is useful to make sure every student has a role. Roles can vary, from recorders or scribes, to presenters, to fact finders, to devil’s advocates. In order to make each group accountable for their work, they should be given a task, which they will either turn in during class or present to their classmates. Placing students in small groups allows the teacher to mix and match more productive students with those who need help focusing on the material.

Splitting the Class in Half: This is a great way to promote in-class debates. Asking each side of the class to investigate an opposing viewpoint can create a healthy dialogue. The two halves of the class can be further broken down into smaller groups with more specific tasks if necessary. I have found that when students are offered different materials to look at (such as those used in the lesson on "Sonny’s Blues," described later), they are often more curious to know what their classmates have been investigating.

Continuums: This is an exercise that asks students to physically move about the classroom and verbally express their opinions. To begin, pose a question to students, asking them to take a stand on an issue. For example, "Is marketing junk food to teenagers a fair practice?" Ask the students to answer the question along a continuum. One side of the room should represent a disagreeing viewpoint, and the other side should represent an agreeing viewpoint. ("Yes, marketing junk food falls into the rights of Free Speech and should be allowed" versus "No, marketing junk food is irresponsible as it does not have teenagers’ best intention in mind.") The students should position themselves along this line and be prepared to explain why they chose where they are standing. I find that it is usually best to ask the students at the extremes to explain themselves first.

Snowballs: This exercise allows students to anonymously respond to each other. To begin, ask students to take a few minutes to respond, in writing, to a question or describe a situation. They should not sign their name on their sheet. When everyone is done writing, have each student crumple up his or her sheet into a ball. Have students toss the balls into the air in the center of the classroom or place all the balls into a hat and redistribute them. (This activity can also be done by folding the sheets and passing them around the classroom.) Students should read what has been written and respond to the original statement on the sheet. This process can be continued as many times as necessary. To finish, ask students: What direction did the comments on a sheet take. What can be learned from the responses?

Letters to the Author: This exercise allows students to respond directly to a work by writing to the author. If students have difficulty writing, they can also do this orally. The letters can have direct prompts such as, "Write a letter to the author explaining how you feel about the violence in the story." These letters can be collected or redistributed throughout the class. Students can then assume the role of the author and respond to the letter. This is an activity that requires a fair amount of time to complete. I find it works best when used as a homework assignment.

Role Playing: This exercise asks students to act out certain scenarios that parallel those in a story. For instance, in the story "Crickets" by Robert Olen Butler, a father and son have a troublesome relationship because of their inability to understand one another. Have the students form small groups and assign them a scenario. (Example: You want a cell phone, but your parents are against it. Roles: parent(s), child, and friend(s).) Give the students a few minutes to prepare. The audience should also have a task. I have found role-playing works best when the audience is asked to actively listen to the actors. They can look for the techniques one party uses to convince the other, or they can analyze the dynamics of the conversation. To wrap up, ask students to compare the in-class scenarios to those of the story.

Five Minute In-Class Writings: This exercise helps to focus students by allowing them to write for short periods of time on various topics. Topics can range from "Describe one of your earliest birthdays" to "Describe the person sitting next to you." Writing can be shorter or longer than five minutes, but the goal of the exercise is for students to write continuously for the entire time. The writing is not to be evaluated, but it should be shared either with the whole class or in smaller groups. The prompts for the writing should be a vehicle through which connections can be made back to a specific work. Short in-class writing often works best when students can pair share their work with a partner.

Here is an example of a lesson that blends a personal focus with an interdisciplinary approach to teaching a story. In this type of lesson the teacher can choose to focus more on the personal lives of the students or more on aspects of the work.

Previous Assignment: The students should have read at least the first ten pages of the story for this class.

Materials: Handouts (described below), large sheets of paper (one per group), markers.

Objective of Lesson: To begin discussion of the story by learning about different environments and ways they influence the populations living in them.

Before Beginning: It is important that students have a good grasp of the story. Comprehension questions to help guide the students through the reading are useful. Recounting the story in class and working through the difficult sections is also important. Once the students understand the basic plot and can describe the characters, it is time to begin the activity.

Opening Activity: Ask the kids to describe in writing for five minutes the environment where they live. Is it more rural or urban? Are there lots of houses or buildings?

• Have students pair share what they wrote for 30 seconds a piece.
• Discuss as a larger group; try to illicit any advantages or disadvantages a certain place might have.

1. Split the class in half. Assign half to read Handout A and the other half to read B.

   (Handout A: pp. 88-92, Handout B: pp. 92-98 from Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol, 1999)

2. Explain that the kids are going to reconstruct a place by reading about the schools described in each handout. To do this, they will need to answer the following questions:

• How does Kozol describe the school?
• What facts/descriptions stand out? Why?
• Would you want to attend such a school? Why?
• What does the school’s appearance say about the state of the school?

• What does the school’s appearance say about the school?

3. Allow the kids time to read the selections. They should take between 10-20 minutes.

4. When students finish reading, they should begin to answer the questions individually.

5. When everyone has finished reading and answering the questions, ask each half of the class to break down into small groups. Each small group must have at least three people in it, and no more than five.

6. Assign each group member a role. Possible roles are: recorder(s), presenter(s), and poster designer(s).

7. The small group members should begin by discussing the responses to the questions and recording their findings. Are their answers similar? How are they different? Why?

8. Each group should have a large piece of paper from which to make a poster that outlines the most important information or facts from the reading (using bullets or a more traditional outline structure). The outline allows more visual learners a chance to engage in the activity, and it helps groups "crystallize" their thoughts. Explain that each group will have the opportunity to present for three minutes.

9. Ask for a volunteer group to begin presentations. It does not matter which side presents first as long as each group has presented before moving on to the other half of the class. As multiple groups may be presenting on the same reading, ask each subsequent group to add to what has been said rather than simply repeating the same information. Students should be encouraged to ask questions to the presenters after each presentation.

10. When the presentations are over, ask each student to pair up with someone from the opposite side of the class. Give them five minutes to discuss the following question, "Is it just money or is their another reason these inequalities exist?"

11. Come together as a whole class and discuss what each pair gained from their discussion. You may want to ask each student to report back on what his or her partner said.

• Which school would Sonny have gone to?
• In which school did the narrator teach?
• What would attending such schools mean for the characters in the story?
• Did the conditions of the school reflect the conditions of the area? Why is that important?

It is also a good practice to see how the students respond to a given lesson by having them write a response on an index card. The responses can be anonymous and should have a prompt like "What did you learn from reading about another school, as you did in the Kozol reading?" or "How do feel about your school now that you have investigated others?"

To make literature accessible to students we must use works of literature that are relevant to our students’ lives. We must take an interdisciplinary approach, and we must create classroom environments where students feel free to express themselves.

Taking an interdisciplinary approach can be frightening for a teacher, and asking students to use their experiences to make connections to a work can be frightening for a student, as it leaves them vulnerable to their classmates. A classroom atmosphere imbued with respect is critical. In such a classroom the conversations that help students establish classroom norms, and the role modeling provided by a teacher (for inter-personal behavior both inside and outside the classroom) are as much teaching tools as the literature itself. Rather than simply transmitting information about a text, we are creating relationships between the members of the class and a work of literature.

When we ask students to internalize a text and apply it to their own lives, we are allowing them control over how to interpret a work. To do such work, students must work independently and with their peers in an environment imbued with trust. Some students may have difficulty handling the responsibility or believing that their interpretations are valid and valuable. But asking students to internalize the ideas and words of a text is part of the process of making literature more accessible.

There will always be students who have trouble internalizing literature. When we give them more points of access to a work, we offer them greater opportunities to engage in the work. Certainly this approach to teaching literature can make class more exciting and fulfilling for the students. But the ultimate goal is to help students internalize literature to the extent that they continue to read and make connections between the world, their own lives, and a text.

Jack Peltz is a Division 2 (9^th and 10^th Grade) Art and Humanities teacher at the Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School. His previous teaching experiences include teaching in a parochial school in Vermont and an alternative, character-based boarding school in Connecticut. Mr. Peltz lives in Boston and hopes to return to school to pursue a graduate degree in education sometime in the near future.

Jack Peltz, Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School
P.O. Box 2129
Devens, MA 01432
978-772-3293
jackp@parker.org

Carroll, Pamela S., ed. 1999. Using Literature To Help Troubled Teenagers Cope With Societal Issues. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.

Coles, Robert. 1989. The Call Of Stories: Teaching And The Moral Imagination. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

hooks, bell. 1994. Teaching To Transgress: Education As The Practice Of Freedom. New York: Routledge.

Hynds, Susan. 1997. On The Brink: Negotiating Literature And Life With Adolescents. New York: Teachers College Press.

Kozol, Jonathan. 1991. Savage Inequalities: Children in American Schools. New York: Harper Perennial.

Peck, David. 1989. Novels of Initiation: A Guidebook For Teaching Literature To Adolescents. NewYork: Teachers College Press.