Teaching Literature in High School

In looking for an approach to teaching literature in high school, teachers largely fall back on the methods that they had experienced as students. These practices often involve a teacher assigning a complex work of literature and then assessing students’ reading through in-class recitations or quizzes. Teachers typically dominate the discourse and sometimes take charge of the task by reading aloud whole swathes of texts to their students. We know from our own experience as teachers, supervisors of teachers and student teachers, and researchers in the field that students are often bored with these approaches and teachers are frequently frustrated with learners’ unenthusiastic responses to the teachers’ favorite works of literature. There has to be a better way. This book offers approaches to engage students in productive procedures for reading complex texts and provides sample activities to allow learners to practice those procedures.

Thomas M. McCann is a professor of English at Northern Illinois University, where he contributes to the teacher licensure program. His books include Transforming Talk into Text (Teachers College Press), Raise Your Voices: Inquiry, Discussion, and Literacy Learning, Learning to Enjoy Literature (Rowman & Littlefield), and Teaching on Solid Ground, with John Knapp (Guilford Press).

John V. Knapp is emeritus Professor of English at Northern Illinois University, and, continuing since 2007, the editor of the literary journal, Style. Knapp is the author and/or editor of several other books, including Learning to Enjoy Literature (2021), Striking at the Joints: Contemporary Psychology and Literary Criticism (1995); Learning from Scant Beginnings: English Professor Expertise (2008), and Critical Insights: Family (2013).