Teaching Literature

My inspiration for teaching English Literature came from my undergrad Lit. classes. I enjoy reading and discussing literature. Two books I enjoy teaching are Things Fall Apart and Lord of the Flies. However it is not always easy reaching my students because many of them are reluctant readers. I am always looking for new ways to reach them. One important statement that came out of reading the excerpt from Robert Scholes The Rise and Fall of English was "The craft of reading itself should be the main focus, not 'Great books'." There is so much debate about what students should be reading. I think that the books we teach should be more comtemporary so that students connect to them. However, they should be exposed to the classics so that their scope of literature can be widened.