Taking master's classes helps me relate to my own high school students so much more. I'm still not that far removed from the classroom; I'm only ten years older than my students. I can remember plenty from high school: classes, assignments, tests, group work (shudder), etc.
But since I am currently both a teacher and a student, I have a lot more empathy for my students. I have assigned reading just like them. I have essays to write. I have projects to complete by a certain deadline. And it's fun to share this with my students. I tell them that over the weekend, I have work to do on my UCO class, so their essays won't all be graded. They commiserate with me: "Oh, how long does it have to be?" "What do you have to write about?" A few students are less kind: "Ha! Now you know what we feel like."
This week's assigned book in my American Fiction since World War II class, Fear of Flying, has been very difficult for me to read. I just don't like it. The narrator is annoying. When she is not going off on wild, seemingly pointless tangents, she is describing her sexual encounters / fantasies / desires. I used to be a prude, but I got over that in college. However, the narrator uses so many foul words related to sex, I have become so offended that I am feeling like the church lady. I just don't see the point or value in this book. So Isadora Wing is a feminist and wants to have sex with whoever she wants. Okay. Fine. But don't go on and on for 400 pages about that (plus all the other tangents).
So when my students tell me that they don't like a book, I will seriously consider their opinions. Life is too short to read bad books. Granted, some students are always going to complain because they like to whine or they are lazy. However, some students are being truthful when they tell me how much they DON'T like a book. In fact, last year, so many of my sophomores disliked The Secret Life of Bees and The Natural that I decided to cut them. Besides, the literature during sophomore year at DCHS is supposed to focus on multi-cultural literature anyway, and both of those books are written by Americans and are set in America. I replaced those two books with The Kite Runner and an assignment in which students select their own book.
Unlike Isadora Wing, I don't have a fear of flying. I do have a fear of losing empathy for my students.
