Jonathan Paul Loomis

March 8, 1999

Reading, Writing, and Literature across the Curriculum

Michelle Bajek

When I graduate from American University I will, if all goes as planned, be qualified to teach either Spanish or Social Studies at the secondary level. Currently I have no particular affinity towards one over the other so in all of my classes I have tried to study as if I were going to teach both. I am interested in teaching both simultaneously if at all possible; that is, I would like to teach in a Spanish speaking nation or school within the United States.

Natually therefore, my perceived methods of incorporating literature into my classes varies somewhat depending on what subject and level I would be teaching. If I were to teach the Spanish language to non-Spanish speakers I would use translated texts, or texts by Hispanics originally written in English to advance my students' understanding of the culture from which the language stems. In more advanced levels of language development I would introduce Spanish texts for the dual purpose of teaching the culture and the language.

Incorporating literature into a Social Studies program would be more complicated simply because the field of Social Studies is so broad. History courses would naturally be accented by literature from the time period. As a teacher I could have the students read a novel or short story written during the time we were currently studying and use it to demonstrate the concerns of the people at that time. However, as a responsible teacher it would be wise of me to work with the members of the English/Literature department so that I do not try to teach the same material the students are getting in another course.

However, historical fiction would also be a fully acceptable way of incorporating literature into a history course. This genera is rarely touched by literature courses and is a often more interesting than the literature of the period because it is a good link to the concept of history vs. hearsay. This concept is terribly important in history because often it is more important what we think happened than what actually did. Historical fiction is a good forum from which to examine the way in which we are currently using history (or our perception thereof) to influence the modern world. This is an important because it is a way in which the students can relate to history.

When dealing with more periphery aspects of Social Studies, i.e. Government, Economics, Current Events, etc., literature is still appropriate. There are many books that are written every year on political and economic subjects that are valid for only a short period of time, True Colors for example. These books might be interesting to read for a class because they would connect abstract governmental or economic structures to events, which surround the students. These books are often politically charged so they would spark the opinions of the students.

Newspapers, newsmagazines, and Internet news sites would be an outstanding way of incorporating literature into a Current Events course. Students in such a course should be surrounded and actively engaged with the texts of the latest news because it will teach them that not all literature has to come in the form of books and that often some of the most important reading they can do is simple day to day reading.

In whatever class at whatever level I end up teaching I would use literature to spark discussions in class, group projects, writing assignments, journals, brainstorms, comparison exercises, etc. The possibilities are rather infinite.