Literature Based Approach to Integration

Literature Based Approach to Integration

As a teacher, I have often wondered what was the literature based approach to integration, what the term integration meat with regard to the teaching of English and English Literature and how do implement it in my classroom. From the perspective of my classmate, integration of the two subject areas meant that literature textbooks had to be used to teach concepts in grammar for example subject verb agreement, punctuation and so on. However, from other classroom discussions and my reading I have learnt that is much more than that. In fact the most important aspect of integration is how we approach it.

In order to ensure that integration of the two subject areas are effective students need to be given the opportunity to take charge or take control of the reading and writing process. Students especially adolescents need to be given the opportunity to read as writers. Simply put, teachers need to provide instances where students can engage themselves in the writer’s craft. Thus, students need to put themselves in the writer’s shoes, to feel what the writer is feeling, how the piece is structured, use their experiences to relate to what the writer is saying  and most importantly they should take pleasure in this process. However, the question remains how I as a teacher encourage my student to engage in the writer’s craft.

Firstly, as teachers we need to choose material that is appropriate for adolescents.  We can include them in the process of choosing books by asking them. Students need to feel and see the relevance in what they  are reading, that they can relate to it, or it is part of their experiences and  they identify with  message  of the writer. Erickson referred to this stage as ‘Identity Crisis’ where students are searching for identity ‘Who am I?’ Therefore, the material that students read should satisfy theses needs.

In addition, I have learned that  as teacher I need encourage class discussions where students are given opportunities to respond to the material they read. The use of journals and logs can also be used where students write what they think about texts based on their experiences. Also I as a teacher must be enthuastic about the subject and make it interesting for my students to be  enthuastic and interested in what they read and the subject as a whole.