Yati's Individual Reflection 4

1. Describe the state of literature in your school - state how many classes are taking pure and elective lit at upper sec, how many students are there in each class, what texts are being used. Describe the state of lit in your school - Are teachers passionate about lit? Does the principal emphasize lit? how do the students perceive lit? What are the typical approaches to teaching and assessment?

The state of Literature in Christ Church Secondary School appears to be fairly typical of "neighbourhood" schools. All express students from Secondary 1 and 2 are required to take Literature for one semester for both years. They may choose to take up Literature for their upper secondary school years and consequently as a subject for O levels. As of right now, there are less than 20 students in Secondary 4 taking Literature for O levels and 18 students in Secondary 3. 

I have had the pleasure of teaching this Secondary 3 class twice and I can see that most of them are passionate about Literature but they are still not confident of themselves  as they told me that they are "too stupid to take Lit". Similarly in my Secondary 2 class, students complain that Literature is too difficult and told me that their parents told them not to take Literature because they won't be able to score. However, during my introduction lesson with the Sec 3s (where we had a chance to play games and get to know each other to build rapport), I was able to uncover the 18 students' reasons for choosing Literature. Indeed, when asked, students said they took Literature because they enjoy reading or are interested about learning about books and especially poems. It is heartening to know that my students gave feedback that they wanted to learn more about poems because they were intrigued by some they have read or wanted to "learn something new". 

The teacher that I observed was  passionate about Literature although he practiced "unorthodox teaching methods"  like students "stupid" or hitting them with books when they interprete a text incorrectly. The principal does not promote Literature nor does she discourage students to take Literature. Nevertheless, the principal has enforced a program for students whom are weak in English Language to take up Reading Sessions after school. Students are made to read and the teacher usually engages students with questions or discussion topics about the books.

2. Refer to debates in the media last week (see ST report "Big drop in number of students taking literature" on Feb 25 followed by forum articles and Sunday Times report). Get involved in the discussion and give your views on these matters e.g. what have you learnt from the discussion? What troubles you about the discussion? What is your own opinion about the value of lit or factors accounting for its decline based on what you’ve observed in your own school?

When I first heard of this some time back, I was rather disappointed but it was not news or rather not "new" news for me since I guessed that this would happen.  

"She added that another factor for the decrease is that there is a "common perception that it was difficult to obtain a good grade for the subject"." 

I think this quote is pretty accurate and from my own experience, many students have this perception and they decide to not take Literature because of this sole reason.I also noticed that this perception could have been realized as students constantly get very poor grades for Literature. In my previous school, the teachers tell me that it is extremely rare for students to pass Lit class tests. In the current school, similarly, majority of students received less than 10 out of a possible 30 marks in their tests. There are perhaps ways to dispel this perception but if students are constantly being told that they are "wrong" and get bad marks, their perceptions of Literature remains unchanged. I realize that students, especially in Lower Secondary, are not able to express themselves or write well although they can contribute meaningfully in class. Of course this is only an observation and right now, I can't suggest ways to improve the system. The whole demand-supply demand of Literature debate has been going on awhile but it is only now that more people are voicing their opinions on this issue. I feel that something has to be done to change the perceptions of students as well as parents' perception of Literature. As Literature teachers, I think we can make a difference, one class at a time, through the way in which we teach Lit to students so they realize that Literature is not "too chim" or "hard to score". Instead of bringing students down or telling them their opinions are not good enough, we should encourage and commend students on their courage to share and to guide students to discover Literature in a positive light.