Teaching Literature

The entirety of my week was spent teaching seniors the famous play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. I was extremely excited to teach this play to my students because it was one of my favorite texts I read in undergrad. One reason, in particular, that I chose this piece of literature was because language variation and dialect prejudices are major themes throughout the play. The students at North Marion High School demonstrate a wide variety of dialects, so I thought it would be interesting for them to read about social class distinctions based on linguistic differences.

Upon completing the introductory language unit, the students were asked to choose a role to play. They were, for the most part, eager to read and showed enthusiasm on the first day. However, as the play continued the students became less eager and more monotonous. At this point, I began to reevaluate my teaching methods in order to provide the most beneficial learning experience for all of my seniors. I decided that by modeling the way to read the script the students would be more likely to regain confidence and enthusiasm. I read the words of several main characters in the play in an authentic manner so that the students would clearly understand my expectations for their performances. I noticed a slight difference in the students' tones afterwards, but they began to drift off again towards the end.

Teaching a play as a piece of literature has produced some challenges, especially when it comes to visualizing the performance while reading. This particular play also has a very anticlimactic ending, so the students were a bit disappointed. In the future, I would like to have my students practice their parts prior to reading with the class. I think this would make the play more interesting and entertaining for both the readers and audience/listeners. I would also like to make the unit more student-centered by allowing some Socratic discussion among the students so that they evaluate the text on their own.