ext_2510 ([identity profile] ithiliana.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] deborah 2008-10-22 06:28 pm (UTC)

Very good point! I remember when I taught Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn, which I love with a passion and the whole class hated. It was two weeks of pure unrelenting hell, and the class and I loathed each other the rest of the term.

It's sometimes iffy to teach something you love, especially when you're fairly new to teaching and assume that others will love it. Of course, that's why I debate with senior colleagues who said their job was to teach the love of literature--I kept asking them how they graded for it? I think it's bogus to say a lit prof's job is to teach students to love something--it's wrong in so many ways.

And I've learned how to sneak books I love in, and where/how, to do it, but yeah, it can be a heartbreaking experience, as I've told a number of grad students in my "how to teach literature" grad course (who btw assume that their students will HATE theory and LOVE literature, ahahahahahahahahahahaha).

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