Literature in Macpherson Secondary

In  Macpherson Secondary, Literature is taught twice a week, 40 minutes for each period. As such, there's not much time in teaching. After a quick survey, I find that the students here do not enjoy reading much (or at all). Generally, they prefer watching films and reading comics, so I might have to weave in those texts into my literature lessons somehow.

I think the structure for Sec 1 and Sec 2 are about the same - a focus on drama, poetry and novel. I understand the Sec 1s are doing Charlotte's Web. The Sec 2s are doing Mdm Doubtfire. They do not offer Literature for upper secondary classes.

I'm attached to the Sec 2 classes for literature. So, they’re doing Mdm Doubtfire now. Unfortunately, the text did not come in time and from what I understand, they had to rely on an audiobook version for most of the term. What I found interesting was how the students are assessed for this text. This was done through a portfolio over the course of 4 weeks where they would have to create a script based on several chapters of the text and finally, dramatize the script. Right now it's the assessment period, so I'm just watching the students write up and act out their scripts.

In the next term, they will be doing poetry with a focus on the theme of war and conflict, as a lead in to their next text (The Clay Marble). I think the focus here is getting the students to understand the poems. This basically means that the teacher will be going through the poem with them and get the students to uncover meaning from the poem. I understand that they have been exposed to literary devices (similes, metaphors, irony etc.) before but I am told to revisit and remind students of these devices once in a while during my lessons.