Take a Look--It's in a Book

I often say I am the English major who doesn't have time to read. I know I am not the only person to ever notice how when you study a field you love, you stop having time to enjoy it for a while. I know I loved reading as a kid and watching The Reading Rainbow and Wishbone on TV all the time. I felt excited by the adventures and problem/solution motifs of the books on those shows. I had to read in school and I participated in summer reading programs for the library, but then I grew up. And if I hadn't have been an English major in college, I don't know that I would still be able to appreciate the rainbow anymore.

bell hooks writes about the "Joy of Reading" in Chapter 22 of Teaching Critical Thinking. She states, "Teachers in every educational setting are the individuals who bear the greatest ethical and political responsibility for promoting the power of reading" (132). My question for this program is: How can I promote the power of reading when literature is not a requirement (or even allowed for GAs) in the 100 level ENG courses?

My mentor and I have talked about this a great deal, as she is a writer by trade and wrote for a living before teaching, and I am an MA literature student and writer. She got special permission to use Devil in the White City for here ENG 104 course next semester, which means reading will get a much needed jump start in the college classroom. But what about us first-timers?

Well, I am currently working on my ENG 104 syllabus and finding a way to frame the semester. I work best when there is a frame and direct application of theory/rules/etc. to the outside world. Therefore, I am developing assignments and readings around Alice in Wonderland. I am working on one assignment now that looks at a specific character from wonderland in order to examine a cultural problem (i.e. the Mad Hatter and mental illness). Hopefully, my students will not only be interested in their research, but also in the ways that literature connects to real life.

I think bell hooks is absolutely correct in asserting that teachers have a responsibility to promote reading, and there are ways to do it. The question is why did institutions stop valuing the beauty of the reading rainbow?