Twilight Vs. Harry Potter

Lately I have been considering whether or not I'm cut out to teach English. It is a very difficult subject especially when it comes to analysing novels or poetry. I'm currently in a couple literature classes and after reading so many books and so many poems I finally got fed up and asked the question who cares! What makes this book so important to analysis? What makes this book worth my time? Why can't we just read for fun, why do we have to have meaning to everything? This question has been on my mind for a while and I think today everything clicked. What is art? Some say it is personal opinion others say there are consequences by making art personal and that is it would lose importance. No one would think art is grand or want to make art, because there would be no guidelines to say what art is. It would not be competative. So should art be personal preference or should it be regulated? If it is regulated than is it our job to analysis whether or not it fits the criteria of art. Right? So to make this connection to myself I thought about books I have read and decided where they fit. Did they fit into the sit and enjoy the fluff category or did they fit into the art category. To determine my criteria I used the two examples of the Twilight series and the Harry Potter series. Twilight was very poorly written. The grammer was horrible, the plot line fun, but one book did not fit to the next. Connections were not made and was simply a piece of work for people to enjoy and maybe have a few fantasys of their own. Now compare this to Harry Potter. It is vastly different. Harry Potter still has that sci fi story line, but is it a book you would actually take into and English class and discuss. I find that answer to be yes. This is why. The author was brillant and though through every moment in the book. She had to have know the end way before the middle. Every event had a significant purpose throughout the series and concluded with everything coming together. She did not kill off a character without a purpose, she did not have a tragic event without an overall purpose. It was thought out, it envoke emotion, caused deep thinking and caused change. So now looking at this and defining what book is considered a work of art the final question is asked.... Who cares? Why does it matter if a book is considered art or not? In an English class we teach our students grammer, how to write and speak and we teach the art of thinking. We could do this many ways, but we have chosen to use literature to show how culture, thinking, and humans interact. Great books that really do fit the title of great art can teach our students so much if we teach them correctly. I have noticed that even though this subject may be very difficult for me it probably is because it causes me to think deeper than I have been asked to think before. Why did Christ teach in parables? It was because only those that seriously wanted to know the meaning could find it. You have to look deep to make the connections and find the purpose same goes with great literature. The problem is the students do not learn how to think if we have them read the book and then have them create a poster on a topic of the book. What do we get out of that. Nothing they are just doing another mindless activity. Yet, if we were to have them read the book and then get with a partner and have them find specific examples from the book that can be related to their life and have them write an analytical essay on how we can use that book to answer an important question of society or of self than they are learning and also learning how to think for themselves. This takes me to a different subject that I have been very frusterated with for the last few weeks. The lack of quality learning in todays public schools. Are we teaching our students to think for themselves or to learn how to BS themselves through life. Currently at Madison High School in Rexburg it seems quite obvious that it is the latter. I'm working with a few students there and as I help them with math they wait for me to do their work. They say they get it until they get to a question that is different than the others and they ask how do I do this? Someone shows them and they continue to work until another question is different. The problem is if we were teaching them how to think through problems they would be able to know how to go from question to question by themselves. How do I teach my students to think and figure it out on there own rather than just telling them how to do it? I think that is the key for every teacher to learn. Anyway, that is just some of my thoughts I have had lately. I know I won't know everything that I need to know before I go out and teach, but I have learned that I can't not yeild to the way everyone else is doing it I have to go above and beyond and really take the time to teach the students right the first time.