The Books I Have Taught series is a personal reflection on the books I have taught in my classes. Their experiences often reveal interesting truths, not about the themes necessarily, but more about the outcomes and interactions I had with my students and the various paths it led me down. I hope you enjoy my reflection on the books that I have taught.
I have mentioned previously that an English teacher may choose to study a text simply because they have the resources in the school library. Another approach that they may take, as I did, is to seek out a book in particular that they wish to teach. Animal Farm by George Orwell was that for me. I had to hunt down other copies of the book from a nearby school, though in the country that meant they were two hours away and then when they arrived, they were already beginning to fall apart. I love teaching Animal Farm, I love that it is short, making it a more condensed text for students and I love the allegory. My students may not understand that Napoleon is Stalin and Animal Farm is Russia, but they get that Napoleon is greedy and that he becomes the very evil that the animals wished to rid themselves of. I will admit, though I enjoyed teaching it, I have noticed that many of my students struggle with the allegory, to such an extent that I always find myself abandoning the links between Communist Russia part way through. Though, with a higher performing class than the lowest English requirement in senior school, I feel it could work. Despite the struggle, I have had some great creative pieces given to me as a result. For the second assessment, after the required analysis, I have my students write an allegory of their choosing. Some struggle, but I have read some great pieces. One student, whose whole approach to my class was pass and get out, wrote me an allegory about addiction, using ants and sugar. It was good and it was the kind of work that one would not expect from him. That is also part of the reason why I love teaching it, the creative allegories are always engaging for me to read and it gives students an opportunity to develop their writing in something other than a traditional narrative.
It seems that most English teachers teach Orwell at some point, I did 1984 myself in my final year of schooling and that is because he is a skilled writer. Though I am not going to reflect on his prose or his relevance, as I know many already have and will continue to do so, instead I tend to reflect on his collective work. His two most impactful pieces were his last two, that shows something that I want in my own writing practice, to always be improving. I have, of course, considered the idea of writing that one standout novel that cements me as a writer, but I do not think I would be happy with that. I love writing and to hit my best so early and then suddenly stop would be… sad. I want to keep growing and developing my craft. I do not know if my commercial success will be linear, or if there will be a random success within or I will make enough money but never having the impact, but I know in all those hypotheticals, I would not want to stop my growth. I do not know if I will forever be a writer, but I know that in all that I do, I want to continually grow.
I would teach Animal Farm again, given the opportunity. It really is a great text and even without making the link to Communist Russia, it is still the best allegory I have ever come across. It is also a short and rich text, which is useful for those low stamina readers.
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