Reading Towards New Heights

Reading Towards New Heights

Envision a world wherein many students are lost when a college instructor opens a textbook filled with the works of authors from the ancient world. Does this even happen in colleges and universities? This does happen in classrooms around the world, and I want to be able to impact the future generations that will one-day grace the halls of a college or university. Education impacts an individual’s life every day, and I have always envisioned myself educating students to a greater extent than many students would feel capable of accomplishing.

Yet how did a child who once dreamt of being a lawyer ever decide to become a teacher? In middle school, I began to read novels and write short stories. The literacy rate to me seemed to be diminishing. Students no longer found joy in picking up a book and becoming engrossed in a novel. At that point in my life, I wanted to my fellow classmates to find the pleasure in reading and writing that I did, but no one would really listen. As long as I can remember I have desired to make a difference in someone’s life, and the opportunity finally prevailed in high school. I had the opportunity to tutor a young child in reading and when she had finally accomplished the feat of reading, I was overjoyed because she grew to love reading. But when I looked at my classmates, they were all groaning about the selections that our teachers had given us. I suppose that seeing a young child enjoy reading inspired me to want to teach high school literature. I wanted older students to feel the passion of reading a novel that they actually connected with. I wanted to be the teacher that bridged the gap between reading and teenagers. But how will I engage their minds for the great works of literature that will acquire them reasoning skills?

In order to engage my students in the joys of reading, I plan to use a philosophy renowned for its able to focus on ideas, concepts, and books. My love for the great works of literature from the ancient world has allowed me to accept the philosophy of perennialism as my teaching philosophy. The Great Books are a selection of world-renowned books that I want my students to read and thoroughly attain knowledge from. Mortimer Adler once said, "The Great Books of ancient and medieval as well as modern times are a repository of knowledge and wisdom, a tradition of culture which must initiate each generation (356, Teachers, Schools, and Society).