I want to encourage my students to find something in literature that resonates with them— and so I encourage them to make connections between their reading and their lived experiences. But I’ve been thinking a great deal about the limits of identifying with characters, particularly where that identification leads to a misunderstanding or a misinterpretation of the text at hand. Continue reading “Connecting with Literature: How Personal Is Too Personal?”
Month: August 2013
Relating vs. Resonating: Helping Students Respond with Depth
A few weeks ago, students in my creative nonfiction workshop were discussing a classmate’s essay about her rather eccentric grandmother. It was a good piece of writing, a solid first draft, and I wanted to get my students talking about what made the piece so successful. Continue reading “Relating vs. Resonating: Helping Students Respond with Depth”