Third Time's The Charm

I am excited to be teaching my third ever semester of the Contemporary Literature elective here at U of D Jesuit High School for the 2017-2018 academic school year. To start off the first unit on Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (Robin Sloane), I am asking my students to reflect on the following questions below. It's only fair that I answer them, too, right?

1. What have your previous experiences with English classes been like?
2. Do you like to read? Why or why not?
3. What do you hope to get out of this Contemporary Literature class?

I always loved my English classes. Surprise, right? My favorite part was reading books that I enjoyed and getting to discuss them with others. Of course, there were times that I did not always enjoy the books being assigned. I'll admit that some classes, even in college, had required reading that I only pretended to read. And boy was I good at it. Yet, there were other classes in college that I got to choose, and those books were amazing. I chose a Modernism course simple because it had my favorite novel on the syllabus (Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises). I also even got to take a course all about fantasy. What I love about English classes is when you find just the right book for the right students and it creates a type of connection because of the shared reading experience. I believe the titles in this Contemporary Literature course will have the same effect (I hope).

I love to read. My first memories of enjoying reading are with my mother. During time off from school, she would take my sisters and I to libraries for us to pick out books based on their colorful covers. She would also pick out some and read them to us when we got home. We actually couldn't wait to sit and listen to her tell these stories. I remember my favorite being Matilda by Roald Dahl. And what a great book to get started in a love of reading! “So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.” We definitely grew closer as a family huddled around that living room chair waiting for adventure after adventure.

I hope to have another successful semester here in Contemporary Literature. We have a smaller class, which is great because everyone gets to participate and share their thoughts. I run the class like an intimate book club, so we usually tend to get close as a group in this class. Mix in some fun projects and a possible field trip, and you have yourself a bonded class of students. I'm also hoping to expose students to some great works of literature that they will enjoy. And just maybe there might be a soul in the classroom who has given up on literature that I can inspire to keep reading for fun in his spare time or after high school. That's the dream.

Mr. Davidson's 2017 Summer Reading: