I have one particularly difficult class this year. I had expected it to be my easiest and my most fun. However, for reasons I don't need to go into here, it has become onerous. It is a very unique sort of student who can nearly kill my love for teaching a particular book.
Yet, today I was given peculiar but good advice. Teach the class for yourself. The students who see that the material is worthy of admiration and study will come with you; the others will remain behind. There is a point at which I cannot force someone to engage the world around them. At first, I was upset--I don't like "giving up." Yet, as was explained to me, it's not giving up to pursue a good beyond the present moment. Every good thing we do is a preparation for another good thing in the future. No worthy activity is a waste; no exploration, no gift given, no act of selflessness is devoid of impact. For, in this case, to teach for myself, is to teach the student I wish each of them to become. To voice the reflections of my own fruitful reading of the text may teach them to read as passionately and with as much desire to understand truth.
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Thanks, Kel! After a difficult class on "O Captain, My Captain" yesterday (which did lead me to a deeper understanding of Whitman's juxtaposition of sorrow and joy), I really needed to hear this!
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