Teaching Nineteenth-Century Literature

Book excerpt: Teaching nineteenth-century literature can be an incredibly rewarding experience, resulting in lessons which are exciting and engaging and enable amazing levels of student progress. This essential handbook guides teachers through the key events of the period, offering theoretical approaches and a wealth of practical ideas for teaching nineteenth-century fiction and poetry in the secondary classroom. Supporting and inspiring teachers as they introduce nineteenth-century texts to their students and nurture their interest and enthusiasm for the genre, Teaching Nineteenth-Century Literature provides a grounding in the major historical events of the nineteenth century, describes pedagogical approaches to teaching fiction and poetry, and offers step-by-step guidance on the use of literary resources. Chapters offer advice on overcoming the particular challenges of the genre, including unwieldy plots, complex vocabulary and unfamiliar sentence structures, and illustrate how texts from the period can be made fully accessible to even the youngest pupils. With a range of detailed activities, photocopiable lesson plans, case studies and extracts for use in the classroom, teachers will be able to quickly and easily build a scheme of work that is stimulating and beneficial for children of varying abilities. Equipping teachers with the knowledge, understanding and resources they need to teach nineteenth-century literature in an engaging, inspiring and intellectually stimulating way, this practical and accessible text will be an invaluable resource for secondary school English teachers, students and trainees.