Teaching Values in the Literature Classroom
Teaching Values in the Literature Classroom: A Debate in Print by Charles Suhor and Bernard Suhor. Urbana, Ill.: NCTE, 1992.
Who doesn't love a good sibling debate—which is precisely what we have in Teaching Values in the Literature Classroom. Bernard, who calls himself a “Christian Humanist,” presents his view as a veteran Catholic school teacher, while Charles, the academician, takes the more dispassionate, public school side in this predictable standoff.
Reminiscent of similarly polarized exchanges within my family, these two are far more successful at baring their own feelings and beliefs about God, evil, democracy, and freedom than they are at changing the other's. What kept me reading was not the topic or the well-worn perspectives but the question of how real this “debate in print” would be.
My perseverance was rewarded when, during their rejoinders, Charles takes his brother's position apart with polite, analytical precision. Bernard responds with a surprising harangue about the “pernicious ideology” of secular humanism which is “devaluing morality in America.” He's obviously upset! In his retort, Charles calmly dismisses his brother's views as those of an overemotional intellectual lightweight who is unable to see the humanistic forest through the Christian trees. With the final word, Bernard forgives his brother's spiritual ignorance and leaves the reader with yet another of his spiritual quotations. Though we learn little new about the fundamental issue, we've enjoyed watching this loving sibling rivalry. Just like home!
Available from NCTE, 1111 Kenyon Rd., Urbana, IL 61801, for $16.95.
—Reviewed by Dan Marshall, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania.
Voices of Beginning Teachers
Voices of Beginning Teachers: Visions and Realities by Richard H. Dollase. New York: Teachers College Press, 1992.
Voices of Beginning Teachers explores what author Richard Dollase, who directs the Teacher Education Program at Middlebury College, considers to be the best system of teacher preparation in the country: the Consortium of Excellence in Teacher Education (CETE). CETE consists of 16 of the top eastern universities—Dartmouth, Princeton, and Wellesley are just a few—that share common views and concerns about the training of teachers.
The book focuses on the experiences of 38 novice teachers as they move into the teaching profession. Narrowing the focus to one select group was a risk that paid off; the case studies of four different novices, for instance, tell us a great deal about teacher preparation and the experience of being a new teacher.
I have been teaching for only four years myself. What I learned, I learned the hard way or through those mentorships that naturally arise once a new teacher gets out and starts teaching. College professors who need insight into the larger teacher preparation process or who want a book to use in their seminars for discussion should look to this book for guidance and vision. Dollase presents what teacher education could be if all schools in the country were as dedicated to preparing their teachers to be excellent “reflective practitioners” as those institutions that belong to the Consortium.
Available from Teachers College Press, 1234 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY 10027, for $18.95.
—Reviewed by Jim Burke, Burlingame High School, Burlingame, California.
