There is no
branch of knowledge where philosophy is not made use of. A literary work has
philosophic message. Literature can be defined as the expression of one’s ideas
or feelings through the medium of prose, drama and poetry. The drama, prose,
and poetry each has a method and a reason for its communication. The novel
deals with invented stories in a prose, form, Drama deals with invented actions
or series of actions while poetry deals with invented pictures or images to aid
life and living. In literature, the literary appreciation of a work depends on
the proper understanding of the figurative
expression, the symbolic, analogical
and other level of meaning employed or used.
On the other
hand, philosophy according to Dictionary is the study of fundamental nature of
knowledge, reality and existence. It is the study of general and fundamental
problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason,
mind, and language. Philosophy naturally, both a speculative, critical, prescriptive,
as well as analytical discipline.
THE
BELIEFS THAT BACK UP THE TEACHING OF LITERATURE AND HOW IT CAN INFLUENCE
TEACHERS’ CHOICE OF METHOD
(1) There
is a belief that the development of an ability to write clearly and effectively
goes hand-in-hand with the ability to think logically and creatively.
Therefore, with the philosophy that guides the teaching of literature, the
teacher will be force to use creative teaching methods. Through writing,
discussing and analyzing literature, and participating, students can understand
and reflect upon themselves and the world around them. It is the responsibility
of the teacher to promote development and facilitate such opportunities while
providing any scaffolding to support the student until they are prepared to pursue
such task on their own.
(2) Literature
mirrors life. It expresses life realities. What is written down is exactly what
had happened somewhere and noted by somebody. Therefore, there is a belief that
teachers should foster critical thinking and questioning skills that will allow
students to understand, analyze, critique, and change the world around them
(3) There
is a belief that all children can learn to read and write in a classroom that
is inter-graded with differentiated instruction and has a safe and engaging
learning environment. Which is rich with a variety of literature to light that
spark in the Children to want to learn. Therefore, Teachers should make an
effort to get to know his Children in order to be able to provide a classroom
library with nonfiction books to inform the inquiring mind, picture books for
the artistic mind and fiction books to entertain. All books will be chosen
based on their curiosity, interest, personal connection, and learning profile,
in order to attract and enhance the young reader into going back to book area
again. Teacher is looking forward to having a curriculum based on literature
because he believes that promoting a love of literature in a classroom is the
key to the development of language skills in students. Even though there is no
curriculum in place, the teacher will enrich his classroom activities with
literature that would be based on the six languages art (reading, writing,
listening, speaking, viewing, and visually representing), to make the learning
of concept more significant. Children need to be engaged in order to learn and
see an example of how something works in order to understand. It is said that
as a teacher, instead of explaining orally on how fun literature can be, you
need to demonstrate the enjoyment of literature in physical movements and
actions.