Originally published in TEACH Magazine, January/February 2017 Issue
By Michelle Shin
I love to read. I consume as many books as my schedule allows and often find the time even when there isn’t any. However, that quantity combined with my overloaded memory means I barely remember what I just read.
Yet, this is not so for the books I teach. Nothing commits knowledge to memory better than having to teach it. Being the “expert” on something, and being responsible for the transference of not just knowledge, but its relevance and application, has a way of making people rise to the challenge. Thus, what better way to teach students a piece of literature than to have them teach it themselves?
Michelle Shin lives in Hawai‘i with her husband and son and teaches at Kapi‘olani Community College. She received her doctorate from the University of Hawai‘i with an emphasis in creative writing and contemporary American literature and was a public high school teacher for ten years.
