I am a Brit remarried to an American. I have five children and fourteen grandchildren. For decades, I’ve taught at private schools and public universities. I loved teaching and teenagers (most of them), and I look back on those years in the classroom with great affection.

I began teaching English accidentally. A few days before the beginning of the school year in 1978, the headmaster of the private school my children attended called me into his office, told me his English teacher had resigned, and asked me to take her classes. Although I was significantly under qualified and unprepared, he was adamant. His trust in me was possibly based on my British accent! Somewhat daunted, I took classes at graduate school in the evening and taught high school students during the day. My children have vivid memories of their mother hunched over piles of books at the dining room table studying for next day’s classes. I had no access to the previous teacher’s lesson plans, no job description. I simply showed up each day, taught as well as I could, and in the process became an ardent lover of literature and of teaching the subject. After 35 years, I retired and am now committed to helping other teachers inspire young people to love and to learn from great literature.

Lit teachers need all the help they can get. Most young people understand the relevance of taking classes in math and science, but literature? What’s the point of plowing through stuff written centuries ago by folks whose situations are totally irrelevant, stuff that’s written in some weird language nobody can understand? I mean, really! Yes, lit teachers need ideas time-tested by those of us who’ve overcome these attitudes.

I want to give back to others things I learned about teaching all aspects of the English curriculum. I’ve just launched this blog on my website www.teachclassiclit.com. It deals with instruction in the high school English classroom and is a place to go for teachers, parents, or anyone who wants to exchange ideas or get information on the topic.

What are some challenges you are facing in the English classroom? For instance:

• How do you foster student enthusiasm for classic literature?
• How do you know whether everyone has read the assignment?
• How does one train teenagers to take notes?
• How does one improve essay writing?

I’d like to write about some of the literature I’ve discussed in my “How to Teach Lit” books. All the literature I cover in my blogs is accessible on the Internet. More detailed teaching techniques are covered in my books if readers want additional information about a specific literary piece.

Let me know if I can help you with any aspect of the English curriculum–grammar, essay writing, vocabulary, or literature. I hope you enjoy my blog.