Mission

SINGLE STATEMENT

The mission of LiteratureIsNotExtinct is to celebrate literature’s affect on our modern world — and by so doing, engage students, encourage teachers, and support literature enthusiasts.

OUTLINED OVERVIEW

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The primary mission of LiteratureIsNotExtinct is to demonstrate that literature, and other material studied in English class, continually affects the modern world. This site will celebrate the idea that literature is NOT old fashioned, or outdated, or unimportant, or mundane — at least, it doesn’t have to be!

For some of us, to understand literature in this way means we will need to rethink our previous definitions; and we may have to adjust some of the preconceptions we have from our own school days. Either way, we cannot debunk or abandon literature!
Even in this technological society, literature of every kind thrives and lives: on a deep level, literature can help the men and women of today process their life experiences into small succinct lessons; on what may seem a superfluous, but to some, equally important level, literature can also help men and women of today elude the immediate cares and trials of their lives in the form of mild escapism or immense pleasure.
Simply put, literature just helps us cope.

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In addition to the main mission written above, this website (including the persona, NoOrdinaryEnglishTeacher) has another related purpose that is twofold.

1. It strives to engage students

Many students — including the strugglers, the bright, the brilliant, the ill-behaved, the well-behaved, and the in-between — think school is an immense waste of their time. To them, at best, maybe, school is only a means to an end: a graduation celebration, a secession of written assignments, a diploma, a rite of passage, a job that pays better, more status at work, the next career rung on an ever taller ladder, more freedom from what binds them at the moment, or the required step to those greener pastures. For persons out there who have never experienced any negative thoughts about their school life, LiteratureIsNotExtinct expresses extreme awe and a little bit of jealousy, too.
LiteratureIsNotExtinct can’t make all the negative hype about school disappear, but it does hope to show frustrated students a little piece of what can be fun about literature and other material studied in English class. The website also supports those students who, for the most part, don’t hate school all the time; and the site wishes to reinforce the sentiments of those students who, more often than not, actually enjoy school life. For a few students, the “old-fashioned literature” or “boring stories” they frequently dismiss in the classroom environment, may become more interesting because technology and social media are involved.
The “For Students” tab in the menu bar of this site offers tips, suggestions, ideas, literary connections, and social media links for students looking to do more with the English class material they’ve learned about in school.
Some of the blog entries written by NoOrdinaryEnglishTeacher focus on ways to help students deal with what frustrates them about the school environment. Other blog entries are geared to celebrate the great and miraculous things normal students do in school every day.

2. It hopes to encourage teachers

Good teachers are so important. The really good ones work incredibly hard to connect with their students; produce lessons that teach crucial concepts; create activities that appeal to a wide range of abilities and personalities within their classes; give up personal time with their families and friends to grade papers and formulate presentations; communicate with colleagues, parents, guardians, administrators, deans, social workers, counselors, lawyers, law enforcement officers, you name it. They coach, they sponsor, they listen, they mentor, they demand, they encourage, they motivate. It is true, that perhaps all types of professionals may dedicate this much time to their jobs, and most of us already agree that teachers are fairly underpaid; but I wonder if it has occurred to anyone that teaching can sometimes be a pretty thankless job for what seems like a pretty selfless activity.
LiteratureIsNotExtinct applauds all good teachers; but it is particularly partial to the English teachers, especially the ones reviewing the written word of their students, and reading a multitude of books to stay one step ahead of the class assignment.
The “For Teachers” tab on this site offers friendly suggestions, helpful tips, and various ideas for teachers to use in their classrooms when incorporating connections from LiteratureIsNotExtinct.
Many of the blog entries written by NoOrdinaryEnglishTeacher are designed to encourage teachers, support their endeavors, and validate what they do for their students. NoOrdinaryEnglishTeacher knows that no good teacher is ordinary. Thanks, teachers, for what you do.

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