During the week I had the wonderful opportunity of teaching a Year 11 English Standard class. After looking at the module they were currently studying, I decided to read aloud a short story written by the American writer Flannery O’Connor. The narrative was called ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’ – a catchy title which sets up certain expectations in the reader before a word has been read. Each student was given a copy of the text and asked to follow along with the teacher.

Being very familiar with this story after having read it a number of times, I was able to subtly observe the students and note their level of interest and engagement. To my delight they were all engrossed in this fascinating narrative – a narrative marked by superb craftmanship, black humour and grotesque characters. The story’s confronting ending left the students in stunned silence.

The following class discussion focused on the two main characters who were terribly flawed and broken human beings. We all agreed that our sympathies for each character had been manipulated cleverly by the writer – one minute we were annoyed or even disgusted at their behaviour and the next minute we felt pity and wanted their good. We also noted how the writer was able to draw us into the world of the text with powerful descriptive imagery and lively and spirited dialogue. We experienced fear, revulsion, and sorrow at different times throughout the narrative while at the same time laughing at some of the very humorous details and comments. We were very conscious of our mind anticipating what was going to happen next while at the same time going back and revisiting information we had been given earlier in the narrative. In thinking about our thinking, we recognised the very active role of the reader in the reading process.

This lesson affirmed my very strong belief in the power of storytelling. Flannery O’Connor – writing this story in 1953 – took these Year 11 students to a different place and time and allowed them to explore some of life’s fundamental questions. On a technical level, the students began the process of reading like writers and, hopefully, the next step will see them writing like readers.

Clare Murphy

English Coordination and Literacy Instructional Coach