For a book called How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster’s guide is surprisingly entertaining. I first encountered the book in its first edition, back in 2005 (how is that possible?), years before I began teaching AP Literature. Foster explains that he originally imagined his audience as nontraditional students returning to college, whose literary analysis skills might be a bit rusty. Instead, he discovered that AP Literature teachers were assigning the book to their students.

Is Foster Worth Teaching?

I mostly lurk in the AP Lit Facebook groups, but I’ve noticed a fair bit of discussion lately about whether students should read Foster. Some teachers question the book’s value; others worry about spoilers or struggle to find meaningful ways to incorporate it into their courses. A recent post at Pop Culture Pedagogy even argues against teaching the book, raising several worthwhile concerns.

Some teachers wonder whether Foster is worth assigning. Others worry about the spoilers or struggle to find meaningful ways to incorporate the book into their courses.

I find assigning Foster useful. One of my students a few years ago said that this book cracked open a door that really helped her approach her reading. By the time she encountered my class (and Foster), I was only assigning selections from the book. She decided to read the whole thing, but I found that most students responded to How to Read Literature Like a Professor when they read selections, rather than the entire book.

Foster gives students something to look for. He makes literary patterns accessible and explains concepts through engaging examples. His discussions of quests, vampires, symbolism, and other conventions can help students recognize possibilities they might otherwise overlook.

Yet, I acknowledge the book’s limitations. Foster’s examples have traditionally leaned toward canonical literature, although the third edition incorporates more contemporary works. And yes, he reveals significant plot developments in some of the books he discusses.

When I was in high school, I started watching a lot of old classic movies. I watched Citizen Kane and had the delightful experience of being surprised by the ending—it hadn’t been spoiled for me. I understand the value—and joy—of encountering a work without knowing its ending, even though spoilers haven’t persuaded me to stop assigning Foster.

Do Students Have to Read the Whole Book?

When I first started teaching the book, I assigned the whole book. Students sometimes felt they already understood concepts Foster was explaining. Others questioned whether they needed every chapter.

My students suggested I might allow students to pick chapters they might find helpful. So, I started allowing students to select certain chapters.

After some experimentation, I landed on requiring students to select and read three chapters from How to Read Literature Like a Professor. I had a practical rationale for this decision: three chapters provide meaningful exposure without consuming an unreasonable amount of reading time. Students can also select chapters that interest them, reinforce something they already understand, or address a weakness in their literary analysis. Someone intrigued by quests or vampires can pursue that interest. Someone who struggles with symbolism can deliberately choose Foster’s chapter on symbols.

Chapter selection can become an act of metacognition. Students are considering what they already know, what they need, and what might help them become stronger readers.

What Wasn’t Working for My Classroom

To bring students’ reading together, I assigned a Socratic seminar discussion. The results were not quite what I wanted.

When students had read different chapters, they struggled to sustain a meaningful seminar. They tended to summarize what they had read rather than use those ideas to explore larger questions about literature.

The different reading assignments were not really the problem. As the students explained it to me, the discussion structure wasn’t giving them a productive way to share and apply their knowledge. It’s possible to have a good Socratic seminar on this book, but my students found it challenging because I hadn’t scaffolded the discussion appropriately.

I considered having students present on different chapters, but I worried that the activity would become a series of chapter summaries rather than an opportunity to engage meaningfully with Foster’s ideas.

Students Needed to Put Foster to Work

The first novel I teach after our introductory unit is Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, and while it’s an excellent novel for applying many of Foster’s ideas, I realized that students needed an opportunity to put those ideas to work immediately, before moving into a longer text.

I came up with a new approach—Put Foster to Work: Literary Detective Agency.

• Students become experts on a Foster chapter and identify what another reader most needs to know.
• Through structured Literary Speed Dating, they exchange useful interpretive strategies.
• They apply those strategies to Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl,” looking for details and patterns that might support an interpretation.
• They share their interpretations and consider how other readers might extend or complicate them.

This activity worked because students were using Foster’s ideas to investigate an unfamiliar text. They stopped summarizing Foster and started applying his ideas. They developed an interpretation rather than simply noticing a pattern.

For example, noticing food imagery in “Girl” is useful, but explaining how domestic instruction conveys cultural knowledge and expectations about womanhood requires deeper analytical thinking.

What I Learned from Trying the Literary Detective Agency

Students successfully identified meaningful details in “Girl” and immediately applied ideas from their reading. The lesson gave them a clearer purpose for discussing chapters they hadn’t all read. I was impressed with their interpretations, and they seemed animated by the text itself.

The lesson wasn’t perfect, of course. The Literary Speed Dating activity needed more structure, and I noticed that students tended to cluster around certain chapters. Next time, I may introduce some parameters to encourage greater variety while preserving student choice. I’ve also refined the Literary Speed Dating activity to provide more guidance for students.

The most important takeaway for me, however, is that students benefit more when the reading leads directly to meaningful analytical work.

Rethinking Foster

I’ve come to think that the real value of Foster isn’t teaching students to read exactly as he does. It’s giving them a starting point for developing their own interpretations. Do AP Literature students need to read every chapter of Foster’s book? I don’t think so. What matters more is whether they can use the ideas they encounter to become more confident, perceptive, and independent literary analysts. I want students to use Foster’s book as a tool to approach a text and to gain confidence in interpreting it for themselves. I don’t necessarily think students need to read literature like a professor. But a little professorial advice for approaching a text doesn’t hurt.

I’ve since turned the lesson into Put Foster to Work: Literary Detective Agency, a classroom-tested resource that includes structured activities, a literary investigation, teacher guidance, and an optional assessment. If you’re looking for a different way to approach Foster in your AP Literature classroom, I’d love for you to check it out.