On the current curriculum of English majors in Chinese universities, the importance of literature courses, to some extent, has been increasingly underestimated. This paper intends to apply theories of instructional system design to classroom teaching, so as to formulate an effective model of teaching literature. Based on the ADDIE Model, Bloom’s Taxonomy, Gagné’s “Nine Instructional Events”, the paper argues that specific objectives, organic instructional strategies, and varied teaching methods are crucial to the effective teaching of literature courses. In order to meet the requirements of English literature courses, the “CREAM” Model is introduced for the improvement of students’ classroom learning experience.