Margaret Atwood will speak at the Melville Centre for Dialogue, Kwantlan Richmond campus, on 16 Februrary, 4-8 pm. Tickets range from $25-125. More information is available here:
http://kpu.wildapricot.org/events
http://www.richmondreview.com/news/186078701.html
Context
In the English classroom, some works (and genres) of literature are treated as worthy of study simply for their own sake and for their socio-cultural importance, such as Romeo and Juliet, but very few short stories are considered so iconic. Of the four genres mandatorily taught at the secondary level—short stories, novels, poetry, and drama (Shakespeare)—short stories are perhaps the most superficially accessible to students, and therein lies the danger of limiting the learning outcome to superficial understandings of individual texts. This is unfortunate, as the structure of the genre has great potential for developing critical thinking, literacy and literary skills that are widely applicable both to other subjects and to real-life situations.
Research Question
For this reason, I believe it is valuable for the English teacher to consider which approaches (classroom and lesson structures) are most conducive to pushing past a superficial level of understanding and using the texts themselves as opportunities to learn and apply critical thinking and literacy skills. For this independent inquiry project, I intend to explore the range of approaches to teaching short stories, both traditional and contemporary, that have been used to foster the development of specific skills, paying specific attention to which skills are favored by each particular approach. As a secondary consideration, I would also like to explore how different approaches address the issue of having a wide range of skill, ability and interest across the student population, as well as how those approaches are able to make students’ internal thought processes accessible to the teacher.
Research Approach
The approach that I have taken for this inquiry project involves researching academic publications on the topic of pedagogical approaches to the short story, identifying at least three unique approaches to teaching the short story and the skills they aim to develop, and comparing these approaches to uncover how and why they lend themselves to fostering specific skills. This information will then be experimented with during my long practicum with the goal of uncovering which techniques best address the needs of my classroom and are the most practical, given my own individual teaching style.
Expected Conclusions
I anticipate finding a range of approaches that focus on developing literary (reading and analysis) skills, as well as awareness of important social and historical considerations. While these are valuable, I also hope to find some approaches that focus on the development of writing skills, language skills—specifically for EL learners—and information literacy.
Preliminary bibliography
Brier, D. J., & Lebbin, V. K. (2004). Teaching information literacy using the short story. Reference services review, 32(4), 383-387.
Duke, C. R. (1974). Teaching the Short Story. The English Journal, 63(6), 62-67.
Freeman, B. (1955). Teaching Short Stories. English Journal, 284-307.
Peltzie, B. E. (1966). Teaching Meaning Through Structure in the Short Story. English Journal, 703-719.
Potter, R., & Dale, J. (1948). A technique of teaching short-story writing. English Journal, 248-252.
Kallan, R. A. (2000). Teaching Journalistic Cogency with 55-Word Short Stories. Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, 55(3), 81-88.
Yan, K. (2006). An Approach To Teaching Short Stories. International Journal of Business and Management, 1.
Adhikari, B. Teaching short stories in the language classroom. Journal of NELTA, 11(1).
Carrell, P. L. (1985). Facilitating ESL reading by teaching text structure.TESOL quarterly, 19(4), 727-752.
Neupane, M. (2010). Teaching short stories with a difference. Journal of NELTA, 12(1).
For this independent inquiry project, I hope to undertake a study of literary criticism focused on J.D Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye. During the upcoming practicum, I will be teaching The Catcher in the Rye to two grade eleven classes, so this inquiry will directly support the unit I plan to teach. This study is rooted in a belief that secondary school teachers should be well versed in a wide range of theories and ways in which the text has been critically examined throughout the work’s history.
Since its publication, The Catcher in the Rye has been popular with adolescent readers due to themes of teenage confusion, angst, alienation, and rebellion. While it is a bestseller, it has also been challenged and noted as one of the most controversial books in education, mainly due to its liberal use of profanity and portrayal of sexuality. In this case, I think an exploration of literary criticism related to literature can be applied in a high school setting because it will help to unpack where the novel is situated within history and popular culture, as well as how it has been academically examined and taught. Further, having a greater understanding of how the novel has been interpreted will allow me to help students understand what it can mean to be literary critics themselves. By inquiring into how the novel has been analyzed, I will be able to think about the ways in which different theories can be presented in the classroom, and in turn, how these theories can help to engage students and encourage them to apart of this community of critics.
Works Consulted (or To Be Consulted)
Cui Wang, and Xiaofen Zhang. “Returning to Youth and Nature —The Catcher in the Rye in Ecocriticism.” Journal of Language Teaching and Research 1.3 (2010): 269-73.
Draffan, Robert A. Novel Approaches: Teaching “the Catcher in the Rye”. 24 Vol. 1973.
Glasser, William. Reclaiming Literature: A Teacher’s Dilemma. Westport, Conn: Praeger, 1994.
Lingdi Chen. “An Analysis of the Adolescent Problems in the Catcher in the Rye.” Asian Social Science 5.5 (2009).
Pinsker, Sanford, and Ann Pinsker. Understanding the Catcher in the Rye: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1999.
Privitera, Lisa. “Holden’s Irony in Salinger’s the Catcher in the RYE.” The Explicator 66.4 (2008): 203-6.
Salzberg, Joel. Critical Essays on Salinger’s the Catcher in the Rye. Boston, Mass: G.K. Hall, 1990.
Salzman, Jack. New Essays on the Catcher in the Rye. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Smith, Michael W. Understanding Reliable Narrators: Reading Between the Lines in the Literature Classroom. Champaign, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1991.
Steed, J. P. The Catcher in the Rye: New Essays. New York: Peter Lang, 2002.
Steinle, Pamela Hunt. In Cold Fear: The Catcher in the Rye Censorship Controversies and Postwar American Character. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2000.
Tolchin, Karen R. Part Blood, Part Ketchup: Coming of Age in American Literature and Film. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2007.
Verde, Tom. Twentieth-Century Writers. New York, NY: Facts On File, Inc1996.
Wilson, James R. Responses of College Freshmen to Three Novels. Champaign, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1966.
Project Prospectus:
For my individual inquiry, I have chosen to inquire into the topic of non-fiction novels with the focus on Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. I am interested in finding out the usefulness of using a non-fiction novel in a high school English class to explore various topics such as coming of age, adventure, money/wealth, and reality. I believe that non-fiction is undervalued in the classroom setting, and that students, and perhaps especially boys, will benefit from the uses of non-fiction literature in the classroom as texts for study and discussion.
Furthermore, I think that Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is an especially useful text because of the debate and controversy around the main character, Chris McCandless (aka Alex Supertramp). While some consider him a hero, many argue that his trek into Alaska shows how ill-prepared and idealistic McCandless was, leading to his tragic death. Using this as a starting point, and only as one example of the usefulness of non-fiction in the classroom, students are able to use non-fiction texts to grapple with social issues and debates, and slowly become more and more involved, rationalizing their ideas and conclusions, in the real world that surrounds them.
For my inquiry, I will focus on research that examines the use of non-fiction in the classroom. I also hope to do some research myself into Chris McCandless, namely who he admired and how they affected his decision to trek into Alaska alone. Such authors include Jack London and Henry David Thoreau. I hope to look especially at how boys might especially benefit from studying non-fiction literature, and how teachers should take advantage of this fact if it is indeed true. I expect that throughout my research I will find much support for the use of non-fiction literature in the classroom, and that it does indeed allow students more opportunity to be involved in both past and contemporary real-world issues.
Works to be Consulted:
Artichuk, Francine et al. Echoes 12: Fiction, media, and non-fiction – Teacher’s resource. Don Mills, ON: Oxford UP, 2002. Print.
Hedrick, Joan D. Solitary comrade, Jack London and his work. Chapel Hill, NC: U of North Carolina P, 1982. Print.
Linda Rief. Vision & voice: Extending the literacy spectrum. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1999. Print.
Mallett, Margaret. Early years non-fiction: A guide to helping young researchers use and enjoy information texts. London, NY: RoutledgeFalmer, 2003. Web.
Ponech, Trevor. What is non-fiction cinema?: On the very idea of motion picture communication. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press, 1999. Print.
Raskin, Jonah. “Calls of the Wild on the Page and Screen: From Jack London and Gary Snyder to Jon Krakauer and Sean Penn.” American Literary Realism 43 (April 2011): 198-203. Web.
Read, Adam. Christopher McCandless aka Alex Supertramp. 2001. Web. http://www.christophermccandless.info/intothewildpictures.html. 4 Jan 2013.
Root, R. L. Teaching Creative Non-Fiction. Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture, 4(2) (Spring 2004): 289-322. Web.
Wray, David & Lewis, Maureen. Extending literacy: Children reading and writing non-fiction. London, NY: Routledge, 1997. Web.
Louise, Jose, Irene
Context
For our practica, we will be teaching Shakespeare’s Macbeth to Grade 11 students. One of the barriers we feel students will experience is the gap between Shakespearean language and Modern English. Initially, we thought of researching through academia to find the best strategies to bridge the two languages together to be accessible to secondary students. However we found that we had to look at why students faced this difficulty first, before providing solutions.
Research Question
To this end, we ask the question: why do students have difficulties with Early Modern English? Our research will focus on providing students the means to understand the history of Shakespearean English. We want to investigate the context of Shakespeare’s writing and how Shakespeare sat on the cusp of the Great Vowel Shift, where words, spelling, and pronunciation were undergoing major shifts. Developing technology, like the printing press, influenced these changes, and word spelling became more concrete.
By providing the context of when Shakespeare was writing, we hope to provide students a better understanding of why the language is so different. Aside from context, we also want to provide students with the idea that Shakespeare’s works were meant to be performed, not read; an idea that seems obvious, but is lost in the academic environment of an English classroom. We hope to emphasize the importance of teaching Shakespeare through performance.
Research Approach
Our research approach is to sift through academia to examine the language shifts occurring during Shakespeare’s era that could have influenced his writing. We will compile a researchers journal of our sources and findings.
Expected Conclusions
In examining the gap between Shakespearean English and Modern English, we anticipate a plethora of information and scholarship on this topic. Our challenge will be to strike a balance between an emphasis on language and arguments for multi-modal teaching strategies. We also expect our research to lead to an investigation of publication history and Early Modern scholarship. Finally, we hope for our thoughts to culminate in interesting potential final project ideas for students (i.e. parallels to digital technologies for writing- blogging, texting etc.).
Preliminary Bibliography (8 to 10 Articles)
1.Porter, Christina. “Words, Words, Words: Reading Shakespeare with English Language Learners.” English Journal Benton, Michael.
2. “Visualizing Narrative: Bridging the “Aesthetic Gap”.” Journal of Aesthetic Education 33.2 (1999): 33-49. Print.99.1 (2009): 44-9. Print.
3. Desmet, Christy. “Teaching Shakespeare with YouTube.”English Journal 99.1 (2009): 65-70. Print.
4. Sedgwick, Fred. Resources for Teaching Shakespeare 11-16. New York: Continuum International Pub, 2011. Print.
5. Haddon, John. Teaching Reading Shakespeare. New York: Routledge, 2009. Print.
6. Shand, G. B. Teaching Shakespeare: Passing it on., 2009. Print.
7.”Teaching Shakespeare.” Shakespeare Quarterly 35.5 (1984): 513-656. Print.
8. Davis, James E., Ed, Ohio Univ., Athens. Dept. of English Language and Literature, and Southeastern Ohio Council of Teachers of English. “Teaching Shakespeare.” Focus: Teaching English in Southeastern Ohio 2.3 (1976)Print.
9. Creating a Context for Shakespeare with Historical Fiction. Martha Tuck Rozett (THIS ONE IS A MAYBE)
10. Ai Chun, Yen. “Our Languages Clicked: Shakespeare In EFL Classes.” Asian EFL Journal 12.4 (2010): 33-50. Education Research Complete. Web. 3 Jan. 2013.
11. Rothenberg, Sally Sue, and Susan M. Watts. “Students with Learning Difficulties Meet Shakespeare: Using a Scaffolded Reading Experience.” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 40.7 (1997): 532-9. Print.
12. Birmingham, Peter, and Chris Davies. “Storyboarding Shakespeare: Learners’ Interactions with Storyboard Software in the Process of Understanding Difficult Literary Texts.” Journal of Information Techology for Teacher Education 10.3 (2001): 241-56. Print.
* Please see updated Prospectus in the comment section below.
This project will focus on how one can make the novel To Kill a Mockingbird interesting and relevant to my students through the use of other forms of literature.
The main question here is whether using outside forms of literature will assist students in their understanding of the novel and if it will benefit their overall appreciation of the main themes in TKAM. This inquiry question is based on the concern that students will struggle to see the importance of past literature in their present day lives.
Steps
1. The unit will begin by exploring the abolishment of slavery and the “unknown” result that people were afraid of. For this step students will explore literature on current movements that induce this same “fear of the unknown.”
2. In this step the students will be looking at the civil rights movement and its role in the novel. Poetry and other forms of literature with the same theme, (i.e. – “I know why the caged bird sings”, “We Wear the Mask”, “Sympathy”, MLK).
3. Finally students will create their own literature based on their feelings towards both to novel as well as the other literature we have looked at.
Preliminary Bibliography
Best, Rebecca H. “Panopticism and the use of “the Other” in to Kill a Mockingbird.” Mississippi Quarterly 62.3 (2009): 541-52. Print.
Jolley, Susan Arpajian. “Integrating Poetry and “to Kill a Mockingbird”.” The English Journal 92.2, Multigenre Teaching (2002): 34-40. Print.
Context:
Upon my return to Sentinel Secondary later this month, I will have the opportunity to lead a novel study of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 with two English 11 classes. In preparation for this unit, I plan to embark on an inquiry project that will give me insight into and knowledge about historical and modern cases of censorship – a theme that features prominently in the novel. I will use what I learn to enhance the study of the novel for my students by increasing my ability to answer their questions and finding connections I can make for students between Fahrenheit 451 and their own lives.
Research Question:
To state my proposed area of research more precisely, I plan to embark on this inquiry with the following two questions in mind: “what parallels can be drawn between the censorship in Ray Bradbury’s fictional world in Fahrenheit 451 and historical and modern instances of censorship?” and, “does having a better understanding of historical and modern censorship enhance the study of a highly censored fictional world?” Knowing the answers to these questions will help me improve students’ understanding and enjoyment of the novel and – I think – enable me to provide a richer, more meaningful experience for my grade 11s this spring.
Note: As a supplementary source of information, I will review literary criticisms of Bradbury that delve into his extensive use of symbolism and figurative language. This could lead to a discussion with students about methods that have been used to publish subversive material in totalitarian regimes, and a continuation of discussion on a text they’re already connecting to Fahrenheit 451: Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.
Resources to be consulted:
Baez, Fernando. A Universal History of the Destruction of Books. New York: Atlas, 2008.
“Bannings and Burnings in History.” Freedom to Read. Canada Council for the Arts. 2009. Web. 5 Jan. 2013.
Canada Council for the Arts. Challenged Books and Magazines List, February 2012. 2009. PDF. 5 Jan. 2013. <http://www.freedomtoread.ca/docs/challenged_books_and_magazines_february_2012.pdf>
Finklestein, David and Alistair McCleery. An Introduction to Book History. New York: Routledge, 2005.
Kreider, Tim. “Uncle Ray’s Dystopia.” The New York Times 8 June 2012. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/08/opinion/uncle-rays-dystopia.html>
Swaim, Don. Interview with Ray Bradbury. May 1992. MP3. <http://www.wiredforbooks.org/raybradbury/>
White, Harry. Anatomy of Censorship: Why the Censors Have it Wrong. Maryland: University Press of America, 1997.
Ilana Finkleman
January 3 / 2013
Inquiry Seminar: Proposal
For my inquiry project, I plan to investigate literary criticism and pedagogy around Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. I will be teaching this novel to a class of 9/10s at my practicum school. They are an accelerated class and meet every day which gives me the opportunity to dig deeply into issues exposed in the novel.
The novel is rich with history and issues of morality that are very relevant to students’ experiences in contemporary Canada. Of particular interest to me is the notion of striated societies and how certain characters in the novel push past the boundaries that align and keep small-town society and ideology in line and functioning according to the status quo. Rebecca H. Best discusses the importance of boundaries and adhering to the strict patterns laid out by society in her article on Mockingbird. According to Best, Mockingbird demonstrates the structure of a society that is deeply regulated by the way people are expected to behave and act. Anyone who is outside this strict regiment is attacked or attemptively forced back into the mould that holds fast to the status quo; Best offers that society acts as its own Panopticon (Foucault’s term from Discipline and Punish) or watchdog of sorts and keeps itself in check. Certain characters in Mockingbird also exist outside the rule-bound and kept in-check operation of society in the novel – these characters are considered insane by the other characters – this being the only mechanism to which they can act outside the highly regimented social code that structures society in Maycomb (ex. Boo Radley, Dolphus Raymond). Such a theory on societal structure is translatable and potentially relevant to students’ own understanding of their own daily activity in microcosmic friend groups, their personal belief systems, or life in Vancouver/Canada, more generally. The importance of being a boundary-pusher and attempting to destabilize societal order in order to support what is morally the right thing to do is also a model students may be inspired by.
Also central to this novel are issues of prejudice and ideology. Understanding the effects of education, the historical context and mindset of the times, and the influence of the people you interact with on the way prejudice develops is also central to the novel and again applicable to students’ own experiences. I am awaiting the arrival of a book from the library which contextualizes the novel in the time it was written (the Civil Rights period) and also the time in which it took place (the Depression in the 30s). This book by Claudia Durst Johnson offers information about the trials of the Scottsboro boys – black boys accused of raping a black girl, and supposedly the story Lee based the trial of Tom Robinson on, the symbol of the pure and virginal white Southern woman and the threats posed to her purity, a history of lynching, etc. Having an awareness of the history that enrobes this historical fiction is necessary to breaking into its complexity. Also important is recognizing our own institutionalized prejudices and how these cloud the way we operate in our society.
Finally, pedagogical theory around this novel suggests utilizing role play – having students act out and decide on decisions around the difficult moral situations presented to characters in this novel as a tool for students to engage kinesthetically with the complex moral situations facing many of the characters who challenge the status quo. Also, paralleling and drawing connections between scenarios which challenge moral positioning from the novel with scenarios which are relevant to students’ current life experiences might be a useful angle of exploration of the moral complexities in the novel.
Works Consulted
Best, Rebecca H. “Panopticism and the Use of the Other in To Kill a Mockingbird.” Mississippi Quarterly 62.3 (2009): 541 – 560. Web.
Durst Johnson, Claudia. To Kill a Mockingbird: Threatening Boundaries. New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1994. Print.
—.Understanding To Kill a Mockingbird: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historic Documents. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1994. Print.
Gibbons, Louel C. To Kill a Mockingbird in the Classroom: Walking in Someone Else’s Shoes. Urbana: National Council of English Teachers, 2009. Print.
Peters, Mike. “Examining a Set Text – To Kill a Mockingbird Fifty Years on.” NATE CLASSROOM 12 (2010). 34. Web. Jan 4 2013.
Saney, Isaac. “The Case Against To Kill a Mockingbird.” Race & Class 45.1 (2003). 99-105. Web. Jan 4 2013.
Stiltner, Mitzi-Ann. “Don’t Put Your Shoes on the Bed: A Moral Analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird.” MA Thesis, 2002. Web. Jan 4 2013.
Project Proposal: Cristina Relkov
Creative Arts integration and Assessment in senior English (gr. 11/12)
a) I will be doing my practicum at Beattie Arts High School in Kamloops, teaching English 11 and 12 (as well as Socials 9). The school incorporates various creative arts into the curriculum and all students take several full year intensive arts courses.
My concern for teaching senior English is how I will be able to use arts in the classroom and how I will be able to assess the students’ learning through their arts based projects in addition to the traditional writing assignments.
b) What creative arts activities can be used with senior English students to assess their comprehension of and their ability to interpret literature?
c) Preliminary Bibliography
Burnaford, Gail, Arnold Aprill, and Cynthia Weiss, eds. Renaissance in the Classroom: Arts Integration and Meaningful Learning. Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum & Assocciates, 2001. Print.
Cecil, Nancy Lee, and Phyllis Lauritzen. Literacy and the Arts for the Integrated Classroom. White Plains, NY: Longman, 1994. Print.
Laughlin, M.K., and T.P. Street. Literature-based art & music. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 1992. Print.
d) The first part of this inquiry project will involve research into activities and methods that have worked in other schools that also operate with an arts based curriculum. Secondly, I hope to use the results of my research, along with observations of and suggestions from my sponsor teacher, while teaching during the long practicum. My results will be based on my own observations and teaching journal, as well as the end products of my classroom assessments and perhaps informal opinions from my students.
e) I expect that at the conclusion of my research and after my practicum, I will have a better understanding of what can be integrated into the senior English curriculum in terms of creative arts and the concrete observations of what activities have worked with my students and which ones may need to be reworked.
For my inquiry project, I will be exploring literary criticisms of Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing. I will focus on the central (and contemporary) issue of gender inequality in the play, and have already found a plethora of resources that provide excellent guidance.
I have decided to go this route because Much Ado about Nothing is what I will be teaching my grade 9 students, and I feel that issues of sexism and patriarchy will allow my students to see the universal and present day relevance of a play that was written hundreds of years ago. I also hope that through my research I will also be able to show my students, through my teaching, just how accessible Shakespearean literature can be. Furthermore, while some may argue that many Shakespearean characters are representations of weak women, I will argue that in Much Ado about Nothing, Shakespeare challenges the notion of societal produced gender roles through the characters of Hero and Beatrice.
As I have already mentioned, I have compiled a list of resources I will be using to aid my inquiry – the majority of which are scholarly journal articles. I will critically evaluate these documents and expect to conclude with the idea that Much Ado about Nothing is filled with copious examples of gender inequality, but that it is this sentiment that makes it an excellent illustration of a historical text that is very much relevant in modern-day society. I also hope to use my research towards modifying and perfecting my lessons for this play, with the end goal of having a well thought out and engaging unit plan.
*Works Cited attached in comments section*