ENGL 611
The Teaching of Literature
Spring 2018 M 4-6:30 pm
Professor Betsy
Klimasmith Classroom:
Wheatley 6/047
Office Hours: M 2-4
and by appointment Email:
betsy.klimasmith@umb.edu
Office: Wheatley
6/089 Office
Phone: 617.287.6760
Course
Blog: https://english611s18.blogspot.com/
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Designed for prospective and practicing teachers, this seminar is an
investigation of how and why we teach literature in the secondary school and
college settings. We will read literary texts from a teacher’s perspective,
analyze educational research, create unit plans, demonstrate lessons, and
respond critically to each other’s work. To clarify and reassess the goals of
literature pedagogy, we will attempt to strike a balance between developing
practical tools for classroom use and examining theories about teaching
and learning. We will address teaching literary genre, teaching canonical and
non-canonical texts, teaching poetic and narrative form, and teaching with
unexpected materials. In the spirit of collaboration, the seminar will draw on our
collective interests, expertise, and experiences to identify
useful resources and strategies that will assist our 21st century-students
in their responses to literary texts. Students will be expected to teach a
lesson to the class, generate
practical materials including syllabi, assignment sheets, and lesson plans,
reflect upon and write about their developing pedagogy, and
develop a curriculum unit to teach a literary text to a specific student
audience.
REQUIRED TEXTS
Literary Texts:
Rebecca Harding
Davis, Life in the Iron Mills
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Toni Morrison, Beloved
William
Shakespeare, Hamlet (Arden Edition,
please)
Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Pedagogy Texts:
Sheridan Blau, The Literature Workshop:
Teaching Texts and Their Readers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2003.
Anne Curzan and Lisa Damour, First Day to Final Grade: A Graduate
Student’s Guide to Teaching,3rd ed. Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan Press, 2011.
Diana Fuss and William A. Gleason, eds. The Pocket Instructor, Literature: 101
Exercises for the College Classroom. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2016.
bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress. Routledge, 1994.
Grading Student
Papers: https://cte.umd.edu/teaching/resources/GradingHandbook.pdf
(This pdf and selected articles/chapters will
be available through the Healey Library website and/or linked to the course
blog: https://english611s18.blogspot.com/
You must have a Healey Library barcode to
access the library’s resources from off-campus.)
§ Blau, Curzan, Fuss, and hooks should all
be available at the UMB bookstore. These
and the literary texts may also be available (new or used) at other area
bookstores or online.
§ I may hand out additional readings in
class, email them to you as pdfs, or upload them to the course website.
Therefore,
§ You need to check your UMB email
frequently or link it to your active email account so that you will receive
messages and updates sent via WISER.
§ The beginning of the spring semester
often brings inclement weather; evening classes may be cancelled even if day
classes have run. Please register for alerts from the university. Directions
are here: https://www.umb.edu/preparedness/alert
WORK: Graduate education relies upon and
builds your capacity for both independent and cooperative learning.
Everyone in a 600-level course must carry his or her weight: I expect you to
prepare all assigned reading thoughtfully and scrupulously, hand in work on
time, and show up with something to say, with or without explicit prompting
from me. These are your most basic responsibilities.
Thus, I expect
you to have done your reading and/or written work by the time you get to class
(i.e. you will need to email written work to me BEFORE class starts). I expect that you will be prepared to discuss
the work you have done. If you are
confused by the reading or feel that you are in over your head, be prepared to
ask questions or come to see me during my office hours.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Generally, you
will submit assignments via email by the Monday morning our class meets, which
gives me time to read and respond to your responses before our class meets on Monday
evening. I will respond to most of your
assignments electronically.
Short
papers: Much of the writing
you will do for this class will be short papers (1-2 pages, single or
double-spaced) due by 9am on Mondays. These
will be graded A, A- or returned to you with comments so you can rewrite them
for credit.
Hot
Topics: You will write
six “Hot Topics” papers on ONE of the two “hot topics” listed for class
discussion below. The topics for these 1-2
page papers vary, but whatever the topic my expectation is that these will be
thoughtful, polished pieces of writing.
In my own work, I find that writing short, pithy pieces helps to develop
my writing and thinking muscles like nothing else. I hope to pass that
discipline on to you. Hot topics papers are due on Monday mornings, unless you
are teaching your model class or writing your model class reflection; more on
that below.
Model
Class Reflection: Reflective
paper on your model class. How did it go? What worked? What didn’t? What
surprised you? What was the biggest challenge for you? What might you change if
you were to teach this again? This 1-2 page reflection is due on the Monday
morning following your Model Class.
Pedagogy
Statement: You will
write a 2-3 page (single spaced) Pedagogy Statement that lays out your beliefs,
goals, and approaches to teaching and learning.
Model
Class: You will teach a 30-minute
literature class in which you, as the teacher, teach the class, who play the
students. Your lesson should help to
illuminate some aspect of the novel, play, or poetry we are reading during that
section of the course. You should draw
on exercises in the Pocket Instructor
for your model lesson. Do not duplicate an exercise we have already seen. The
lesson will be followed by a debrief in which you can talk about what you hoped
to get across to the students, and the students (now back in colleague mode)
give you feedback on your lesson. You will then write a short paper reflecting
on the experience.
The planning/activities you do for your
model class may comprise part of your Unit Plan. The reflection may find its
way into your Pedagogy Statement.
Unit
Plan: You will develop a ten-lesson unit plan for teaching one of
our course texts in the middle, high school, or college classroom. This assignment isn’t especially difficult,
but it will require a good deal of time. You will want to start work on it
before the middle of the semester, especially if you want to get feedback from
me before you submit the final version.
Further instructions will follow.
Grading:
Short papers: 25%
Model Class: 20%
Final Portfolio (Unit
Plan plus Pedagogy Statement): 35%
Participation (YW minilesson, daily participation): 20%
Attendance:
You must attend class in order to participate. Sometimes, absences are
unavoidable, so you may miss one class without consequence to your grade. But
for every class you miss after one class, your final grade in the class will
drop by one-third (A becomes A-, A- becomes B+ etc).
Assignment Distribution: We
will read and discuss your responses to course assignments frequently this
semester. Sometimes distribution of responses will happen via WISER; other
assignments will be posted on the class blog.
Do pay attention to the specific instructions for each written
assignment as these will vary over the course of the semester.
Communicating:
· I look forward to meeting with you to discuss
your work in the seminar. I am available to meet with you during my scheduled
office hours and by appointment. I am on campus on most Mondays, Wednesdays and
Thursdays, though this may change as the semester progresses.
· Email is generally the most convenient way to
reach me, especially over a weekend. Please let me know if you will be unable
to attend a class. If you miss several
classes and/or assignments by midterm, I will suggest that you drop the course.
· I will post any announcements or changes to
the assignment calendar on the class blog and via email. Emails will come to
you through WISER, which mails to your umb.edu account. If you don’t check your
umb.edu account regularly, you should set up forwarding from the umb.edu
account to the account you actually use.
Again, you should sign yourself up for updates (text, phone etc) from
the University regarding campus closures—just in case!
Disability Accommodations:
Section
504 and the American with Disabilities Act of 1990 offer guidelines for
curriculum modifications and adaptations for students with documented
disabilities. Students may obtain adaptation recommendations from the Lillian
Semper Ross Center (617 287-7430). They must present these recommendations to
each professor by the end of the Add/Drop period.
Plagiarism and Academic
Honesty:
The University Policy on
Academic Standards and Cheating, which includes a lengthy definition and
explanation of plagiarism and its consequences, may be found at the UMB
registrar's web page (http://www.registrar.umb.edu/). In brief, “students may not solicit or use
unauthorized material or assistance for their own benefit and may not offer or
give such assistance to another student. Every written report or similar class
assignment must indicate fully the sources from which the information used is
obtained, and any verbatim quotations or paraphrases must be clearly indicated
as such and properly credited to the source form which they were extracted or
adapted.” If you are at all uncertain about the meaning of plagiarism, please
be sure to discuss it with me.
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES, READINGS, AND ASSIGNMENTS
What follows is a brief
outline of the term’s assignments, which I will amplify as the semester
progresses. Assignments will also be
posted/updated on our class blog: https://english611s18.blogspot.com/.
Please be sure to check your email before you go
to class to be sure that you haven’t missed any updates.
Before Week One: Read Life in the Iron Mills by Rebecca
Harding Davis
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/currentstudents/undergraduate/modules/fulllist/second/en213/2011syllabus/life_in_the_iron-mills.pdf
Week 1
M Jan 22: Introductions, Syllabus,
Life in the Iron Mills Intro
FOR NEXT CLASS:
Read: Blau, “Principles for Practice” and “Stories from the
Classroom” (1-33); Curzan and DAmour chapters 1-3; Fuss and Gleason, Introduction,
Filene, “Understanding Yourself as a Teacher” (pdf). Also, scan the exercises
in Fuss and Gleason and choose one for your minilesson. Read (or re-read Life in the Iron Mills)
Prepare: your minilesson on Life in the Iron Mills if
you are in group 1. You will have ten minutes in which you may teach or explain what you would like
to do/get across to students.
Write: Short Paper 1—A 1-2
page response to some element or idea from this week’s reading. This
response can be in notes or outline form, or it can be more polished if that’s
your style. Please email it to me by 9 am
on Monday, Jan 29 and bring it to class that evening.
Week 2:
M Jan 29: Freewriting. Life in the Iron Mills minilessons:
Reflections in
light of readings: How is teaching literature similar to/different from other
kinds of teaching we’ve done? What kinds of skills, attitudes, ideas might
transfer from one setting to another?
Discussion of
Model Classes, Hot Topics, and Unit Plan. Scheduling model classes.
FOR Monday, February 5
Read: Blau, “Which Interpretation is the Right One?: A Workshop
on Literary Meaning” (60-78), Peter Elbow, “Toward a Phenomenology of
Freewriting,” https://wac.colostate.edu/jbw/v8n2/elbow.pdf, hooks, Intro and Chapter 1
Prepare: Prep your Life in the Iron Mills minilesson if you are in group 2:
Short Paper 2: Go back to the freewriting we did in class: What’s the best literature
lesson—not a literature course, but an individual day in class—you can remember?
What made it so good? How can you make that happen for somebody else? Revise it into a more formal statement (1-2
pages) in light of some principle from our readings (focus on the reading for this
week’s class) and your hopes for yourself as a teacher.
Please email
this to me by 9am on Monday, Feb 5.
Week 3
M Feb 5: Life
in the Iron Mills minilessons,
discussion of Blau, teaching statements. Model class demonstration.
FOR NEXT CLASS:
Read: Blau, “From Telling to Teaching” (34-59), hooks Chapters 2
and 3, and Curzan/Damour chapter 3. Also read assigned poems (handout).
HW: Short Paper 3: Write a 1-2 page reflection on your
minilesson in light of the class readings (focus on this week’s readings). Please
email this to me by 9am on Monday, Feb 12.
Prepare: Your lesson plan (if you are teaching on
Feb 12).
Week 4
M Feb 12: Poetry model lessons, reflections on
minilessons, Blau/Curzan/Damour.
FOR NEXT CLASS
Read: Blau, “What’s Worth Saying About a Literary Text?”
(123-150), and “Writing Assignments in Literature Classes,” (151-186);
Curzan/Damour chapters 5 and 6. Read Brave New World.
Write: Hot Topic Paper or Model Class
Reflection, or Prep Model Class. Please email Hot Topic paper to me by 9 am on
Monday, Feb 26. For the
Hot Topic paper, choose ONE of the two topics for next week’s discussion (“Owning”
the Text/Reading Journals (in any media)). If appropriate, refer to class
readings (or do some research to find an article that addresses the topic to
refer to in your paper). Please email Hot Topic or Model Class
Reflection paper to me by 9 am on Monday, Feb 26.
Prepare: Model lesson for 2/26. You may also want
to start planning for your unit plan.
Week 5
M Feb 19 NO CLASS: Presidents’ Day
Holiday.
FICTION
M Feb 26: Brave
New World
Model Lessons
and Discussion:
Hot topics:
“Owning” the Text/Reading Journals (in any media)
FOR NEXT CLASS:
Read: Hooks, Chapters 4,
5, 6;
“Students’ Definitions of the College Classroom” (pdf linked to blog)
“Students’ Definitions of the College Classroom” (pdf linked to blog)
Write: Hot Topic Paper (What
does Hooks say to us as teachers today?)
or Model Class Reflection. Please
email Hot Topic or Reflection paper to me by 9am on Monday, March 5.
Prepare: Model Class for 3/5.
Week 7
M Mar 5: Brave
New World
Model Lessons
and Discussion:
Hot topic: Hooks/Freire
FOR NEXT CLASS:
Read: Blau, “Where do Interpretations Come From?” (97-122); hooks
Chapters 7,8,9; Curzan Chapters 4 and 5.
Write: Hot Topic Paper (Generating
Discussion/Group Projects) or Model
Class Reflection. Please email Hot
Topic or Reflection paper to me by 9 am on Mon, March 19.
Prepare: Model Class for 3/19.
Week 7
M Mar 12: NO CLASS Spring Break
Read: Beloved; maybe also read Hamlet. Work
on Unit Plan. I will be around over spring break. If you want preliminary
feedback on your unit plan--or just want to discuss it, please make an
appointment to meet with me over the break.
Week 8
M Mar 19: Beloved.
Hot topics: Generating Discussion/Group Projects
FOR NEXT CLASS:
Read: Blau, “What’s Worth Saying About a Literary Text?”
(123-150), and “Writing Assignments in Literature Classes,” (151-186);
Curzan/Damour chapters 6 and 7; Grading Student Papers (20-23),
Write: Hot Topic Paper (Planning
Writing Assignments/Grading Writing) or
Model Class Reflection Please email Hot Topic or Reflection paper to me by 9 am
on Monday, March 26.
Prep Model Class.
Week 9
M Mar 26: Beloved.
Hot topics:
Planning Writing Assignments/Grading Writing
FOR NEXT CLASS:
HW:
Write Hot Topic Paper (Incorporating
Performance/ Difficult Language) or
Model Class Reflection
Prep Model Class for April 2. Please
email Hot Topic paper to me by 9 am on Monday, April 2.
Read:
Hamlet.
hooks Chapters 10, 11; “Current
Practices” and “Teaching Shakespeare” (pdfs)
Week 10
M April 2: Hamlet
Hot Topics:
Incorporating Performance/ Difficult Language
FOR NEXT CLASS:
Read: Blau, “The Foundations of Literary
Knowledge” (187-218), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, hooks,
Chapter 12
HW:
Write Hot Topic
Paper (Creative” Assignments/ Cultural
capital in the classroom) or Model
Class Reflection. Please email Hot Topic or
Reflection paper to me by 9 am on Monday, April 9.
Prep: Model Class for 4/10.
Week 11
M April 9: Hamlet,
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
Hot Topics: “Creative” Assignments/ Cultural capital in the classroom
FOR NEXT CLASS:
Read: Poems TBA, Curzan
Chapter 8. Helen Sword, “Teaching in Color: Multiple Intelligences in the Literature
Classroom” Pedagogy Spring 2007 7(2): 223-250.
Write: Hot Topic Paper (Plagiarism//The
bottom 10%) or Model Class Reflection. Please
email Hot Topic or Reflection paper to me by 9 am on Monday, April 23.
Prep: Model Class for 4/23.
**If you want
feedback on your unit plan, submit drafted material to me by Friday, April 23.**
Week 12
M April 16: NO CLASS: Patriots’ Day
Holiday.
Draft Pedagogy
Statement; hooks Chapters 13 and 14; work
on Unit Plan.
Week 13: POETRY
M April 23: Hot Topics: Passion and Belief in the
Classroom
FOR NEXT CLASS:
Write: Model Class Reflection (final teachers only). Pedagogy
Statements due by 9 am Monday, May 1.
Please bring these to class and be prepared to read them aloud.
Week 14
M April 30: Pedagogy Statements
FOR NEXT CLASS: Finish final portfolios.
Week 15
M May 7: Reflective Seminar/Evaluations/Final Portfolios Due
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