ENGL 4295: Reading and Literature in Secondary English Classrooms

Fall 2008

MW, 3:30-4:45

HUM 208

“Reading is, like, so booooring.”

--adolescent girl, speaking to her friend in a local grocery store

Contact Information

Dr. A. Insenga

Office number: TLC 2245

Office hours: MW, 5-6:45 and by scheduled appointment

Office phone: 678-839-4864

Website: http://www.westga.edu/~ainsenga/

E-mail: ainsenga@westga.edu

THE COURSE

How the Course Fits into the Program:

The course is required for certification in Secondary Education; it may also be taken to satisfy the Genre and Theory 1 or 2 (English Major Area B1 or B2) requirements.

Section-Specific Course Description:

Mandated goals for this class include examining primary and secondary materials related to the study of adolescent literature. The instructor is also charged with the task of helping students learn to induce “lifelong reading habits” in students. Further, class activities must help us to gain knowledge of ways to bridge distances between those texts recognized as classics—the “must read” books adolescents don’t always want to read—and texts categorized as Young Adult literature (YALit)—those books overtly crafted to relate to students’ lives. But considering what we know about the current state of education and required curriculum, what we know about student reading abilities and habits, and what we know about the political and social frameworks teachers must occupy, how do we work to achieve such formidable objectives?

This fall semester, we will work to meet our course’s goals by beginning with the notion that students must learn to read the world—their world—as a text. For instance, by deploying the same heuristics to theorize about such varied cultural artifacts as Hannah Montana, The Great Gatsby, Stargirl, and MySpace, we can model for ourselves and students the idea that study is not limited to school and will not always end with a grade. In doing so, we help pupils become arbiters of their culture.

Along with examining the world-as-text concept to meet our course’s purposes, we will explore various cognitive theories related to language acquisition, reading, and adolescent development. Finally, we will turn to Young Adult texts and classics from various genres to begin formulating ways to move ourselves and our future students from concrete to abstract thinking, talking, and writing about literature.

Course Objectives:

• Students will develop an understanding of basic reading processes.
• Students will exhibit familiarity with a range of classic and Young Adult texts customarily taught in grades 7-12, reading, reviewing, and critiquing such literature in a collaborative manner with peers and instructor.
• Students will demonstrate an understanding of students’ abilities to learn from reading and the language arts and understanding of the ways in which novice readers process textual information.
• Students will demonstrate how to provide support to students at every stage of that process both by scaffolding specific reading skill exercises and creating accessible textual, contextual, and illustrative material for novice readers.
• Students will show an understanding of higher-order literacy, including how to build language development, strategies to advance analytical and concept development, and ways to teach both efferent and aesthetic reading.
• Students will demonstrate an understanding of the development of various types of moral reasoning skills through literature.
• Students will learn to select instructional strategies and develop lesson and unit plans that demonstrate a sincere effort to teach reading-learning strategies in a literature environment.
• Students will learn about the “Classics versus Moderns” debate in YALit studies and then work to devise methods that can bridge distances—perceived and real—between classic literature and Young Adult texts.
• Students will define the rights and responsibilities of teachers, parents, students, and other groups with respect to literature curriculum content and establish proficiency in writing rationales for texts that may be challenged.
• Students will demonstrate an awareness of ways to create a multicultural and gender-balanced curriculum.
• Students will show proficiency in integrating media and technology into the teaching of reading/literature.
• Students will advance personal-professional development through self-examination.
• Students will demonstrate in both oral and written work discipline-specific critical facility through convincing and well-supported analysis of related material.
• Students will demonstrate the command of academic English and the tenets of sound composition by means of thesis-driven analytical prose.

THE WORK:

Required Texts (in the order in which you will need them):

• Using Young Adult Literature in the English Classroom (4th Edition). John H. Bushman et. al.

Critical Encounters in High School English: Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents. Deborah Appleman.

• Monster. Walter Dean Myers.
• A Raisin in the Sun. Lorraine Hansberry.
• Bend it Like Beckham. Gurinder Chadha, director.*
• Brave New World. Aldous Huxley.
• Feed. M.T. Anderson.
• Cut. Patricia McCormick.
• Speak. Laurie Halse-Anderson.

*The department owns three copies of this film. You may check out a copy for forty-eight hour periods. The film is also readily available for rental in Carrollton, and students may purchase the film cheaply from an internet outlet like Amazon as well. Whatever option each student chooses, please remember that the film is a required text.

Major Assignments**:

Mid-term Examination 25%

Final Scholarly Project and Mandatory Peer Review (10-12 pages) 30%

Annotated Bibliography (3 sources) 10%

Daily Driving Questions and Learning Lessons activities 10%

Reading Journal 20%

Participation 5%

**Graduates enrolled in the class will complete a 12-15 page project and annotate 8 sources for the bibliography,

Description of the Major Assignments Listed Above:

Mid-term Examination

About a week before mid-term, the examination assignment will be posted to the class’s resource page. This essay exam will require that you synthesize both theoretical and practical concepts we’ve studied in your analytical, argumentative, documented essays. MLA format applies.

Final Scholarly Project, Proposal, and Mandatory Peer Review

The Final Project is a tripartite one that requires you to choose a YALit text or film—one we have not studied together—and perform a critical, scholarly reading of it in Part One. In Part Two, you will offer up a clear argument for teaching the text that outlines its pedagogical import in a specific classroom setting. In Part Three, you’ll create a lesson plan or unit plan that incorporates your reading and your pedagogical position. Essentially, then, you will theorize about the text, argue for its implementation in a specific learning environment, and put forth a detailed plan of action.

At mid-term, you are required to turn in a 2-3 page project proposal that introduces your text, outlines a general plan, and offers up a preliminary Works Cited. While your general plan and source list may change after you turn in the proposal, you absolutely cannot change your text.

Towards the end of the semester, you will complete a draft, bring it to class, and participate in a Paper Clinic and take-home Peer Review. Planning, drafting and responding well to a peer’s work all count towards the final project grade, so make sure that you examine Proposal, draft, and revision due dates on the daily syllabus below.

Annotated Bibliography:

Along with your final project, you will complete an annotated bibliography of at least three of the sources you utilize. This exercise helps you to assess a source’s value and enter into the scholarly conversation. If you have never completed an annotated bibliography, examine this annotated bibliography link from Purdue’s OWL for guidelines, suggestions, and models.

Daily Driving Questions/Learning Lessons:

Beginning August 25^th, students must complete daily assignments. There are two types of daily assignments: Daily Driving Questions and Learning Lessons. The first type, called Driving Questions, requires that, for each class, students craft two complex questions related to our assigned primary or secondary readings. Each question should not induce discussion of pure plot or summary of our readings but should, instead, drive us towards analytical discussion. Appropriate questions could lead us to analyze a character or theme in a new way (i.e. “Why and how is cutting seen as a good outlet for our protagonist in McCormick’s text?” or “Does the government control even those who resist it most in Brave New World?”), discuss a major idea in the secondary materials (i.e. “Why is teaching classics of the utmost importance for a “proper” education?” or “Should we just save the classics for college?”). You might also ask questions that would lead us to discuss ways to teach close reading skills or literary elements like metaphor, symbolism, allegory, etc. The very best questions will reflect your close reading and complex thinking about the primary or secondary materials. You should, of course, be prepared to provide answers to your own and to others’ questions during class discussion. I will collect the questions at the end of each class period, and I will accept no late questions. Students can expect to engage in this daily assignment most often.

The second type of daily assignment, called Learning Lessons, will be given four times over the course of the semester. For these assignments, each of you will create and submit lesson plans for assigned primary texts, bring these plans to class, and discuss your rationale and possible implementation. Each Learning Lessons assignment has a theme, so checking the syllabus assignment for each is imperative. Like Driving Questions, Learning Lessons assignments will be collected at the end of the period in which they are due, and no late work will be accepted.

Reading Journal:

You will complete 2-3 pages of journal writing per week, save for the first week of classes, the week of fall break, and the week of Thanksgiving. These journals may be reflective in nature (i.e. a record of reactions to class discussion on the readings, the readings themselves, issues surrounding the teaching of texts, etc.) or analytical, as many of you will want to work on articulating pedagogical positions for the teaching of YALit and positing interpretations of the primary materials. The journals may be hand or typewritten. Whatever tone or content you choose, at least 2 full pages per week is the minimum requirement, and I must see an active mind at work when I examine and comment upon your journals. Standard English and organization are a must.

THE POLICIES

Grading Scale:

All ENGL courses 2000 level and above use a departmental grading scale. Please familiarize yourself with it, as it is the scale I will use to grade all major assignments. To view this rubric, please click on the link entitled “Grading Rubric (upper division)” on the main page of the English Department’s Website.

Website/Paperless Policy:

Many of your professors in the past may have used WEBCT for getting information to you.  However, I use only my website (www.westga.edu/~ainsenga ).  All information for this course—this document, exams, handouts, announcements, resources, etc.—are hyperlinked on the website.  Please check the site regularly for updates, especially on days when you have new assignments coming your way.  You are also responsible for printing out all documents from my website to bring to class. 

“My UWG” Policy:

As of fall 2006, all e-mail correspondence between professors and students must occur via university e-mail.  Please send all questions/ideas/concerns to me via you’re My UWG account.  I cannot answer to any other e-mail address.

Departmental Attendance/Disruptive Student Policies:

Students will be administratively withdrawn from class based on the following attendance policy:  for classes that meet three times a week, a student is allowed four absences. Upon the fifth absence, the student will be administratively withdrawn.  For classes that meet twice a week, a student is allowed three absences.  Upon the fourth absence, the student will be administratively withdrawn. Be aware that no distinction exists between excused and unexcused absences. You need not inform me of any absence.

Students will be dismissed from any class meeting in which they exhibit behavior that disrupts the learning environment of others.  Such behavior includes—but is not limited to—repeatedly arriving late for class, allowing cell phones to ring, speaking disrespectfully to the instructor and/or to other students, checking email or surfing the web, and using personal audio or video devices. Each dismissal of this kind will count as an absence and will be applied toward the attendance requirements policy above.

Late Work/Make Up Work:

You may not make up missed Daily Driving Questions or Learning Lessons assignments.  Late Reading Journals and Mid-Term Examinations will normally not be accepted except under the direst of circumstances. If you feel you have such a circumstance, you must see me in conference to discuss your problem. At that time, I will determine whether or not an assignment can be turned in late and what deduction will be applied***

***I realize that, occasionally, “life happens” and that some problems beyond your control crop up once in a while.  Never hesitate to discuss problems with assignments or attendance with me if you feel that your circumstance is dire.  With honest and swift communication, many issues can be resolved to your advantage.

Required Format:

Each major assignment, save for the Reading Journal, must be word-processed and in MLA format. If you need a refresher on MLA format, see this MLA Documentation link. Also, be advised that students must turn in hard copies of work—not electronic copies.

Students with Special Needs:

Any student who has a special need should inform me during the first week of class.  We will then set up a conference to discuss the specifics of the official paperwork you have from the appropriate department. 

Plagiarism, Collusion, and Academic Dishonesty Policy:

From the English Department’s website:  “The Department of English and Philosophy defines plagiarism as taking personal credit for the words and ideas of others as they are presented in electronic, print, and verbal sources.” The Department expects that students will accurately credit sources in all assignments. An equally dishonest practice is fabricating sources or facts; it is another form of misrepresenting the truth. Plagiarism is grounds for failing the assignment and/or course.  You can also be subject to a university disciplinary review, and the university requires professors to report plagiarism in writing to the appropriate university office. Other university policies for handling cheaters are found here: The Faculty Handbook and UWG Connection and Student Handbook.

Please note:  “excessive collaboration” includes having family members, friends, or significant others edit your work.  This means that no one should “fix” your grammar for you or “write in” sentences/sources/documentation for you.  This sort of behavior is cheating and will be treated as such.  We will collaborate in class, and you have the Writing Center as well as my input should you need extra advice about your writing.  Should you hire a personal tutor or use an athletic tutor, realize that excessive collaboration with that person can also result in plagiarism charges. 

In short: do your own work. Should you cheat in this class, it is an automatic “F” for the course, and I will recommend that you be sent before a disciplinary committee.  My policy is a zero tolerance one. 

Administrivia:

• The absolute best way to contact me outside of office hours is via your university e-mail account.  Of course, you may call or come by during office hours. I do not check e-mail over weekends, however, so do not expect a response from Friday afternoons until Monday mornings.
• Please turn off all electronic devices upon entering our classroom.  Such noise distracts your fellow classmates and me and prevents us from doing our jobs.
• I reserve the right to amend this document with future handouts.
• Coming to class unprepared will result in an automatic absence.  You must have your materials in order to participate fully.  Of course, you will be free to stay in class for the benefit of instruction and discussion, but you are, for all intents and purposes, not here when you do not have your materials. 

THE SYLLABUS

WEEK ONE (no Reading Journal entries this week)

• August 18

Course Introduction: Policies, Procedures, Expectations, and Responsibilities

For next class:

Read Bushman and Haas, chapters 1 and 11

• August 20

Discuss Bushman and Haas

Integration: High School Selves Teaching Selves

For next class:

Read Bushman and Haas, chapter 2

Read Appleman, chapter 1

Remember that Daily Driving Questions begin next class

WEEK TWO

• August 25

The World as Text: Signs

Discuss Bushman and Haas

Discuss Appleman

For next class:

Remember to begin your Reading Journal this week

Read Bushman and Haas, chapter 3

• August 27

Discuss Bushman and Haas

The World as Text: Context, Subtext, Intertext

For next class:

Read Bushman and Haas, chapters 3 and 8

Read Appleman, chapter 2

Read Monster, pgs. 1-88

WEEK THREE

• September 1: no regular class or office hours—Labor Day holiday

• September 3

The World as Text: Master Narratives

Discuss Monster

For next class:

Read Bushman and Haas, chapter 3

Read Monster, pgs. 89-239

WEEK FOUR

• September 8

Discuss Bushman and Haas

Discuss Monster

For next class:

Read Appleman, chapter 3

Read Monster, pgs. 240-281 and “Extras” at the end of the novel

• September 10

Discuss Appleman

Discuss Monster

For next class:

Read A Raisin in the Sun, Acts I and II

WEEK FIVE

• September 15

Discuss A Raisin in the Sun

For next class:

Read A Raisin in the Sun, Act III

• September 17

Discuss A Raisin in the Sun

For next class:

Learning Lessons One: construct and bring to class a lesson plan covering Monster or A Raisin in the Sun that asks students to contend with “Otherness” and promotes understanding of diversity

WEEK SIX

• September 22

Learning Lessons One: A Raisin in the Sun and Monster

For next class:

Read Brave New World, chapters 1-3

• September 24

Discuss Brave New World

For next class:

Read Brave New World, chapters 4-7

Read Bushman and Haas, chapter 7

WEEK SEVEN

• September 29

Discuss Bushman and Haas

Discuss Brave New World

Mid-Term Examination Assigned (see your class’s Resource Page for the test)

For next class:

Read Brave New World, chapters 8-9

Proposal for Major Project due at the beginning of class

• October 1

Turn in Major Project Proposal

Discuss Brave New World

For next class:

Read Brave New World, chapters 10-18 and the “P.S.” section at the end of the novel

Finish Mid-Term Examination

WEEK EIGHT (no Reading Journal Entries this week)

• October 6

Discuss Brave New World

Turn in Mid-Term Examination

For next class:

Read Feed, part I

Turn in Reading Journal entries for six weeks—at least 12 pages

• October 8: Mid-Term—last day to withdraw with a “W”

Turn in Reading Journal

Discuss Feed

For next class:

Read Feed, parts II and III

WEEK NINE

• October 13

Discuss Feed

For next class:

Read Feed, part IV

• October 15

Discuss Feed

For next class:

Learning Lessons: create and bring to class a close-reading exercise for either Brave New World or Feed

WEEK TEN

• October 20

Learning Lessons Two: Brave New World and Feed

For next class:

View Bend it like Beckham

Read Bushman and Haas, chapter 9

• October 22

Discuss Bushman and Haas

Discuss Bend it Like Beckham

For next class:

Re-View Bend it Like Beckham

WEEK ELEVEN

• October 27

Discuss Bend it Like Beckham

For next class:

Learning Lessons: construct and bring to class a lesson plan that helps students learn media literacy

• October 29

Learning Lessons Three: Bend it Like Beckham

For next class:

Read Cut, pgs. 1-57

Read Appleman, chapter 5

WEEK TWELVE

• November 3

Discuss Appleman

Discuss Cut

For next class:

Read Cut, pgs. 58-106

• November 5

Discuss Cut

For next class:

Read Cut, pgs. 107-151

WEEK THIRTEEN

• November 10

Discuss Cut

For next class:

Read Speak, pgs. 3-66

• November 12

Discuss Speak

For next class:

Read Speak, pgs. 67-151

Read Bushman and Haas, chapter 6

WEEK FOURTEEN

• November 17

Discuss Bushman and Haas

Discuss Speak

For next class:

Read Speak, pgs. 151-198

Read Bushman and Haas, chapter 10

• November 19

Discuss Speak

For next class:

Learning Lessons Four: construct and bring to class an issues-based lesson plan covering Speak or Cut

WEEK FIFTEEN (no Reading Journal entries this week)

• November 24

Learning Lessons: Speak and Cut

For next class:

Bring a draft of your Major Project to class

• November 26: no regular class or office hours—Thanksgiving Break

WEEK SIXTEEN

• December 1

Paper Clinic

Receive a peer’s draft to bring home for your comment

For next class:

Reading Journal due—at least 14 pages

Peer Review Due

• December 3: last day of fall semester classes and my office hours

Turn in Reading Journal

Return Peer Reviewed draft

Complete Course Evaluations

Course Wrap-Up: Where to from Here?

For December 12 at 4 p.m.:

Final Project and Annotated Bibliography due at my office