Appleman, Chapter 7 - From Study Guides to Poststructuralism

Although this chapter does not discuss a specific theory and doesn't look at specific classroom practices, it's a useful read for future teachers. The twist of this chapter is that literary theories are not only transformative for students, they are transformative for teachers as well. Of course we already know that teaching changes us – but Appleman is making a very specific claim here. Instead of being changed by the experience of teaching, literary theory changes us because it brings into question are very methods of teaching. While Appleman cautions against thinking of literary theory as a magic snake oil cure-all (128), she is definitely promoting a change in pedagogy. If a teacher is changed by teaching literary theory, then soon a whole school, then an entire district can be changed by it. Is Appleman proposing a new academic movement?

I was particularly struck by Martha's discussion about moving – both from one house to another and from one school district to another. She implies that she was a hypocrite because she was asking students to release themselves from their conceptual worlds, while she was still stuck in her own (127). It's hard for me to imagine someone living in the same neighborhood as an adult that she group up in, but I've lived in ten different cities and have gone through several career changes, so I may not be coming from the same point of reference. However, I can see the importance of living the life you preach. Students don't like their teachers to be phonies.

If the true importance of literary theory is its transformative nature – its ability to allow students to read the world differently and change their lives accordingly – then teachers better be willing to be transformed in the same sorts of ways. Otherwise, literary theory can only be applied to the texts students read in school and literature will once again lose its relevance.