Webb, Chapter 5 - Shakespeare and the New Multicultural Literacies

I like how this text introduces literary theory within the context of a larger discussion. In this chapter we are introduced to New Historicism and Postcolonial Studies, both theories I am in tune with philosophically, while at the same time feeling I haven't gotten my head completely around. The grey boxed sections are helpful in that regard. More than definitions of the theories, these inserts show us how to bring the theories into our classrooms.

Is everyone taking note of all the literature pairings and suggestions to be found in this text? If you take nothing else away from reading Literature and Lives, I hope you at least keep it as a resource. The suggested readings at the end of each chapter alone make this text a useful teaching tool. Personally, I am feeling guilty I haven't read the Howard Zinn text yet. This is not the first time his A People's History has popped up in my reading. I'll have to make it a priority.

When were the rest of you exposed to The Tempest and how did your instructor approach the text? My first read was as an undergrad. It was part of a Shakespeare class and was not paired with anything. I do remember a postcolonial discussion of the text, but it was delivered lecture style. There was no discovery on the part of the students. To be honest, I wasn't really buying what my professor was selling. I think I may have come to similar conclusions if I had been allowed to think through the process, but as it was, I felt I was force fed a theory that didn't quite fit the play.

Does everyone feel comfortable with introducing some historical texts prior to your students reading the literature itself? Does anyone feel they don't have a strong enough background in history to pull it off? While it is important for a teacher to enter the classroom with a certain level of expertise, do you feel it's ok to learn with your students?

Professional Conference Review

This assignment is also posted on Blackboard.

Either via blog or e-mail, write a one to two page review of a professional conference you attended this semester. (I suggest writing it as a document first and then copying it into your e-mail or blog so you know your length is good and you don't lose your work.)

The format and what you discuss is up to you. One way you may wish to approach it is to discuss each session separately. Some questions you could answer would be: "What did I learn?", "What could I incorporate into my classroom?", "How do these discussions inform/interact with/contradict what I am learning at WMU?"

ENGL 4800 Feed

I've created a feed that bundles all our posts together for easy reading. You can subscribe to this feed: Todd B's ENGL 4800 feed.

Let me know how this works for you.

Map/Directions to the MCTE conference

View Larger Map

From: Western Michigan University
1903 W Michigan Ave, Kalamazoo, MI

Drive: 72.4 mi – about 1 hour 16 mins
72.4 mi – about 1 hour 16 mins
1. Head east on W Michigan Ave toward N Dormitory Rd 0.1 mi
2. Turn right at Western Ave 0.1 mi
3. Turn left at Oliver St 433 ft
4. Turn left at I-94-BR/Stadium Dr/US-131-BR
Continue to follow I-94-BR 2.0 mi
8 mins
5. Turn right at I-94-BR/King Hwy/M-96 1.2 mi
2 mins
6. Slight right at I-94-BR E 2.5 mi
4 mins
7. Take the ramp onto I-94 E 27.2 mi
24 mins
8. Take exit 108 for I-69 N toward Lansing 0.5 mi
1 min
9. Continue toward I-69 N 0.4 mi
10. Keep left at the fork to continue toward I-69 N and merge onto I-69 N 36.1 mi
31 mins
11. Take exit 95 to merge onto I-496 E toward Downtown Lansing 1.3 mi
2 mins
12. Take exit 1 for Creyts Rd 0.4 mi
1 min
13. Turn left at S Creyts Rd 0.5 mi
2 mins

To: Sheraton Lansing Hotel
925 South Creyts Road, Lansing, MI 48917

Webb, Chapter - A Course in Contemporary World Literature

Literature and Lives: A Response-Based, Cultural Studies Approach to Teaching English
Allen Carey-Webb

I'm glad I'm reading this text again. It is answering a lot of questions I am having as I'm writing the prospectus to my dissertation and is clearing up some misconceptions I've had. I see now that the Cultural Studies approach to teaching literature is a missing component to my interest in student activism.

As we go out into the world as new teachers, it is too easy to fall back on how we were taught and forget about how we know we should teach. Those language arts textbooks suddenly seem a little too convenient to ignore. Plus many of us may have a prescribed curriculum we have to follow. Using a cultural studies approach may even seem at first to be a little too far removed from "real teaching" of literature.

We need to resist these urges to regress to traditional approaches and conquer our fears of the unknown. In fact, we should not consider cultural studies to be a new approach to teaching literature. Webb is not the first to document the positive affects this approach has had on students.

Why use cultural studies?

1. It fosters critical thinking and encourages activism (8)
2. It exposes students to the lives of people often ignored by the media and the educational system and absent from their daily lives.
3. It is by definition cross-curricular in nature.
4. It creates a stronger connection between students and the literature they are reading.
5. It immerses students in the worlds surrounding their texts.

I like Webb's take on combining the strengths of reader response and cultural studies. I've been struggling with the idea that educators need to remain politically neutral in the classroom in order for true growth to occur and to prevent silencing students who disagree with the teacher. By combining these two approaches, students will feel free to respond to texts, but will have the necessary background to responding intelligently and not out of ignorance.

Campus Poetry Society

We are starting up a new WMU Registered Student Organization called Campus Poetry Society.

If you're interested in performance poetry or slam poetry, you should check it out.

The official Campus Poetry Societry website is here: http://www.pakzoo.org/cps

If you are a WMU student and want to join, e-mail me at tabannon@gmail.com and I will register you. I will need your full name and your wmu e-mail address.

You may still join as a non-voting member even if you are not a WMU student. Please e-mail me with your contact information.

We are not officially recognized as an RSO yet, pending approval of our constitution. Eventually, you should be able to find us on the "Search Organizations" page of the Student Organization Administration Program. Search for us as Campus Poetry Society or CPS. You may access RSO functionality at the WMU Registered Student Organization page: www.rso.wmich.edu/.

Appleman, Chapter 3 - The Lens of Reader Response

I found this chapter comforting because I have a fear of losing some of the purpose of language arts classes if we rely too heavily on reader response theory for our pedagogy. We can't rely solely on one theory in the classroom – especially if that one theory is reader response. This theory, in particular, requires a background in other theories to give it power. Without a true understanding of how texts work, there is a real danger of reader response being nothing more than a reader's emotional reaction to a text.

The response becomes more about the reader and not enough about the text. I am a little troubled by some of Appleman's findings. Her analysis of the response that Mark and Ellen had to Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound does not jive with my feelings that good literature should be universally relevant. Appleman is trying to make the claim that a weakness of reader response is that it assumes that all readers will be able to make a connection with a given text. Obviously, Mark and Ellen had difficulties connecting with this particular text (albeit for different reasons), but too often I find this is an excuse for not reaching for it. Appleman does say that completing reader response diagrams force students to come face to face with the differences they may have with characters in literature they are reading (52). This should be a jumping off point, not an end.

Despite my qualms with Appleman on this point, ultimately I agree with her opinion that students need to be taught with multiple theories. They have greater success if they can put a name to what they are trying to say and if they have specific lenses to look through when analyzing a text.