I’ll be honest… I probably wouldn’t have said I was very interested in literary theory prior to starting the English licensure program this past summer. Yes, I was an undergraduate English major, but it was only because there wasn’t an option to major in creative writing. The reason I wanted to be an English teacher was to help give students tools to express themselves and own the power of their own voice through written expression, not teach literary theory.
That said, a few of these readings are really starting to make me think about the importance of literature in a classroom setting. I loved how Appleman described our role as educators: “As literature teachers, we are charged with helping young people make their way meaningfully in the world. Therefore, we must help them make sense of a myriad of texts, to read and if necessary, resist the ideologies embedded in those texts” (xiv). I suppose it’s a bit irresponsible of me to assume that students will be able to write effectively if they do not have the tools to understand written works and the world around them at the same time! In particular, the passages we read from Critical Encounters in Secondary English got me thinking about the relationship between reading, writing, and the very act of thinking itself. Appleman pays special attention to the role that ideologies, or sets of usually unconscious beliefs about the world, play in both individual student’s lives, and in the world around us. She makes the case that all literature contains ideologies that are not readily apparent, but can (and should!) be revealed through putting on literary theories like ‘glasses’ through which different features of its meaning are highlighted. This was a totally new mindset for me. Like many students now in our mid-20’s, we grew steeped in ‘close reading’ and ‘reader-response’ approaches to literature. In essence, these two theories only allow for the textual features themselves or the reader’s life experiences to come into play in understanding the meaning of text. During my schooling, I wouldn’t have called those two approaches ‘theories’ -- to my knowledge, I didn’t even understand what a theory was! That was simply how studying literature was done; they were the only options presented and as a student I assumed they encompassed the totality of how literature could be studied. Little did I know there were other theories, other “lenses,” that existed and could have helped me draw additional meaning from the text! Looking back, I wonder if having access to additional theories, like postcolonial, gender, new historicism or deconstructionist, would have made me more interested in literary theory? After all, I was the kid who grew up reading the newspaper my dad left out on the kitchen table -- I was absolutely fascinated with systems, governments, and the way society worked. But literature never seemed connected to those things! I have specific memories of rolling my eyes at having to read yet another Shakespeare play in high school English, wondering how I could survive the boredom (I know, I know, how does a future English teacher not like Shakespeare?). Had I understood that reading Shakespeare actually had the potential to help me interpret the big, fascinating world around me, I feel like it would have made an enormous difference in motivating me as a reader. Although I can’t change my own experience, it does give me tons of hope for how teaching literature in a classroom setting can be more powerful than I ever realized! In particular, I loved the concrete teaching examples Appleman provides in chapter 2 for introducing literary theory to middle and high school students. I mean, what student wouldn’t love to watch Star Wars in class? Jumping off the ideas in the text, I thought of an activity of my own that could be helpful to implement in a future class: for example, I would love to have students do an “Ideology Inventory” activity that involves their community. After a lesson that introduces the concept of ideologies/worldviews and how they can function both individually and in society, I would have students go home and interview 2-3 important people in their lives (who they feel have shaped how they see the world). Students would have a set of questions to ask like “What do you think are the most important character traits a person can have?” “What are acceptable/unacceptable ways for people to behave in public?” or “What is the role of children in their families?” to help them identify what their interviewees’ worldviews are. Then they would take these findings back to class, and write their own response about whether they agree or disagree, and how these perspectives have influenced them. I think this activity would be a great intro to literary theories, so students can begin to understand how their perspective can be similar to and different from others, and eventually to understand how each literary theory also “sees” the world in a unique way. Overall, this multiple theories approach is very different from what I initially thought the study of literature could be, and I LOVE the possibilities! Resource Link: Reading and Writing Haven blog // “A Simple Way to Introduce Students to Critical Reading Lenses” -- This blog written by a former ELA teacher and current curriculum designer and instructional coach has super helpful activity ideas and articles on how to introduce ELA topics like critical reading lenses to students. The ideas are creative and access to the blog is free!
1 Comment
John Callahan
9/14/2019 05:02:41 am
I love this post! I relate on a very deep level to that feeling of literature feeling disconnected from the world as a child. My father is the buffest of history buffs, and throughout my childhood (and I guess even now) would constantly feed me history lessons on America, politics, foreign affairs, and the world in general. Yet it never connected to literature for me. At the time, the world of literature was used purely as an escape from reality. I read a book, it was its own world and that was that. I'm a little shamed to admit as a future English teacher that I really didn't gain a proper love of literature until right as I was graduating high school. Because it wasn't until then that the idea of concepts of literary theory even began to come my way. And that's solely because I was taking college level classes. When I finally started challenging my own personal ideologies by reading literature with different approaches it all started to click and things just started to make sense.
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