ENGL 5337Carlisle Hall 203
Summer II 2011TR 3:30-5:00 p.m.
Gustafson(817) 272-7460
TR 6:00-10:00
Literary Pedagogy
The main goal of ENGL 5337 is to introduce some key issues concerning teaching literature to undergraduates, particularly non-majors. Unlike many graduate courses in the English Department, Literary Pedagogy has a distinctly practical dimension. While we will spend time on theories of literature and other cultural artifacts, as well as some of the social and political dimensions of the classroom, we will also look at the basics of developing an undergraduate literature course. My hope is that all of us will become more conscious of what we do in the classroom and why. Grades will be based one shorter paper; a longer essay involving research; two presentations; and an individualized final project that will include a course proposal, a syllabus and sample assignments for that course, and a philosophy of teaching.
Required Texts
Corrigan, Timothy. A Short Guide to Writing about Film. 7th ed. London: Longman,
2010.
hooks, bell. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. London:
Routledge, 1994.
Erickson, Peter, and Maurice Hunt. Approaches to Teaching Shakespeare’s Othello. New
York: MLA, 2005.
Nafisi, Azar. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books. New York: Random House,
2003.
Shakespeare, William. Othello. Ed. Norman Sanders. The New Cambridge
Shakespeare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Showalter, Elaine. Teaching Literature. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003.
Additional materials available online and via email (see list at the end of the syllabus)
Schedule
July12Introduction; Nafisi, Reading Lolita in Tehran
June14Nafisi (cont.); Elaine Showalter, Teaching Literature
July18Census date
July 19Showalter (cont.); bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress
July 21Readings from Marino, Plato, Augustine, Nussbaum, Arnold, Guillory;
first essay due
July26Readings from Nelson and Watt, Freire
July28Readings from Tompkins, Giroux, Savlatorie, Caughie
August 2Readings from Linton, Bohannan, Monta, Shepherd, Jones; Last Day to
Drop
August 4Readings from Nelson, Sharma, Parham, Skorczewski
August 9Readings from Pollack, Howard, Zlotkowski, Bringle and Hatcher,
Cooper, Howard, Heffernan and Cone
August 11Round Table on Shakespeare’s Othello; Course Proposal, Syllabus,
Sample Assignments, and Philosophy of Teaching due
August15Final Presentations; final essay due
Grades
One Short Essay (1500 words)—20%
Longer essay (3000 words)—40%
Syllabus, Course Proposal, Sample Assignment, Teaching Philosophy—20%
Roundtable Presentation—10%
Course Presentation—10%
Attendance
You may miss up to one class with impunity—no questions asked and no explanations required. After a second, however, I will reduce your final average by one letter grade, and after a third you cannot pass the course.
Drop Policy
If you cannot continue attending class, be sure to drop the course, since faculty members can no longer purse students from the official roll. Students have until the Census Date (July 18 this term) to complete a drop form and receive an automatic grade of “W.”
Academic Dishonesty
Academic dishonesty—which includes but is not limited to cheating or plagiarizing—is perhaps the most serious offense to the ideals of the University. I will investigate all suspected cases and refer all persons I believe to be in involved in academic dishonesty to the proper University authorities for further investigation and, if necessary, discipline.
Students with Disabilities
The University is committed to accommodating students with disabilities. For general information, visit the Office for Students with Disabilities, located on the lower level of the University Center, or call (817) 272-3364 (TDD (817) 272-3323). If you require assistance in this class, I would like to meet with you during the first week of class to make sure you are properly accommodated.
Additional Materials
John Guillory, “The Very Idea of Pedagogy”
Adrian Marino, from The Biography of “The Idea of Literature”
Plato, from The Symposium
Martha Nussbaum, “The Softness of Reason”
Augustine, from The Confessions
Matthew Arnold, from Culture and Anarchy
Cary Nelson and Stephen Watt, from Academic Keywords
Paulo Freire, from The Paulo Freire Reader
Jane Tompkins, from Sensational Designs
Henry Giroux, “Poststructuralist Ruptures and Pedagogical Possibilities”
Mariolini Salvatori, “Pedagogy: From the Periphery to the Center”
Pamela L. Caughie, from Passing and Pedagogy
Simi Linton, from Claiming Disability
Laura Bohannan, “Shakespeare in the Bush”
Susannah Monta, “Teaching Spenser as Fantasy Literature”
Alan Shepherd, “Teaching ‘The Renaissance””
Margaret Jones, “Bringing New Historicism”
Cary Nelson, from Manifesto of a Tenured Radical
Alpana Sharma, “Towards a Pedagogy of Counterculture”
Susan Lanser, “The T Word”
John Parham, “Teaching Pleasure”
Dawn Skorczewski, from Teaching One Moment at a Time
Seth S. Pollack, “Early Connections between Service and Education”
Jeffrey P.F. Howard, “Academic Service Learning: A Counternormative Pedagogy”
Edward Zlotkowski, “Pedagogy and Engagement”
Robert G. Bringle and Julie A. Hatcher
David D. Cooper, “Reading, Writing, and Reflection”
Jeffrey Howard, “Community Service Learning in the Curriculum”
Kerrissa Heffernan and Richard Cone, “Course Organization”
An excellent additional resource is the journal Pedagogy, which is available electronically through the UTA Library.