Essential Questions We'll Explore:
How does the reader shape the meaning of a text?
How are our understandings of texts affected by their various historical, social and cultural contexts?
When does a text become defined as literature?
Language and literature are never simply transparent. They also encode values and beliefs. To what extent should this be considered when responding to texts?
How far do power relationships in society determine what is considered literature and define the canon?
Texts can be analysed from different critical positions. In the light of this, how can their effectiveness be judged relative to one another?
If meaning is inherently unstable, conditional on the contexts of the text and reader, how can we ever determine what a text means?
My goals as a teacher facilitator:
Providing an inclusive, positive and safe class ethos. Students should feel confident to explore and experiment with their own responses and to challenge those of others.
Empowering students. They should have a variety of opportunities, both critical and creative, to demonstrate their understanding of skills through a wide variety of active learning approaches, including discussion, debate, role play, reading, writing and oral presentation.
Recognizing that students learn in different ways. Students should experience a range of activities and assessment tasks that best advance their understanding and enjoyment of the texts they encounter.
Facilitating critical discourse. Teachers should ensure from the very beginning of the course that students acquire, in an integral and practical way, the language of critical discourse for language and literature.
Promoting the appreciation of language as an art form. Students should have opportunities to go beyond the mere “decoding” of texts towards a wide and humane appreciation of the texts studied.
Enabling students to explore a wide variety of texts. A wide range of texts that are diverse in convention, culture and complexity should be made available.
Providing opportunities for student inquiry into the subtleties and implications of cultural contexts. This should include such dimensions as the geographical, the historical and the ethnic situations of texts.
Providing opportunities for writing about language and literature. Effective feedback should support students in writing in a structured and analytical manner.
Scaffolding the processes necessary for making reasonable comparative judgments about texts. Students should be able to express these both orally and in writing.
Ensure students acquire core skills. These are the skills that are particular to the study and expression of students’ experience of literature and language.
Clarify learning goals for students. This should be done on a regular basis and should refer to the requirements and learning outcomes of the course.
Provide systematic formative assessment. There should be regular feedback to students about their performance against specified assessment criteria, which should consider the question “What do I need to do to improve?”
Ensure practice of rhetorical skills. These are the skills that students require in order to deliver effective oral presentations to a variety of audiences.