Learning to Enjoy Literature

Thomas M. McCann is a professor of English at Northern Illinois University, where he contributes to the teacher licensure program. His books include Transforming Talk into Text, Raise Your Voices: Inquiry, Discussion, and Literacy Learning (Rowman & Littlefield), and Teaching on Solid Ground, with John V. Knapp. John V. Knapp is emeritus Professor of English at Northern Illinois University, and, continuing since 2007, has served as the editor of the literary journal, Style. Knapp is the author and/or editor of several other books, including Striking at the Joints: Contemporary Psychology and Literary Criticism ; Learning from Scant Beginnings: English Professor Expertise; and Editor, Critical Insights: Family.

Textbooks abound for advanced students who wish to teach English. This work by McCann and Knapp is a welcome change, grounded in theory with multiple opportunities for reflection. The idea of teaching students to "enjoy" literature may seem an impossible dream; the strategies employed in this book counter that concern. Based on the premise that drill and practice and one-right-answer responses to literature are not the right direction for potential English teachers to follow, the authors advocate the cognitive-rhetorical model in which students are actively involved in constructing their own meaning and prepared to engage in discussion of pedagogical sequences and authorial reading. Chapter 4 provides an excellent model for engaging the rules of notice and of signification, skills that will help students study character motivation within a text. Chapter 8 establishes class norms for discussion and collaboration, which are invaluable in creating effective class engagement. Chapter 9 provides an excellent guide to teaching graphic novels and for understanding the hierarchy of characters within a text. Each chapter concludes with a "Your View" for discussing the theories and practices of that particular chapter. Recommended. Advanced undergraduates and graduate students.

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroductionChapter 1. Don’t Go ThereChapter 2. Why Do We Have to Read This?Chapter 3. Preparing for the Literature ExperienceChapter 4. Noticing and Making MeaningChapter 5. Modeling, Sharing, and PracticingChapter 6. Seeing Patterns and Structures and Making Complex InferencesChapter 7. Considering Competing Critical Views Chapter 8. Responding to LiteratureChapter 9. Expanding Conceptions of Literary Texts Appendix. Gary Soto’s “Like Mexicans”References