John V. Knapp – författare

To be successful, teachers of English in grades 6–12 need more than basic content knowledge and classroom management skills. They need a deep understanding of the goals and principles of teaching literature, writing, oral discourse, and language in order to make sound instructional decisions. This engaging book explores the pedagogical foundations of the discipline and gives novice and future teachers specific guidance for creating effective, interesting learning experiences. The authors consider such questions as what makes a literary text worth studying, what students gain from literary analysis, how to make writing meaningful, and how to weave listening and speaking into every class meeting. Professional learning and course use are facilitated by end-of-chapter reflection questions, text boxes, and appendices showcasing exemplary learning activities.

To be successful, teachers of English in grades 6–12 need more than basic content knowledge and classroom management skills. They need a deep understanding of the goals and principles of teaching literature, writing, oral discourse, and language in order to make sound instructional decisions. This engaging book explores the pedagogical foundations of the discipline and gives novice and future teachers specific guidance for creating effective, interesting learning experiences. The authors consider such questions as what makes a literary text worth studying, what students gain from literary analysis, how to make writing meaningful, and how to weave listening and speaking into every class meeting. Professional learning and course use are facilitated by end-of-chapter reflection questions, text boxes, and appendices showcasing exemplary learning activities.

Students will not become enthusiastic readers of literature from a teacher simply assigning reading tasks and assessing the completion of the tasks, especially when the assessment takes the form of threatened quizzes. Instead, as this book shows, teachers have an obligation to reveal to learners the procedures that skilled readers follow as they work with and enjoy literature and a further obligation to help learners to recognize some value in tackling complex works of literature.

Students will not become enthusiastic readers of literature from a teacher simply assigning reading tasks and assessing the completion of the tasks, especially when the assessment takes the form of threatened quizzes. Instead, as this book shows, teachers have an obligation to reveal to learners the procedures that skilled readers follow as they work with and enjoy literature and a further obligation to help learners to recognize some value in tackling complex works of literature.

In looking for an approach to teaching literature in high school, teachers largely fall back on the methods that they had experienced as students. These practices often involve a teacher assigning a complex work of literature and then assessing students’ reading through in-class recitations or quizzes. Teachers typically dominate the discourse and sometimes take charge of the task by reading aloud whole swathes of texts to their students. We know from our own experience as teachers, supervisors of teachers and student teachers, and researchers in the field that students are often bored with these approaches and teachers are frequently frustrated with learners’ unenthusiastic responses to the teachers’ favorite works of literature. There has to be a better way. This book offers approaches to engage students in productive procedures for reading complex texts and provides sample activities to allow learners to practice those procedures.

In looking for an approach to teaching literature in high school, teachers largely fall back on the methods that they had experienced as students. These practices often involve a teacher assigning a complex work of literature and then assessing students’ reading through in-class recitations or quizzes. Teachers typically dominate the discourse and sometimes take charge of the task by reading aloud whole swathes of texts to their students. We know from our own experience as teachers, supervisors of teachers and student teachers, and researchers in the field that students are often bored with these approaches and teachers are frequently frustrated with learners’ unenthusiastic responses to the teachers’ favorite works of literature. There has to be a better way. This book offers approaches to engage students in productive procedures for reading complex texts and provides sample activities to allow learners to practice those procedures.

This book uses a trio of contemporary psychological paradigms (family systems, subject/object differentiation and depression, and personality theory) to discuss six works of fiction. The authors of the texts being analyzed are John Fowles, D.H. Lawrence, George Orwell, Robert Pirsig, Henry Roth, and John Steinbeck. The author employs these three psychological approaches in order to gain further insight into the psychological literary criticisms of these major works. Students and scholars of both psychology and literature will find this a useful work. Contents: Psychology, Literary Theory, and Character: An Introduction; Literature and Psychology: Synergistic Transaction or Solitary Confinement?; Family Systems in Literature: D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers and Henry Roth's Call it Sleep; Scientific Personality in American Literature; Depression, Life-Span Development and Fiction: Orwell's Keep the Aspidistra Flying and John Fowles's The Mangus; Teaching Literature and Psychology in an Interdisciplinary Context; Conclusion; References.