ENGL 7230-01: Approaches to Teaching Lit.

Prof. Margaret Debelius

Section Description: This course is intended to be a graduate introduction to the practice of teaching literature: its texts, its history, and its methods and theories. We will examine practical and theoretical issues related to teaching, including exploring the pedagogical experiences that have informed our own personal understanding of literature. Over the course of the semester, we will address practical issues such as developing course goals, creating a syllabus, and choosing primary and secondary texts, but we will also pay particular attention to a variety of techniques for reading and interpretation that will enable us to engage deeply with our students about the field and the works we have chosen to teach. Finally, we will look carefully at how different teaching philosophies and approaches play out in the literature classroom (e.g., what does active learning look like in a literature class? How can approaches to inclusive pedagogy, technology-enhanced learning or Ignatian pedagogy enhance the study of literature?) // As a graduate seminar, students will be asked to engage in a dialogue with each other and with the scholarship in the field about teaching and about literature. Course assignments will include weekly readings and critical writing, seminar presentations, a teaching practicum, and a final research project that develops an approach to teaching a particular of work of literature.This course is intended to be a graduate introduction to the practice of teaching literature: its texts, its history, and its methods and theories. We will examine practical and theoretical issues related to teaching, including exploring the pedagogical experiences that have informed our own personal understanding of literature. Over the course of the semester, we will address practical issues such as developing course goals, creating a syllabus, and choosing primary and secondary texts, but we will also pay particular attention to a variety of techniques for reading and interpretation that will enable us to engage deeply with our students about the field and the works we have chosen to teach. Finally, we will look carefully at how different teaching philosophies and approaches play out in the literature classroom (e.g., what does active learning look like in a literature class? How can approaches to inclusive pedagogy, technology-enhanced learning or Ignatian pedagogy enhance the study of literature?) // As a graduate seminar, students will be asked to engage in a dialogue with each other and with the scholarship in the field about teaching and about literature. Course assignments will include weekly readings and critical writing, seminar presentations, a teaching practicum, and a final research project that develops an approach to teaching a particular of work of literature.