Last August I lamented that I was not teaching an undergraduate young adult literature course (See post here.). To my great joy, I am teaching a graduate course that is focused on Multicultural Literature. The primary readings will be in young adult literature. Some of my former students at LSU in the Spring of 2014 and my UNLV students during the Fall of 2015 will see remnants of their class in this course. The course has two primary objectives:
Let’s talk about the second one first. Although I indicate Rosenblatt, we will be reading other theorist as well. Among those will be Bob Probst, a major interpreter and supporter of Rosenblatt for many years. Bob is known by many of the blog’s readers as part of the research and professional development team of Kylene Beers and Bob Probst. I recommend their work at every opportunity. I see their work as helping students building on their initial response to a text as readers.
- How diversity is defined and represented in Young Adult Literature through the narration and context?
- How Reader Response theory can be used in a sophisticated way (as Rosenblatt intended) to acknowledge our initial and often visceral or sentimental response to a work of literature and then move it to a more complex reading of the text and by confronting our personal, cultural, and academic responses to literature?
Let’s talk about the second one first. Although I indicate Rosenblatt, we will be reading other theorist as well. Among those will be Bob Probst, a major interpreter and supporter of Rosenblatt for many years. Bob is known by many of the blog’s readers as part of the research and professional development team of Kylene Beers and Bob Probst. I recommend their work at every opportunity. I see their work as helping students building on their initial response to a text as readers.
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In addition to Rosenblatt and Probst, we will be reading Iser, Fish, Culler, and Holland. Of course, there are others that we could be reading, but reading selections for this reader response theorist will be combined with more current scholars who are talking about teaching diverse students in diverse contexts—Glenn, Haddix, Muhammad, and Price. Again, there are others. Part of the course will be built around student selecting some articles based on these readings and their own interests. Deciding how much academic reading to do is always one of the difficult tasks in structuring a graduate class that focuses on Young Adult Literature. How much theory do you require as students are reading quite a few YA novels? I believe it helps them shape their own thinking if they can read theory and examine ideological lenses beyond the instructor’s lectures and class discussions. Theories and ideologies have history and context and it helps graduate students if they read original sources instead of receiving them as they are passed down through a lecture, a power point summary, or a reference or two.
I stay interested in Reader Response theory for several reasons, but the most important is I want to value how students initially think about something they have read. I want to give their opinion value. I reconsider everything I read as I gain experience. I don't read Crime and Punishment now as a I did as a high school senior. I hated The Grapes of Wrath as Junior and now I consider it one of my favorite books. I certainly reading Morrison's Song of Solomon with new eyes after reading her essay Playing in the Dark and in the context of today's world. I am anxious to rereading Baldwin's If Beale Street Could Talk after experiencing the movie last weekend. In fact, that movie has already made me rereading Myers' wonderful novel Monster.
Thinking about and valuing a reader's initial response can help both the teacher and the student.
I stay interested in Reader Response theory for several reasons, but the most important is I want to value how students initially think about something they have read. I want to give their opinion value. I reconsider everything I read as I gain experience. I don't read Crime and Punishment now as a I did as a high school senior. I hated The Grapes of Wrath as Junior and now I consider it one of my favorite books. I certainly reading Morrison's Song of Solomon with new eyes after reading her essay Playing in the Dark and in the context of today's world. I am anxious to rereading Baldwin's If Beale Street Could Talk after experiencing the movie last weekend. In fact, that movie has already made me rereading Myers' wonderful novel Monster.
Thinking about and valuing a reader's initial response can help both the teacher and the student.
 |  |  |  |
I stay interested in Reader Response theory for several reasons, but the most important is I want to value how students initially think about something they have read. I want to give their opinion value. I reconsider everything I read as I gain experience. I don't read Crime and Punishment now as a I did as a high school senior. I hated The Grapes of Wrath as Junior and now I consider it one of my favorite books. I certainly reading Morrison's Song of Solomon with new eyes after reading her essay Playing in the Dark and in the context of today's world. I am anxious to rereading Baldwin's If Beale Street Could Talk after experiencing the movie last weekend. In fact, that movie has already made me rereading Myers' wonderful novel Monster.
Thinking about and valuing a reader's initial response can help both the teacher and the student.
Thinking about and valuing a reader's initial response can help both the teacher and the student.
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When people discuss multicultural literature they easily remember the categories of Race/Ethnicity, Gender, Sexual Orientation and Socio-economic status. Most scholars of Young Adult Literature can rattle off a host of titles that could be used to introduce these topics. However, I tried to remember the others—Disability, Culture, Age, and Religion. I scoured my shelves, looked through blog posts, and tried to remember the suggestions from a host of other syllabi--past and current. Should I include older texts? Should I error on the side of selecting some new and untested texts? Can I find books that address multiple issues? Well, let me show some of the books I didn’t select this time. As I hope you can see, these texts would fit nicely in the design of the class.
If you browsed through the slide show above, you know there is not enough Sci Fi or Fantasy. I find the ones I love fairly long to include in a course where they are reading a novel a week and reading academically. My word, most of my students are full time teachers who are in their first couple of years and are trying to figure out the profession. We do talk about these genres from time to time. Happily, I find that many of them are more aware of these genres than I am.
So, what did I decide to include? Take a look. Let me know if you agree. I am excited to reread these and share them with my students.
So, what did I decide to include? Take a look. Let me know if you agree. I am excited to reread these and share them with my students.
One more share. I am famous for (okay, notorious) for changing and updating a syllabus. I believe they are living documents that reflect the flow of the class and the changing needs of the students. We had our first class last night. As you can see it is in its fourth draft already. Take a look. Feel free to borrow and build on ideas. Also, I am sure there is the odd typo and poorly constructed sentence. I hope to find and remedy them as I move forward or as my students notice them, but if you find one that can't get past your English teacher grammar check--send me and email and I will fix it straightaway.
Until next week.
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