DOCUMENT RESUME ED 454 533 CS 217 599 AUTHOR Gere, Anne Ruggles, Ed.; Shaheen, Peter, Ed. TITLE Making American Literatures in High School and College. Classroom Practices in Teaching English, Volume 31. INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, IL. ISBN ISBN-0-8141-3042-9 ISSN ISSN-0550-5755 PUB DATE 2001-00-00 NOTE 238p. AVAILABLE FROM National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096 (Stock No. 30429-1659: $21.95 members; $28.95 nonmembers). Tel: 800-369-6283 (Toll Free); Web site http://www.ncte.org. PUB TYPE Collected Works General (020) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC10 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Anthologies; *Classroom Techniques; *Critical Reading; *English Instruction; High Schools; Higher Education; Learning Activities; Teacher Role; *United States Literature IDENTIFIERS Literary Canon; Response to Literature; Text Factors ABSTRACT This book is a collection of classroom-tested ideas for helping students explore how literature and "the canon" are made, what the term "American" means, and how the phrase "American literature" obscures the presence of multiple "literatures" that are both individually compelling and mutually enriching. Each section begins with an introductory essay. Following an introduction, the essays in Part 1,"A Gathering of Flowers: Making American Literature Anthologies,"(A. R. Gere) are: (1) "What Students Need To Know about the Canon" (G. M. Seaman); (2) "Invitation To Anthologize" (M. Dyer); (3) "Anthologia"(L. Templeton); (4) "Making Literature with the Anthology" (T. Murnen); and (5)"A Case Study of American Literature Anthologies and Their Role in the Making of American Literature" (D. Winter). Essays in Part 2, "Learning about American Literature from Students and Learning about Students from American Literature" (P. Shaheen) are: (6) "The Puritans Have Nothing To Do with My Life" (K.K. Shuell); (7) "Students, American Identities, and Whiteness" (A.M Harvey); (8) "Students, Narrative, Historical Longing: The Stories We (Americans) Tell about Ourselves" (D. Anthony); and (9)"'The Education of Little Tree': A Real True Story"(P. Shaheen). Essays in Part 3,"Location, Location, Location"(S. Robbins) are: (10) "Popular Culture in the American Literature Class"(E. Martin); (11) "Making American Literatures in Middle School"(L. Schiller); (12) "Literature of Place and Place in Literature: Orienting Our Maps" (J. White); and (13) "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Technology in the Classroom" (P. Shaheen). Essays in Part 4,"New Lives for Old Texts: Literary Pairings" (P. Shaheen) are: (14) "Looking for the Other Side: Pairing 'Gatsby' and 'Passing'"(R. Teague and C. C. O'Brien);(15) "Pairing William Faulkner's 'Light in August' and Art Spiegelman's 'Maus'"(B. Brown);(16) "Foreign Voices, American Texts: Translations"(A. Braun and T. Cummings); and (17) "Dorothea Lange to 'The Boss': Versions of 'The Grapes of Wrath'" (A. R. Gere). Essays in Part 5,"Professional Learning; or, What Happens When Teachers Ask, 'What Happens When...?'"(J. Wells) are:(18) "When It Doesn't All Go Smoothly" (J. Buehler); and (19)"Ex Libris: Graduate Student Collaborations with High School Teachers"(J. Wells and M. D. Sowder). An Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. "Afterword: Where Do We Go from Here? Future Work for Making Amei.ican Literatures"(S. Robbins) is attached. (NKA) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. 0 Alk S AO ' I I I n't no u that tint in ken U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement fine in EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND CENTER (ERIC) DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS This document has been reproduced as f °di BEEN GRANTED BY received from the person or organization originating it a\ Minor changes have been made to M f'}Aitis improve reproduction quality Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES N official OERI position or policy INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) () 1 BEST COPY AVAILABLE Classroom Practices in Teaching English NCTE began publishing the Classroom Practices series in 1963 with Promising Practices in the Teaching of English. The following volumes from the series are currently available. How to Handle the Paper Load (1979), by Gene Stanford, Chair, and the NCTE Committee on Classroom Practices Reflective Activities: Helping Students Connect with Texts (1999), edited by Louann Reid and Jeffrey N. Golub United in Diversity: Using Multicultural Young Adult Literature in the Classroom (1998), edited by Jean E. Brown and Elaine C. Stephens Voices in English Classrooms: Honoring Diversity and Change (1996), edited by Lenora (Leni) Cook and Helen C. Lodge NCTE Editorial Board: Jacqueline Bryant, Kermit Campbell, Willie Mae Crews, Colleen Fairbanks, Andrea Lunsford, Gerald R. Og lan, Jackie Swensson, Gail Wood, Paul Bodmer, Chair, ex officio, Peter Feely, ex officio 4 Making American Literatures in High School and College Classroom Practices in Teaching English Volume 31 Edited by Anne Ruggles Gere University of Michigan Peter Shaheen Seaholm High School, Birmingham, Michigan National Council of Teachers of English 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1096 Staff Editor: Tom Tiller Interior Design: Doug Burnett Cover Design: Pat Mayer NCTE Stock Number 30429-3050 ©2001 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or trans- mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including pho- tocopy, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the copyright holder. Printed in the United States of America. It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a fo- rum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified. Although every attempt is made to ensure accuracy at the time of publication, NCTE cannot guarantee that all published addresses for electronic mail or Web sites are current. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 85-644740 ISBN 0-8141-3042-9 ISSN 0550-5755 6 V Contents Introduction Anne Ruggles Gere ix I. A Gathering of Flowers: Making American Literature Anthologies Anne Ruggles Gere 1 1. What Students Need to Know about the Canon George M. Seaman 5 2.Invitation to Anthologize Mimi Dyer 10 3.Anthologia Linda Templeton 17 4. Making Literature with the Anthology Tim Murnen 22 5. A Case Study of American Literature Anthologies and Their Role in the Making of American Literature Dave Winter 34 II.Learning about American Literature from Students and Learning about Students from American Literature Peter Shaheen 53 6.The Puritans Have Nothing to Do with My Life Kara Kuuttila Shuell 57 7.Students, American Identities, and Whiteness Anne-Marie Harvey 62 8.Students, Narrative, Historical Longing: The Stories We (Americans) Tell about Ourselves David Anthony 72 9.The Education of Little Tree: A Real True Story Peter Shaheen 82 vi Contents III. Location, Location, Location Sarah Robbins 91 10. Popular Culture in the American Literature Class Emanuel Martin 97 11. Making American Literatures in Middle School Laura Schiller 104 12. Literature of Place and Place in Literature: Orienting Our Maps Jim White 115 13. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Technology in the Classroom Peter Shaheen 126 IV. New Lives for Old Texts: Literary Pairings Peter Shaheen 133 14. Looking for the Other Side: Pairing Gatsby and Passing Rita Teague and Colleen Claudia O'Brien 137 15. Pairing William Faulkner's Light in August and Art Spiegelman's Maus Barbara Brown 148 16. Foreign Voices, American Texts: Translations Alisa Braun and Tracy Cummings 156 17. Dorothea Lange to "The Boss": Versions of The Grapes of Wrath Anne Ruggles Gere 170 V.Professional Learning; or, What Happens When Teachers Ask, "What Happens When... ?" Jeremy Wells 179 18.When It Doesn't All Go Smoothly Jennifer Buehler 183 19.Ex Libris: Graduate Student Collaborations with High School Teachers Jeremy Wells and Michael D. Sowder 201 8 Contents vii Afterword: Where Do We Go from Here? Future Work for Making American Literatures Sarah Robbins 210 Editors 221 Contributors 223 ix Introduction Anne Ruggles Gere University of Michigan All of us who wrote for this book believe we need to rethink the ways we teach American literature. Specifically, as the first three words of our title suggest, it's time to acknowledge the "making," the forces that deliver certain texts to our classrooms; the various ways we define "American"; and the multiple and shifting meanings of "lit- eratures." It is also time to consider how recent scholarship might con- tribute to the ways we teach both familiar and new works. Without such rethinking, we forfeit opportunities to participate in the continuing project of reshaping a course that is central to the English curriculum in both secondary schools and universities; we deprive our students of engaging learning experiences; and, since motion is always relative, we risk creating distances between ourselves and our colleagues by stand- ing still. American literature is continually being made and remade in re- sponse to shifting critical tastes; the complex interactions of economic, political, and aesthetic considerations that produce anthologies; the choices individual teachers make as they decide what to assign; and the writing that studentsthe next generation of authorsproduce. A quick scan of articles published recently by literary critics shows that they write more about authors like Zora Neale Hurston and Frederick Douglass than they do about F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Steinbeck, on whom considerable critical attention was once focused.