English Literary Canon

Useful sites:

Harrison, Lizzy. "The Canon in New Zealand Schools." Telephone interview. 7 Nov. 2011.

Hoffman, J. "The Western Canon in Today's High Schools." 2006. Web. 7 Nov. 2011.

http://mcte.org/journal/mej07/9Hoffman.pdf

Landow, George P. "The Literary Canon." The Victorian Web: An Overview. Web. 07 Nov. 2011. <http://www.victorianweb.org/gender/canon/litcan.html>.

"Top 100 Best-Selling Books." USA Today. 31 Mar. 2004. Web. 7 Nov. 2011.

<USATODAY.com>.

Info about authors – NZ/international

http://englishonline.tki.org.nz/English-Online/Teacher-needs/Reviewed-resources/Reading/Text-resources-by-author

Secondary text by title

http://englishonline.tki.org.nz/English-Online/Teacher-needs/Reviewed-resources/Reading/Secondary-text-by-title

Choosing appropriate texts

http://englishonline.tki.org.nz/English-Online/Teacher-needs/Reviewed-resources/Reading/Selecting-texts/Knowing-how-to-choose-appropriate-texts

Recommended reading

http://literacy-english-esol.wikispaces.com/Text+Suggestions

References:

Hoffman, J. "The Western Canon in Today's High Schools." 2006. Web. 7 Nov. 2011.

Landow, George P. "The Literary Canon." The Victorian Web: An Overview. Web. 07 Nov. 2011. <http://www.victorianweb.org/gender/canon/litcan.html>.

Lee, C.D., Spratley, A. (2010). Reading in the disciplines: The challenges of adolescent literacy. New York, NY:Carnegie Corporation of New York.

http://carnegie.org/fileadmin/Media/Publications/PDF/tta_Lee.pdf

Lipsyte, Robert (2011), Boys and Reading: Is there any hope? NY Times, August 19 www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/books.review.boys-&-reading-is-there-any-hope.pdf

Purves, Alan C. The Ideology of Canons and Cultural Concerns in the Literature Curriculum, State University of New York, University at Albany

http://www.albany.edu/cela/reports/purvesideology.pdf

Wolk, Steven, (2010). What should students read?, Phi Delta Kappan, Vol 91, No 7, April 2010, pp 8-16.

Discussion

Activity

At your tables make a list of texts studied in

classes you were involved in on teaching practice.

Minority author/protagonist

Is the author relevant & important or should we be choosing texts purely on theme?

How must our teaching change when studying canonised texts?

How can we make canonised texts more accessible to students?

Female author

Male author

The English Literary Canon

A discussion of the issues surrounding

what is read in Secondary schools.

Background

What is read in schools and why.

By Jason Poole & Brett Cox

Rooted from the Latin word of the same spelling, canon is translated to mean ‘rule’ or ‘model’. It is a collection of writings from the western world to which all other writings are compared to (a measuring stick) which has been organized over the years by the academic community whose studies included classics, English, religion and philosophy. It is ironic that only a select group of people could join such a community and until the last 40 years that group consisted of wealthy white men. Such a revelation now aids in the explanation of why the literary canon consists of a vast variety of deceased white writers. From Swift to Shakespeare and Homer to Hawthorne such a collection seems to have consistently plagued every English resource room in the greater western world.

The question remains, what is the value of such dated texts in the modern classroom?

Questions

Facts & figures

Facts & Figures: Sales

According to Jim Trelease, author of The Read-Aloud Handbook, the classics makes up for 1% of all book sales in the United Sates. His rationale behind this alarming facts is based on how teenagers [and Literature students] are required to read such titles.

Of the 100 pieces featured in USA Today's top selling books of all time (2004) only 2 would be considered part of the literary Canon:

At this point a certain question becomes evident; what texts do students need to read?

• Why are we still teaching literature that is considered part of the literary canon?

• What are the benefits/limitations of teaching these texts?