Summer 2008 Courses

 The following courses will be offered in the Summer 2008 semester

 Summer I

ENGL 9018 Teaching College Writing 

Patrice Gray 

MW 5:30-9:15 May 28; June 2, 4, 9, 11, 16, 18, 23, 25

This course is designed to prepare English graduate students or others with proper academic credentials to teach introductory college-level writing, introduce students to central issues, problems, and theories in composition studies, and to examine ways in which our experience as writers can help shape the teaching of composition. Although the emphasis on this course will be on the central, practical tasks of teaching writing, we will move beyond a simple, prescriptive "how-to" in order to examine other theoretical and pedagogical issues that shape what we do and why.

ENGL 9035 Revisiting the Romantics

Aruna Krishnamurthy

T/Th 5:30-9:15PM May 27, 29; June 3, 5, 10, 12, 17, 19, 24, 26

This course emphasizes the work of romantic era writers (1780-1830). Students examine the key aesthetic and political debates of the time through an analysis of essays, poetry, novels and plays. Authors include such writers as Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley, William Godwin, Dorothy and William Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats and Byron.

ENGL 9075  American Idealism: from the Mayflower Compact to Obama

Margarette Connor

From its earliest days, America has been a land of hope, a land of dreams, a land of optimism, a land of ideals.  This idealism has often been at odds with the economic opportunities and growing capitalism the new land also represented.  I see this as a duality that has shaped America since its earliest days.  During this course, we will be studying the literature that gives Americans their sense of hope and possibility, often in the face of overwhelming capitalism and exploitation of people and resources.  We will also be examining how certain authors attempt to bring in the two strains of "America" into balance.

Summer II

ENGL 8071 Literature for Young Adults

Susan Menanson          

T/Th 5:30 P.M.-9:15 P.M.  July 8, 10, 15, 17, 22, 24, 29, 31

Literature for Young Adults is a survey of current books written especially for middle and secondary school students, as well as a study of strategies for teaching them.  The emphasis is on the newest books available in paperback that are suitable for classroom use or recreational reading.  Strategies for encouraging student engagement with literature, for pairing young adult novels with the classics, and for sharing responses are modeled by the professor and evaluated by students.  Students develop skill in evaluating young adult literature in terms of literary quality, reader interest, and teaching value.  Course participants may develop teaching materials for use in their own classrooms.

ENGL 8076 Creating Literacy Experiences: Building Reading and Writing into the Content Areas

Patricia Smith

Monday-Thursday 8:00AM-12:45PM  July 21-24, July 28-August 1

Writing across the curriculum provides learners with the opportunity to investigate their own thinking as they go beyond the surface level of text or subject matter to arrive at meaningful connections and insights. Students investigate creative approaches to introduce current research journals into portfolios and audience assessment. Working independently and in cooperative learning groups, participants immerse themselves in the reading/writing/thinking process, create their own portfolios, design mini-lessons, conduct research, and share their learning and thinking.

ENGL 8070 Literacy in the Classroom: Readers, Text and Teachers

Kelly Budd

Monday-Thursday 8:00AM-12:45PM   July 14-24

This course examines the place of literature in today's middle and secondary school classroom. Using the Standards for the English Language Arts (NCTE and IRA) and the Massachusetts English Language Arts Curriculum Framework as guides, we consider the choice of classic and contemporary literature for whole class and individual reading, strategies for creating responsive and reflective readers of literature, and means of assessing student performance. We will explore the impact of new media and electronic technology on our thinking about literature, literature instruction, and the way people read is explored. Other topics include the application of multiple intelligence theory to the study of literature, the fostering of aesthetic experience of literature, ways of weaving women's literature and multicultural literature into the curriculum, and the teaching of Shakespeare. We experiment with and evaluate a variety of teaching approaches to engage students in active and critical response to literature.

ENGL 9059  The Shapes of Modern Drama

Chola Chisunka

MW 5:30-9:15PM  July 7, 9, 14, 16, 21, 23, 28, 30; August 4, 6

In this seminar students read plays from such traditions as the realist, the symbolist and the expressionist, including works by Yeats, Pirandello, Beckett, Pinter and Mamet.

ENGL 7010 Children�s Literature

Thomas Murray

T/Th 5:30 P.M.-9:15 P.M.  July 8, 10, 15, 17, 22, 24, 29, 31

Students in this class study the content of classic and contemporary children�s literature plus various approaches for interpreting and teaching a wide variety of children�s texts.  Close attention is paid to emerging trends in children�s literature as well as to the literature�s enduring concerns.