Thursday, November 5, 2009

Teacher Inquiry project

For my topic I am going to focus on Teaching to the Canon: Why teach the Classics?

My tentative questions are:
1) What makes a classic a classic?
2) What requirements does a novel have to fulfill to become a part of the canon?
3) How can we incorporate both classic and modern novels into the classroom?
4) Does reading classics affect students comprehension or intelligence?

My book is: Adolescent Literature as a complement to the classics
And articles so far are: The Canon and The Making of the English Canon (but these can change)

1 comment:

  1. Paige,

    These seem like valid starting questions. As you read, you may find your questions narrow down a bit. You might need to define what a "classic" actually is. Or investigate which "classics" are most commonly taught in the ELA secondary classroom. You might even call a few school districts to ask local English teachers which texts they teach (or are required to teach). This might be a nice "hand-on" component to your research project. At the moment your topic feels a bit broad. In question three you refer to "classic" vs. "modern" texts, but again, you might want to clarify what you mean by each. By "modern" do you mean contemporary adolescent literature? or movies? or graphic novels? I like your 4th question. I will be curious to read what you discover regarding this.

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