English Literature 1645Critical Approaches to Children’s Literature |
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Course Description
What’s in a school? In this course, we will analyze various kinds of school stories: fictional narratives set in and around schools, journalistic accounts of actual American pedagogical practices, and critical theory that focuses on the ways in which we are all schooled by our culture. Our goal will be to gain an awareness of the ways in which schools function not just as positive sites that enable learning, but also as instruments of ideological control—as institutions that help adults to construct, control, and define childhood and adolescence.
List of Required Texts
- Card, Orson Scott. Ender’s Game. New York: Tom Doherty, 2002.
Course Pack.
Gantos, Jack. Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key. New York: HarperCollins, 2000.
Hamilton, Virginia. The Planet of Junior Brown. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993.
Levithan, David. Boy Meets Boy. New York: Knopf, 2003.
N.B: All texts and the Course Pack are available at the University Book Center. Please go in and get the Course Pack as soon as possible, since you may have to order it if the first batch runs out. The Course Pack is also on reserve at Hillman Library. As for the books, you can save money by checking them out from public libraries o 1/18/08 ef="http://www.bookfinder.com/">www.bookfinder.com
Schedule of Meetings
August
M 28 Introduction: Childhood, Pedagogy, and Power
In-class Assignment: How have I been shaped by schooling?
[Keep this in a safe place to complete and hand in on the final day of class!]
September
M 4 LABOR DAY
- NO CLASS, but don’t forget to get a copy of the Course Pack in time to do the reading for next week!
M 11 The Very First School Story
- Sarah Fielding, excerpt from The Governess: or, Little Female Academy (1749) [CP]
- Note: The Course Pack is on reserve at Hillman if you haven’t yet bought your copy. So there is no excuse for not doing the reading!
M 18 Self-Policing
- Michel Foucault, excerpt from Discipline and Punish (1975): “Panopticism” [CP]
- Bring completed “Panopticism” Assignment to class [Available ONLINE]
- First Paper Assignment handed out
M 25 A Foucauldian Future
- Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game (1977): Chapters 1-9
October
M 2 Battle School
- Ender’s Game, Chapters 10-end
F 6 First Paper Assignment Due
M 9 What it Means to be Special
- Jack Gantos, Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key (1998)
M 16 “One Cannot Be Disabled Alone”
- Ray McDermott and Hervé Varenne, “Culture as Disability” (1995) [CP]
- Bring completed “Culture as Disability” Assignment to class [Available ONLINE]
M 23 Orbiting the Edge
- Virginia Hamilton, The Planet of Junior Brown (1971): Chapters 1-4
- Bring completed Junior Brown Essay Assignment to class [Available ONLINE]
M 30 An Alternative Universe
- Junior Brown, Chapters 5-end
November
M 6 Tracking
- Jeannie Oaks, excerpt from Keeping Track: How Schools Structure Inequality (1986): “Tracking” [CP]
- Jonathan Kozol, excerpt from The Shame of a Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America (2005): Chapters 1, 3, and 4 [CP]
M 13 Ideology and Schooling
- “Ideology” (2003) by Jeffrey Nealon and Susan Searls Giroux [ONLINE]
- Louis Althusser, “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” (1970) [CP]
- Bring completed “Ideology and ISAs” Assignment to class [Available ONLINE]
M 20 Queer Theory
- Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, excerpts from Tendencies (1993): “Queer and Now” (excerpted) and “How to Bring Your Kids Up Gay” [CP]
- David Levithan, Boy Meets Boy (2003), pp. 1-94
- Bring completed Boy Meets Boy Essay Assignment to class [Available ONLINE]
M 27 Boy Meets Boy, pp. 95-end
- Final paper Assignment distributed
December
M 4 The School as Ecosystem
- Elephant (2003), written and directed by Gus Van Sant [VIEWED IN CLASS]
- Bring completed “How have I been shaped by schooling? Take two” assignment to class [Available ONLINE]
M 11 Final Papers
- Technically, we should meet tonight, since we are an evening class, but instead use this time to work on your final papers!
F 15 Final Paper Due
Course Requirements
20% = Attendance, Class Participation
35% = Assorted online and in-class Assignments
20% = First Paper
25% = Second Paper
Course Policies
Attendance and Class Participation: Because this course will emphasize discussion, your preparation for, attendance at, and participation in each class meeting are crucial in order for everyone—yourself included—to learn the most from this class. A large part of your grade depends on coming to class and making your voice heard. You should try to say something at least once a class period—do not just lurk in the background! Consider it your responsibility to make sure that I (and your classmates) know who you are and what you are thinking.
After the first night, we only meet thirteen more times, so every class is important. If you need to miss class, you must present evidence of an unavoidable contingency (i.e., medical documentation if you are ill). After the first missed class, each absence will lower your final grade for the course by 1/3 (A to A-, A- to B+, and so on). More than three absences, excused or unexcused, constitute grounds for failure. An attendance sheet will be circulated at the beginning of class; it is your responsibility to make sure that you sign it.
Assignments: The assignments that accompany a number of the readings are part of your weekly preparation, and as such they cannot be made up; they must be brought to class on the day they are due or you will not receive credit for them.
Papers: Papers should be delivered to my mailbox in the English Department (501 Cathedral of Learning) by 4 PM on the day they are due. Late papers will be downgraded. All written work must be typed and must adhere to the MLA Handbook in all matters of paper format, quotation, citation, documentation, and style. If you do not know how to cite your sources according to MLA style, buy yourself a copy of the MLA Handbook or go to one of the following websites:
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/Documentation.html
Plagiarism: Cheating/plagiarism will not be tolerated. Students suspected of violating the University of Pittsburgh Policy on Academic Integrity, noted below from the February 1974, Senate Committee on Tenure and Academic Freedom reported to the Senate Council, will be required to participate in the outlined procedural process as initiated by the instructor. A minimum sanction of a zero score for the quiz or exam will be imposed. If you are unsure of what constitutes plagiarism, check out the English Department website on “Avoiding Plagiarism”:
Spelling, typographical, and grammatical errors are also unacceptable in university-level work, and will adversely affect your grade.
Disability Information
If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, please let me know, and contact the Office of Disability Resources and Services, 216 William Pitt Union, (412) 648-7890 or (412) 383-7355 (TTY) as soon as possible. DRS will verify your disability and determine reasonable accommodations for this course.