The canon, as much an ideology as it is a body of texts perceived to be intrinsic to the high school English classroom, has come under scrutiny for maintaining status quo narratives about whiteness, masculinity, heterosexuality, ability, and even those associated with American ideals of self-reliance, the good life, and the self-made man. Teaching practices around these texts may also reinforce harmful practices and ways of thinking, including those connected to notions of culture, literary merit, and methods of reading, teaching, and learning.
Teaching the Canon in 21st Century Classrooms offers innovative, critical ways of reading, thinking about, and teaching canonical texts in 21st century classrooms. Responding to the increasingly pluralized, digitized, global 21st century English classroom, chapter authors make explicit the ideologies of a canonical text of focus, while also elaborating a pedagogical approach that de-centers the canon, bridges past and present, applies critical theory, and celebrates the rich identities of 21st century readers. In using this book, teachers will be especially poised to take on the canon in their classroom and, thus, to open up their curricula to ideas, values, concerns, and narratives beyond those embedded in the canonical texts.
Michael Macaluso, Ph.D. (2016), Michigan State University, is an Assistant Professor of the Practice of English Education at the University of Notre Dame. His work has appeared in Linguistics in Education, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, and The English Journal.
Kati Macaluso, Ph.D. (2016), Michigan State University, is an Assistant Professor of the Practice of English Education at the University of Notre Dame. Her work has appeared in Reading Research Quarterly, The English Journal and Changing English.
List of Figures and Tables Introduction: Challenging the Canonical Genre
âKati Macaluso and Michael Macaluso
1. Curating against the Canon: Collaborative Curation for Critical Literacy
âKate Lechtenberg
2. What Do Olympians, Lowriders, and Shailene Woodley have to Do with Language Arts? Making Space for Critical, Multimodal Texts in Canonical Classrooms
âAshley K. Dallacqua and Annmarie Sheahan
3. Shattering Literary Windows and Mirrors: Creating Prismatic Canonical Experiences for (and with) British Literature Students
âJeanne Dyches
4. Still Fighting for Migrant Workersâ Rights 75 Years Later: A Critical Approach to Teaching the Grapes of Wrath through Contemporary Youth Testimonios
âMichelle M. Falter and Nina R. Schoonover
5. Examining Islands across Contexts: Reading Colonization Critically in Shakespeare
âJeremiah C. Sataraka and Ashley S. Boyd
6. Teaching The House on Mango Street in the #MeToo Era
âAmy Cummins
7. Fostering Critical Social Consciousness through âText-to-Softwareâ connections with Brave New World
âMark A. Sulzer
8. A Critical Race Approach to Teaching to kill a mockingbird
âCarlin Borsheim-Black
9. Using Counterstories to Critique Racism: Critical Race Theory, Beloved, and The Hate U Give
âAshley Johnson and Mary L. Neville
10. Class is in Session: Why now is the Time for a Marxist Approach to the Canon
âElizabeth Currin, Stephanie Schroeder and Todd McCardle
11. Interrupting Ideologies Within the Canon: Applying Critical Lenses to Pride and Prejudice, Eleanor & Park, and Contemporary Life
âMike P. Cook, Brandon L. Sams and Parker Wade
12. A Critical Emotional Approach to Canonical Literature: Lessons from Of Mice and Men
âAmanda Haertling Thein
13. Canonical Texts and Cultural Critique with English Learners
âErin McNeill and Mary Beth Hines
14. âThis Ainât Got Nuttin to Do with My Lifeâ: Art and Imitation in Romeo and Juliet
âFawn Canady And Chyllis E. Scott
15. Teaching Critically for Freedom with 1984
âMary E. Styslinger, Nicole Walker, Angela Byrd and Kayla Hostetler
All interested in English Education, literature and literary study, critical literacy and theory, including English teachers, English teacher educators, scholars, undergraduate and graduate students, and librarians.