The Death and Resurrection of a Coherent Literature Curriculum: What Secondary English Teachers Can Do

217 Pages·2012·0.767 MB·English

by  Sandra Stotsky

The Death and
Resurrection of a
Coherent Literature
Curriculum
What Secondary English
Teachers Can Do
Sandra Stotsky
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD EDUCATION
A division of
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
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Published in the United States of America
by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowmanlittlefield.com
10 Thornbury Road, Plymouth PL6 7PP, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2012 by Sandra Stotsky
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval
systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer
who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stotsky, Sandra.
The death and resurrection of a coherent literature curriculum : what
secondary English teachers can do / Sandra Stotsky.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-61048-557-9 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-61048-558-6
(pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-61048-559-3 (electronic)
1. Reading (Secondary)—United States. 2. Literature—Study and teaching
(Secondary—United States. 3. Literature—History and criticism—Theory,
etc—Study and teaching (Secondary) I. Title.
LB1632.S85 2012
807.1'273—dc23
2012010463
™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
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To my children and grandchildren
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Contents
List of Tables ix
Preface xi
Introduction xiii
1 What Reading Programs for Incoming College
Freshmen Imply 1
Why Colleges Sponsor Reading Programs for
Incoming College Freshmen 2
Highlights of the 2011 Beach Book Report 3
Criteria Used by Selection Committees 4
Reading Levels 6
What the Reading Levels Imply 8
Issues in Current Selection Criteria 9
2 What the 2010 National Literature Survey Found 15
Evidence for a Plateau or Decline 16
Questions Guiding the Survey 19
Content and Instruction in Secondary Literature Classes 20
Teachers in the Survey and their Characteristics 21
The Readability Formula Used 22
Survey Results 23
Major Titles Assigned 23
v
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vi Contents
Level of Reading Difficulty from Grade 9 to Grade 11 26
Anthology Use 28
Major Poets, Short Story Writers, and Nonfiction
Authors Assigned 28
How Required Titles Are Chosen 29
How Teachers Approach Literary Study 29
Classroom Practices Surveyed 32
Time Allotted to Literary Study 33
3 The Demise of a Coherent and Demanding
Literature Curriculum 39
Influence of the Committee of Ten 39
Contents of a Coherent and Demanding
Literature Curriculum 40
Beginning Fragmentation of the Secondary
Literature Curriculum 43
4 Abandonment of Intellectual Goals in the Literature Class 53
New Sources of Incoherence 54
Professional Sources of Intimidation 61
5 How NCTE Encouraged Deeper Literary Chaos 69
The 1996 NCTE/IRA Standards 69
How to Turn the English Class into an Ersatz Social
Studies Class 72
How to Turn the English Class into a Creative Arts Class 74
Influence on State Standards 75
Sources of Influence on the NCTE/IRA Standards 77
Opposition to Literary Guidelines 78
Support for Literary Guidelines 83
6 How an Incoherent Literature Curriculum Slows Down
Intellectual Development 91
What Coherence Looks Like in a Literary Reader 91
Effects of Incoherence on Reading Levels 93
Easy-to-Read Contemporary Literary Texts in High School 94
Elementary-Level Literary Texts in the Middle School 97
Can Common Core Help? 98
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Contents vii
7 How Two Learning Theories Further Cripple Literary Study 103
Changes in Approaches to Literary Study at the
Secondary Level 104
Two Learning Theories Driving Pedagogy in the
Literature Curriculum 105
Constructivism 106
Social Justice and Critical Pedagogy 108
How These Theories Influence Literary Study and the
School’s Civic Mission 110
8 How to Create Coherent Sequences of Informational Texts 125
The State of Civic Literacy in the Schools 126
Curriculum Placement Problems 127
Common Core’s Reading Standards 128
Common Core’s College and Career
Readiness Standards 129
Purpose of the College and Career
Readiness Standards 130
How their Intellectual and Civic Goals Can Guide
Curriculum Developers 132
Implications for Professional Development and
Teacher Licensure 137
Implications for the High School History/U.S.
Government Curriculum 138
9 Principles for Coherent Literature Sequences 141
A Multi-Year Literature Sequence for Grade 6 to
Grade 8 142
An Intensive 14-Month Literature Sequence Beginning
in Grade 6 147
Principles for Developing Coherence and
Critical Thinking 150
Using Nonfiction to Provide the Historical and
Cultural Context for Literary Readings 151
10 Doing the “Right Thing”: Comedy and Political Satire in
Grade 8 157
Jamie Highfill
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viii Contents
The Skills-Based Curriculum in Arkansas 158
Background to a Coherent Grade 8
Literature Curriculum 160
My Grade 8 Literature Curriculum 163
How this Curriculum Is Taught 164
11 Introducing Close Reading in High School English Classes 171
Ashley Gerhardson and Christian Goering
Introducing Close Reading in Fort Smith, Arkansas 172
Introducing Close Reading in Topeka, Kansas 178
Close Reading and the Common Core 180
12 What Should English Teachers Do? 183
Obstacles in Reconstructing Cumulative Sequences in
Literary Study 188
Teacher Autonomy 188
Uncriticizable Social Goals 189
Non-Cognitively-Oriented Pedagogies 190
Lack of Academic and Professional Guidance 190
What to Do? 192
About the Author 197
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List of Tables
Table 2.1. T op 40 Titles, Readability Level, and Read Count for
1500 Boys and Girls in the Top 10% of Reading
Achievement in Grades 9–12 in the 2009
Renaissance Learning Report 18
Table 2.2. T he 20 Most Frequently Assigned Titles,
Their Readability Level, Word Count, and
Grade Level Distribution, and Percentage of
Total Number of Courses 24
Table 2.3. P ercent of Teachers in 2009 Teaching the Most
Frequently Assigned Works in 1989 26
Table 2.4. M ean Readability Level by Number of Titles
Assigned by Grade 27
Table 2.5. Approach(es) to Teaching Imaginative Literature 29
Table 2.6. Approach(es) to Teaching Literary Nonfiction 29
ix
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