Kathleen McInerney
Department of English and Speech, Chicago State University

Course

English 360: Methods of Teaching Literature 6-12 (3 credit hours)

Prerequisites: Admission to the College of Education

Approaches to teaching literature through reading, writing, and nonprint media. Stresses practical development of teaching material.

Description

Assignment: Book Pitch

Students will assume the role of the author of a young adult text (already published) and create a PowerPoint presentation to persuade an editor, parents, and adolescents of the value of publishing this text.

Transferability

This module could be adapted for use in a college classroom as a book review assignment (e.g., an introductory literature class or in a class requiring that students choose and read texts in their discipline) or a middle or high school class requiring that students do individualized reading in a discipline (e.g., in an American history class, a student might read Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried or Michael Herr's Dispatches, presenting information to the class in a way similar to that described above). Rather than requiring a Book Pitch, it might be more appropriate in these settings to require a book review. Instructors could provide models of in-depth book reviews from The New York Times or other print and/or electronic sources. Book reviews could then be presented as well as published on a class website.