Conversations in Literature


About CONVERSATIONS IN LITERATURE Individual Program Descriptions 1. Responding as Readers 2. Envisioning 3. Stepping In 4. Moving Through 5. Rethinking 6. Objectifying the Text 7. The Stances in Action 8. Returning to the Classroom Support Materials Teacher-Talk

Introduction

Key Points

Learning Objectives

Background Reading

Homework Assignment

Extension:
Classroom Connection

Ongoing Activity

Additional Reading

Homework Assignment

Journal: What are three concrete things you can do to encourage your students to see themselves in the literature you engage with in the classroom?

Reading: In preparation for Workshop 6, you may want to read the poems "Theme for English B" by Langston Hughes and "Revolutionary Petunias" by Alice Walker. Both selections are available from the anthology Literature: An Introduction To Reading and Writing, 5th edition, Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs, ©1998, Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-010076-5. "Revolutionary Petunias" is also available from Fiction 100: An Anthology of Short Fiction, 9th edition, James H. Pickering, University of Houston, Prentice Hall, ©2001 ISBN 0-13-014328-6.

Online versions of "Theme for English B" can be found at:

NOTE: Public and college libraries have access to a search engine called POEM FINDER, a library Internet service which provides indexing and detailed subject access to over 600,000 poems and the full text of over 50,000 poems. Check with your local public or college library to use this research tool to find these and other poems.

If you have not already done so, you may consider reading Envisioning Literature, Chapter 2, "Building Envisionments." Additional information on this stance can be garnered from these online resources:

"A New Look at Literature Instruction," written by Dr. Langer.
A clear explanation of the entire envisionment process, with actual classroom examples of the types of responses students offer as they stand in various stances.
A comprehensive summary of Dr. Langer's research and the envisionment-building process entitled "Thinking and Doing Literature"

Within the workshop session, you will be reading one of the following poems: "Richard Cory" by Edward Arlington Robinson, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas, or "She Walks in Beauty" by George Gordon, Lord Byron. The poems listed can be found online:

"Richard Cory" by Edward Arlington Robinson
An online version of the poem is available from the University of Toronto.

"Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" by Dylan Thomas
An online version of the poem is available from poets.org.

"She Walks in Beauty " by George Gordon, Lord Byron
Click here for an online version of the poem.

or within the following anthologies:

Adventures in Literature, Pegasus Edition. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989.
America Reads Series, Classic Edition. Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1989.
The Elements of Literatures Program. Austin, Texas: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc., 1989.
McDougal, Littell Literature. Evanston, Illinois: McDougal, Littell and Company, 1989.
The McGraw-Hill Literature Series, The New Treasury Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill School Division, 1989.
Prentice Hall Literature. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1989.
Scribner Literature Series, Signature Edition. New York: Scribner Laidlaw, 1989.

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