Class #1 Outline

ENGL 690                                                                                                                                  Klimasmith

September 4, 2014

Class One:

Introductions.  What to Expect from English 608.

I.             Syllabus

II.           Brief Introductions

III.         Graff, “Disliking Books at an Early Age”/Autobiography

In “Disliking Books at an Early Age,” Graff tells the story of his development as a reader (or non-reader), student, and finally teacher of literary texts. He confesses: “It was through exposure to such critical reading and discussion over a period of time that I came to catch the literary bug, eventually choosing the vocation of teaching.  This was not the way it is supposed to happen.”

How “did it happen” to you? What brings you to this class, to this program, to the field of English Studies?   In this light, which, if any, passages in Graff’s essay resonated with you?  We’ll write for ten minutes on these questions.

IV.            What is “the standard story of how we learn to read,” according to Graff? What des this standard story leave out or obscure? How does it impact the way we come to literary texts as readers? As teachers?

V.              Graff concludes: “The polite fiction that students will learn to make ‘intellectual moves’ by being in the presence of them for several hours a week is usually just that, a polite fiction. . . .  In short, reading books with comprehension, making arguments, writing papers, and making comments in a class discussion are social activities.  They involve entering into a cultural or disciplinary conversation, a process not unlike initiation into a social club.” What does Graff mean here? What are some the identifying characteristics of this “social club”? If reading, writing, arguing, and discussing are social activities, how should they be taught?

In class: Syllabus, Gerald Graff, “Disliking Books at an Early Age” (handouts)