Meta Reflection

This was probably one of the most difficult papers I have ever had to write. This is partly because I was totally unmotivated to complete it because I found out about half way through this course that since this course is only offered in the fall none of the other secondary education majors have to take it! The substitute for this class I had already taken, so needless to say, I totally lost my motivation to do the paper.

Once I got rid of my reluctant feelings towards this paper, I was a able to work a little better on it. However, I was still struggling a great deal with time management issues because of work, student teaching, class and life. I worked on this paper a great deal after Thanksgiving break when things started to slow down.

As far as the actual writing of the paper goes, I struggled most with organizing and sewing my three blocks (canon, SES, and reluctant readers) together. This took a lot of time to do because I had to rework many transitions as placement changed.

Overall, I think this paper went well and I definitely learned a lot from it. I think the most important thing I learned was how important time management is when undertaking a paper of this magnitude. I think the more time you have the better your paper is going to be. 

Abstract

While a need to have a set of books that are designated for school use nationwide may seem necessary, the implementation of such a list, like the western literary canon, often causes more harm to students’ learning than improvement. The canon’s history is riddled with instances of forcing complex faux “universal” texts into the eyes and the minds of readers. With an increase in the socioeconomic gap across the country, a gap that most definitely is felt among the nation’s school systems, occurrences of reluctant readers are very high. Reluctant readers are students who often lack the necessary skills to read such complex texts as those inserted in the canon. Educators and education policy makers alike should be less concerned with making their students cosmopolitans and more concerned with getting them to be successful readers. Only when the students are successful at “normal” texts will they be able to graduate to higher-level texts that are included in the canon. 

Reflection on PEER Review

So, in class, we had a peer review session. Most of my paper is a jumbled mess of unorganized and unfinished ideas and I was a little apprehensive about having someone edit my paper. That being said, I did hope that the people editing my paper would provide some guidance as to the arrangement and the format. The people doing the actual peer editing looked only at sentence structure, grammar and citations. While this is helpful in the revision process, I am not interested in doing a grammatical revision of my paper until I am closer to the finale. What I need to focus on now is the overall arrangement of my paper and getting everything on the page that needs to be there. I think the problem lies in the concept of peer review. Most people are unwilling to edit for anything more than grammar because they are afraid of upsetting their peers with suggestions of overall changes. I recognize the changes that I have to make to my paper and realize that most of the arrangement problems will not go away until I reach my limit of information dumping.

Resources

For "literary canon" and "high school"

Secondary English Students' Engagement in Reading and Writing about a Multicultural Novel

Thomas W. Bean, Paul Cantu' Valerio, Helen Money Senior, Fern White

The Journal of Educational Research

Vol. 93, No. 1 (Sep. - Oct., 1999), pp. 32-37

Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27542244

An Idea and Ideal of a Literary Canon

Charles Altieri

Critical Inquiry , Vol. 10, No. 1, Canons (Sep., 1983), pp. 37-60

Published by: The University of Chicago Press

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/stable/1343405

Canonicity

Wendell V. Harris

PMLA , Vol. 106, No. 1 (Jan., 1991), pp. 110-121

Published by: Modern Language Association

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/stable/462827

Attentive Reading in the Age of Canon Clamor

Jonathan Howland

The English Journal , Vol. 84, No. 3 (Mar., 1995), pp. 35-38

Published by: National Council of Teachers of English

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/stable/820070

Considering Popular Fiction and Library Practices of Recommendation: The Literary Status of “The Clique” and Its Historical Progenitors

Amy Pattee

The Library Quarterly , Vol. 78, No. 1 (January 2008), pp. 71-98

Published by: The University of Chicago Press

Article DOI: 10.1086/523910

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/stable/10.1086/523910

For "Reluctant readers" and "canon"

Bold Books for Teenagers: The Best Young Adult Novels of All Time, or "The Chocolate War" One More Time

Don Gallo, Ted Hipple and Jennifer L. Claiborne

The English Journal , Vol. 94, No. 3 (Jan., 2005), pp. 99-102

Published by: National Council of Teachers of English

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/stable/30046432

Resistance, Struggle, and the Adolescent Reader

Kimberly Lenters

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy , Vol. 50, No. 2 (Oct., 2006), pp. 136-146

Published by: International Reading Association

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/stable/40012325

Young Adult Literature: English Teachers Are from Mars, Students Are from Venus (But YA Books Can Help Interplanetary Understanding)

Chris Crowe

The English Journal , Vol. 88, No. 4 (Mar., 1999), pp. 120-122

Published by: National Council of Teachers of English

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/stable/822443

Methods to Motivate the Reluctant Reader

Ronald G. Noland and Lynda H. Craft

Journal of Reading , Vol. 19, No. 5 (Feb., 1976), pp. 387-391 accrue

Published by: International Reading Association

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/stable/40032774

Getting Started

So, I have been a little reluctant to begin this blog because with its beginning I have to acknowledge the fact that I am going to be writing a really really really long paper over the course of the next few weeks. With that honest statement out of the way, I can provide updates on my paper status. I guess that is where this blog comes in - I get to chronicle my paper writing journey for anyone who is interested.

First on the blogging agenda: My absolutely amazing topic! (Queue the long-winded version)

 I am writing about the literary canon's place in secondary education and exploring whether it has one. Also, I would like to explore the question of whether it matters what students are reading (quality-wise) or if it only matters that they are reading regardless of quality or medium. The former issue has been relatively easy to research since I have gotten those search terms worked out (thanks Prof!). The latter has been a little more difficult because I have been getting a lot of information supporting the opposing view, information that has not been supporting my view.

So for now I am going to plod along and work on some research and build some blocks...