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Course Info for ENGL - 496 - 01, Spring 2024
Class number: 2813 Title: Sr Sem: High School English Department: English
Career: Undergraduate Component: Seminar Session: Regular
Instructor's Permission Required: No Grading Basis: Regular Units: 1.00
Enrollment limited to 15 Current enrollment: 14 Available seats: 1
Start date: Monday, January 22, 2024 End date: Friday, May 10, 2024 Mode of Instruction: In Person
Schedule: W: 1:30PM-4:10PM, 115V - 106 Instructor(s): Bergren, Katherine
Prerequisite(s): This course is open to senior English majors only.
Distribution Requirement: Meets Humanities Requirement
Course Description:
You probably read The Great Gatsby in high school, and your parents probably did too. The most frequently taught books in US high schools form a remarkably consistent canon, creating an intergenerational cultural tradition out of texts that are beloved and loathed, treasured and forgotten. This seminar examines the canon of high school English from your perspective as seniors. What can we learn when we use the skills we've developed as English majors to reread the texts that were so meaningful (or meaningless) to us as high school students? Discussions will focus on canonicity, representation and diversity, and the role of English in secondary and college education; our methodology will combine textual analysis with archival research, interview, or observation. Students will generate the assigned texts.