Perched atop the Stool

My ENGL 112 class at the Logansport campus is working on Literary Argument or Extended Literary Analysis papers.   A few semesters ago Mrs. McCauley and I re-wrote the ENGL 112 curriculum for our region to focus on literature, specifically poetry, short stories, and plays. 

Reasons?  For me, the 'I taught literature to juniors for 25 years' instructor really missed teaching lit to students in a classroom setting.  I love ENGL 222 and ENGL 223, don't get me wrong, and I was thrilled to create those two courses for our region online, but I did miss the discussion among my students and listening to their reactions to the ideas presented in each work that was read.  Another reason was the lack of exposure to literature for the 'regular' student. Unless one needs a Humanities elective or is an English program major, the desire to enroll in one of the two American lit courses or the World Lit course offered in Kokomo occasionally is non-existent.  By using a literary argument textbook, we could add some lit flavor to the curriculum of students required to enroll in ENGL 112.

A personal reason for adding lit to the curriculum just happened to materialize at the end of the first transition semester.  Several of my students shared how much they really enjoyed reading the selections, that they had read some of them in high school but had never really enjoyed them until another more mature reading opened their eyes.  Since they seemed interested, I suggested enrolling in ENGL 222 or ENGL 223 the next semester---and several of them have done just that!  I think they have surprised themselves by opening up their minds and attempting to understand and enjoy authors and titles they previously would have ignored.

This Monday evening I am perched atop the stool in room 213 at the Logansport campus.  I am watching 17 students brainstorm for ideas for their literary argument or extended literary response papers.  I see them flipping through their textbooks, jotting down ideas, then crossing them off the lists in front of them.  I am hoping, as I always do, to read some fantastic papers in a few weeks when the semester draws to a close.  And on a side note...I am hoping that some of them enjoy this process so much that they will enroll in ENGL 222 in the fall or ENGL 223 in the spring.