Striking at the Joints: Contemporary Psychology and Literary Criticism

This book uses a trio of contemporary psychological paradigms (family systems, subject/object differentiation and depression, and personality theory) to discuss six works of fiction. The authors of the texts being analyzed are John Fowles, D.H. Lawrence, George Orwell, Robert Pirsig, Henry Roth, and John Steinbeck. The author employs these three psychological approaches in order to gain further insight into the psychological literary criticisms of these major works. Students and scholars of both psychology and literature will find this a useful work. Contents: Psychology, Literary Theory, and Character: An Introduction; Literature and Psychology: Synergistic Transaction or Solitary Confinement?; Family Systems in Literature: D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers and Henry Roth's Call it Sleep; Scientific Personality in American Literature; Depression, Life-Span Development and Fiction: Orwell's Keep the Aspidistra Flying and John Fowles's The Mangus; Teaching Literature and Psychology in an Interdisciplinary Context; Conclusion; References.

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Knapp, John V.

Psychology & Counseling

University Press of America

This book uses a trio of contemporary psychological paradigms (family systems, subject/object differentiation and depression, and personality theory) to discuss six works of fiction. The authors of the texts being analyzed are John Fowles, D.H. Lawrence, George Orwell, Robert Pirsig, Henry Roth, and John Steinbeck. The author employs these three psychological approaches in order to gain further insight into the psychological literary criticisms of these major works. Students and scholars of both psychology and literature will find this a useful work. Contents: Psychology, Literary Theory, and Character: An Introduction; Literature and Psychology: Synergistic Transaction or Solitary Confinement?; Family Systems in Literature: D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers and Henry Roth's Call it Sleep; Scientific Personality in American Literature; Depression, Life-Span Development and Fiction: Orwell's Keep the Aspidistra Flying and John Fowles's The Mangus; Teaching Literature and Psychology in an Interdisciplinary Context; Conclusion; References.

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Although teaching is perhaps the central public activity of most university English professors, there is surprisingly little research in the specifics of expert professorial practice. Many previous studies describe, recipe-like, the end products of successful teaching, while others conflate expertise in this subject matter with pedagogical expertise. This study focuses on the moves the expert professor makes in a semester-long process of literary teaching_of a literature far removed in time and space from most undergraduates' experience_and discusses a day-to-day case study of an advanced undergraduate literature course in the writings of John Milton. By employing a 'situated learning' model explaining the incremental growth of students' knowledge and critical skills, the author details how an expert professor teaches complex works to undergraduates with no previous exposure to an author's writings. This process is generalized to describe literary learning in its particulars and the paths students must take from possessing scant knowledge about an author or historical period to their developing mastery.

Learning from Scant Beginnings: English Professor Expertise

Education & Teaching

Schools & Teaching

UNKNO

Teaching on Solid Ground: Knowledge Foundations for the Teacher of English

To be successful, teachers of English in grades 6–12 need more than basic content knowledge and classroom management skills. They need a deep understanding of the goals and principles of teaching literature, writing, oral discourse, and language in order to make sound instructional decisions. This engaging book explores the pedagogical foundations of the discipline and gives novice and future teachers specific guidance for creating effective, interesting learning experiences. The authors consider such questions as what makes a literary text worth studying, what students gain from literary analysis, how to make writing meaningful, and how to weave listening and speaking into every class meeting. Professional learning and course use are facilitated by end-of-chapter reflection questions, text boxes, and appendices showcasing exemplary learning activities.

Reference

McCann, Thomas M.

Words, Language & Grammar

The Guilford Press

To be successful, teachers of English in grades 6–12 need more than basic content knowledge and classroom management skills. They need a deep understanding of the goals and principles of teaching literature, writing, oral discourse, and language in order to make sound instructional decisions. This engaging book explores the pedagogical foundations of the discipline and gives novice and future teachers specific guidance for creating effective, interesting learning experiences. The authors consider such questions as what makes a literary text worth studying, what students gain from literary analysis, how to make writing meaningful, and how to weave listening and speaking into every class meeting. Professional learning and course use are facilitated by end-of-chapter reflection questions, text boxes, and appendices showcasing exemplary learning activities.

Learning to Enjoy Literature: How Teachers Can Model and Motivate

Review\nTextbooks abound for advanced students who wish to teach English. This work by McCann and Knapp is a welcome change, grounded in theory with multiple opportunities for reflection. The idea of teaching students to "enjoy" literature may seem an impossible dream; the strategies employed in this book counter that concern. Based on the premise that drill and practice and one-right-answer responses to literature are not the right direction for potential English teachers to follow, the authors advocate the cognitive-rhetorical model in which students are actively involved in constructing their own meaning and prepared to engage in discussion of pedagogical sequences and authorial reading. Chapter 4 provides an excellent model for engaging the rules of notice and of signification, skills that will help students study character motivation within a text. Chapter 8 establishes class norms for discussion and collaboration, which are invaluable in creating effective class engagement. Chapter 9 provides an excellent guide to teaching graphic novels and for understanding the hierarchy of characters within a text. Each chapter concludes with a "Your View" for discussing the theories and practices of that particular chapter. Recommended. Advanced undergraduates and graduate students. ― Choice\nLearning to Enjoy Literature is a welcome aid to high school teachers seeking to teach literature in ways that will grant their students greater independence and motivate them to engage texts, ideas, and issues. McCann and Knapp model pedagogical approaches that encourage students to arrive at their own informed understandings rather than recite the teacher’s interpretation. Their book offers teachers productive approaches to treating textual interpretation not as an effort to reach a single right view or answer, but rather as a collaborative activity involving lively discussion of texts drawn from a variety of media. 
-- Gary Weissman, author of The Writer in the Well: On Misreading and Rewriting Literature\nWith Learning to Enjoy Literature, Tom McCann and John V. Knapp do English teachers and their students a very great service. The authors have created an eminently readable text that deftly combines a thorough survey of pedagogic literature with a wide range of lively, original, and concrete suggestions. I cannot recall a book about teaching so absolutely committed to reaching students and finding ways to engage them and so convinced that students desire this as much as teachers do. And who would have thought that you could introduce a class to irony with a George Grosz cartoon or a New Yorker cover? 
-- Helaine L. Smith, author of Masterpieces of Classic Greek Drama, Homer and the Homeric Hymns, and Teaching Particulars\nStudents will not become enthusiastic readers of literature from a teacher simply assigning reading tasks and assessing the completion of the tasks, especially when the assessment takes the form of threatened quizzes. Instead, as this book shows, teachers have an obligation to reveal to learners the procedures that skilled readers follow as they work with and enjoy literature and a further obligation to help learners to recognize some value in tackling complex works of literature.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Teaching Literature in High School: Principles into Purposeful Practice

Review\nThe ideas and activities articulated in this volume by McCann and Knapp provide alternatives to the routine readings and assessments teachers usually assign. Teachers need resources and options to engage and motivate students to read critically and reflect on simple and/or complex texts. Students in turn need practice to become skilled, reflective, responsive, and avid readers. The strategies considered often reflect the discourse of content area literacy, with a focus on critical, constructive thinking. Each chapter includes a review of the relevant information and perspectives and presents questions for readers’ response. The final chapter's argument for inquiry units is compelling, and readers will appreciate the steps and sample sequence based on the theme of justice. Recommended. Advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and professionals. 
― Choice Reviews\nIn Teaching Literature in High School: Principles into Purposeful Practice, McCann and Knapp provide new and experienced teachers a practical and engaging alternative to the assign and assess method of instruction that can limit a teacher’s practice and diminish a student’s love of reading. The ready-to-use activities with scaffolded skill sequences and examples of student work offer teachers a template to design coherent and relevant curriculum that will motivate students to grow as readers. This book offers a guaranteed and viable way to empower students to discover, refine, and employ the strategies that experts use to make meaning of literature. Above all, teachers will value the authors’ principled approach to instruction which will make the experience of English class a delight. 
-- Dawn Forde, English Teacher, Adlai E. Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire, Illinois\nWith their Teaching Literature in High School, McCann and Knapp astutely observe that students need preparation for frequent encounters with challenging texts in order to develop higher-level thinking skills and to experience works of literature with confidence. Many elements of the book, and Chapter Four in particular, will benefit college faculty who assign complex texts and recognize the need to prepare students to unpack dense works of literature. As the authors argue, practice with noticing key text features and reflecting on their implications prompts metacognition, promoting inquiry into how a narrative structure, for example, shapes a reader’s own understanding of the text. I judge the book to be an indispensable resource for high school and college faculty who are reconsidering their pedagogical approach to make learning more enjoyable and meaningful. -- Melina Martin, Associate Professor of English, College of DuPage, Illinois\nEqually valuable to preservice teachers and practicing teachers, Teaching Literature in High School: Principles into Purposeful Practice answers why so many students hate to read and often don’t seem to understand what they read. Arguing that success in an English classroom depends on the rich interaction between teacher, students, and text, McCann and Knapp propose that students benefit from the discovery and explicit acknowledgement of the rules of reading employed by mature readers and teachers. If students are given the chance to generate and practice procedures about how-to-read, they can successfully understand and respond in deeper ways to texts drawn from popular culture, young adult literature, and the classics. Suggested specific activities grounded in a practiced theoretical frame centered on genuine inquiry and authentic discussion makes this book essential reading. 
-- Dianne Chambers, Professor of English, Elmhurst University, Elmhurst, Illinois\nIn looking for an approach to teaching literature in high school, teachers largely fall back on the methods that they had experienced as students. These practices often involve a teacher assigning a complex work of literature and then assessing students’ reading through in-class rec

University of Delaware Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Knapp, John V.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Knapp, John V.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Knapp, John V.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Striking at the Joints: Contemporary Psychology and Literary Criticism

Striking at the Joints: Contemporary Psychology and Literary Criticism

Learning from Scant Beginnings: English Professor Expertise

Teaching on Solid Ground: Knowledge Foundations for the Teacher of English

Teaching on Solid Ground: Knowledge Foundations for the Teacher of English

Learning to Enjoy Literature: How Teachers Can Model and Motivate

Teaching Literature in High School: Principles into Purposeful Practice

Learning from Scant Beginnings: English Professor Expertise