Doing Literary Criticism ─ Helping Students Engage with Challenging Texts

This book/CD-ROM resource will be used by English teachers to help college-bound senior high school students become more able readers, writers, and critical thinkers. While the methods can be adapted to other school populations and less prepared students, the book offers a rigorous, demanding curriculum for motivated students. Accessible explanations of 11 different schools of critical theory are provided, illustrated with humorous b&w drawings. Each chapter offers an overview and history of one approach, a discussion of its benefits and limitations, and ideas for classroom activities, illustrated from the author's own English classes. The book also provides ideas for class discussions, essay and research paper topics, recommended texts, and exam questions. The CD-ROM offers a wealth of resources, including reproducible classroom handouts with short (2 pages) and longer (4-6 pages) overviews of each theory, plus a bonus chapter on postmodernism, sidebars on topics such as magical realism and deconstruction, a history of women writers over the last 2,000 years, as well as a discussion of advocacy criticism. Also included on the CD-ROM are additional examples of student work and collections of quotes to stimulate discussion. Gillespie is a recipient of a National High School English Teacher of Excellence Award from NCTE. He is affiliated with the Oregon Writing Project at Lewis & Clark College. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)