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Teaching fat books again

Teaching fat books again. The retreat from critical literacy in the Australian Curriculum Association Independent Schools A nnual English Conference Sydney, September 2011 David Hastie, St Paul’s Grammar School. Grammar curriculum rage?. What the?!.

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Teaching fat books again

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  1. Teaching fat books again The retreat from critical literacy in the Australian Curriculum Association Independent Schools Annual English Conference Sydney, September 2011David Hastie, St Paul’s Grammar School

  2. Grammar curriculum rage?

  3. What the?! • From the Board of Studies English K-10 Syllabus Draft, 1 August, 2011 (stage 4) • 4.22 spelling – understand how to use knowledge of the spelling system to spell unusual and technical words accurately, for example those based on uncommon Greek and Latin roots • 4.19 nominalisation – understand the effect of nominalisation in the writing of informative and persuasive texts

  4. The battlefield of English Curricula

  5. Tracking ‘literature’ • Anachronistic • A term of symbolic violence • But familiar • A test case http://horrortree.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/attack-of-the-50-ft-book.jpg

  6. Old & new: The main difference CURRENT NSW NEW AUS. CURRICULUM http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/public/image-browser.asp?ai=106706&whichpage=2&whichimage=329578

  7. History of NSW English Syllabi • 1911-1971: Skills/ Cultural Heritage • 1971- 1999: Skills/ Cultural Heritage/ Personal Growth • 1999- 2011: Vocationalism/ Cultural Heritage/ Aesthetics/ Emancipation

  8. Contemporary Models for describing theories of English curriculum • Foursquare ‘hybrid’ curricula • ‘Emancipatory’ • Cultural heritage • Aesthetics • Vocationalism http://www.rat-race-escape-artists.com/images/education_cartoon.jpg

  9. Mutually Contradictory Theories in Syllabi =problem, not strength EMANCIPATION VOCATIONALISM CULTURAL HERITAGE/ AESTHETICS

  10. ‘Canonical’ Cultural heritage • Arnold: ‘the best said and done’ Aesthetics • Leavis: the text as authority http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/feb/17/reading-overrated-rick-gekoski

  11. Personal Growth • Reader-response theory • 1967 Dartmoor Anglo- American conference of English • the ‘New English’ http://www.selfhelptipsblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/personal-growth-books.jpg Emancipation/ Crit-Lit. • neo-marxisms, feminist, queer, postcolonial, discourse, New Historicist, psychoanalytical theories • radically democratic/ libertarian http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/emancipation-day

  12. Skills Neo-liberal vocationalism • Human Capital Theory • Karmel, 1962 Buntine Oration • Regan/ Thatcher • Metherill/ Dawkins • Naplan/ MySchool

  13. On equal terms, Crit lit always wins

  14. Change and continuity with existing state syllabi • Literature strand • The store-house of ‘correct’ language in the language strand • The retreat from Critical literacy “Literature is... valued for their form and style and are recognised as having enduring or artistic value.” (AEC 2010) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/ShakespeareQuestion.jpg

  15. Critcal Literacy in existing syllabi • BOS stages 1-3 • “The syllabus emphasises the development of Critical Literacy. This involves students in questioning, challenging and evaluating the texts that they listen to, read and view. Critical Literacy enables students to perceive how texts position readers to take a particular view of people and events.” • BOS stages 4-5 • “identify bias and attitudes such as sexism and racism in texts...identify cultural assumptions in texts including those about gender, ethnicity, religion, youth, age, sexuality, disability, cultural diversity, social class and work.” • And much more......

  16. The 1 August 2011 BOS syllabus • Every year, k-10 students must experience • “texts which are widely regarded as quality literature” • Retaining mandatory Shakespearean text in stage 5. • “a widely defined Australian literature, including texts written from the perspective of and about Aboriginal[s] • “a wide range of literary texts from other countries and times” • students to explore and appreciate the rich tradition of texts from and about the people and countries of Asia

  17. What is left of Crit-lit in BOS? • In stages 4-5, (although not stages 1-3) students must experience: • “a wide range of cultural, social and gender perspectives, popular and youth cultures” • outcome 6.4-6.5 in stage 4-5; 7.6, 7.7, 7.8, 7.11 and 7.15 (some of the wording from the existing BOS documents is used). Also stage 5, 1.12 and 7.4-7.13: notions of ‘positioning’ retained.

  18. ‘Technification’ of ‘language’ • Federal AEC K-10 • “standard grammatical terminology within a contextual framework” and “structure (syntax) and meaning (semantics) at the level of the word, the sentence and the text.” (AEC K-10) • Reversion to pre-structuralism (hence pre-functional, pre-deconstructionist, pre-critical linguistics etc) • The BOS draft has done away with such silly meta- grammatical terms • But a massive ‘technical’ shift dominates the content of the (168 page) draft = ‘authoritative’ rather than ‘critical’ language approaches

  19. The ‘technification’ of English

  20. Soft canonical approach http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_eIARuH0-x4Y/SxgWLeC_dmI/AAAAAAAABEI/5geXlE7e15g/s1600-h/Grammar+Rock.gif

  21. The weight of complaint against existing English Syllabi • Bloom ‘the hermeneutic of complaint’(1991): “This intolerance, the self-congratulation, smugness, sanctimoniousness, the retreat from imaginative values, the flight from the aesthetic. It's not worth being truly outraged about. Eventually these people will provide their own antidote, because they will perish of boredom.” http://www.thenewdorkreviewofbooks.com/2011_05_01_archive.html

  22. The weight of complaint against existing English Syllabi • Ranters: left wing (Turner 2008; Slattery 2008a, 2008b); right wing (Donnelly 2006, 2008; Divine) et al. • Famous recanters: Eagleton (2008); Said (1991); Derrida: • “[deconstruction doesn’t mean simply destroying the norms or pushing these norms to utter chaos...[if deconstruction causes] neglect of • the classical authors, the canonical texts, and so on, we should fight it.”

  23. The weight of complaint against existing English Syllabi • ‘dumbing down’ of English? • Adele Horin and the pre- prepared exam paper controversy

  24. The weight of complaint against existing English Syllabi • Sarah Golsby-Smith (2007): • “the practical implications of the literary theories [of] Stage 6 2000 Syllabus are, ironically, the reverse of what the theories intend. They intend to open up a space for the ‘other’, but in doing so set the theory up as an untouchable ontology, and thus shut out questions and conversations that might threaten the sovereignty of that central ontology. The ‘other’ becomes almost inaccessible’.

  25. Is Canonical thought socially natural? • The ubiquity of canonicity: Epic of Gilgamesh; the Wizard of Oz; the Bible; Shakespeare; dreaming stories of West Arnhem Land; Cloud Street, etc. • Global habits of reading • Film going • Literary awards ceremonies • Film awards ceremonies

  26. Why some critical approaches should be retained • Draft ‘Essentials English’: social class reproduction? http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/mar/19/readers-recommend-television-social-class-songs

  27. Why some critical approaches should be retained • ‘Grammar’ as a form of social control: Bordieu: • “linguistic ‘sense of place’ governs the degree of constraint which a given field will bring to bear on the production of discourse, imposing silence or a hyper-controlled language on some people, while allowing others the liberty of a language that is securely established.” http://www.createavoice.org/2011_06_01_archive.html

  28. Why some critical approaches should be retained • The AEC, in ‘textual requirements’: • “each text will be ‘worthy of close study’; and ‘reflect community standards and expectations’ • Teachers as agents of social dissent? http://wtpotus.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/wisconsin-teachers-protest-sign.jpg

  29. Symptoms of a social change? • Change in Zeitgiest • Ambiguity fatigue http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://hollyarmishaw.com/Silencieux/slides/16_Depression-Despair.jpg&imgrefurl=http://hollyarmishaw.com/Silencieux/slides/16_Depression

  30. Confessions of a happy canon

  31. New language content • The familiar/ The unfamiliar • Grammar • David Mitchell rants about bad spelling http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kge9ZzjsfW8 • Grammar Ninja http://www.kwarp.com/portfolio/grammarninja.html Historical approaches to language • Generic resources: can be used years 6-12, in bite size pieces, and built into all many of programmes • McCrum, R. (1984). The story of English. BBC • McCrum, R. (2010). Globish: How English became the world's language. London. • Bragg, M. (2003). The adventure of English: The biography of a language. London. The Australian English Curriculum David Hastie TTA 2011

  32. New language content Historical approaches to language • Some Specific resources • Bill Bailey on Chaucer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNEWatD0viw&feature=related lots of fun • Chaucer prologue in Middle English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE0MtENfOMU&feature=related • Chaucer prologue rap http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc8XPv_qstA&feature=related • Beowulf in old English http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L7VTH8ii_8&feature=related; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y13cES7MMd8&feature=related The Australian English Curriculum David Hastie TTA 2011

  33. New language content Idiom and specialization • Teen culture idioms: Skating: Screenplay Inc. (2001). Dogtown and Z boys: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPpUKen7Cwg&feature=related • http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi866255129/ (this is V cool) • Australian idiom: Carey, P. (2000). True history of the Kelly Gang. Brisbane. University of Queensland Press. This is a must-It Original Jerilderie letter online at http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/our-collections/treasures-curios/jerilderie-letter The Australian English Curriculum David Hastie TTA 2011

  34. Peter Carey and the Jerilderie Letter The Australian English Curriculum David Hastie TTA 2011

  35. New literature content • Parker, M & Morrison, F. (2006). Masters in Pieces. Sydney. Cambridge http://www.cambridge.edu.au/go/resource/?pid=1053 • Harold Bloom's impressive lists of great books from (1994). The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages. http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtbloom.html. • Edward Said, E. (2000). Identity, authority, and freedom: The potentate and the traveller. Transition. No. 54 (1991), pp. 4-18. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2934899; (2004). Humanism and Democratic Criticism. Columbia University Press. • Dr Seuss V Shakespeare Epic Rap Battles of History http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3w2MTXBebg The Australian English Curriculum David Hastie TTA 2011

  36. New literature content • T.S. Eliot http://www.bartleby.com/200/ • George Orwell on language http://www.george-orwell.org/Politics_and_the_English_Language/0.html • Seamus Heaney on Eliot (http://www.bostonreview.net/BR14.5/heaney.html) and Hopkins (http://lisa.revues.org/89). The Australian English Curriculum David Hastie TTA 2011

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