English Language and Literature Commons^™

Advocating For Mother Earth In The Undergraduate Classroom: Uniting Twenty-First Century Technologies, Local Resources, Art, And Activism To Explore Our Place In Nature, Christina Triezenberg, Ilse Schweitzer Vandonkelaar

Christina Triezenberg

Despite the growing evidence of humanity’s impact on the natural world and the urgent need to shape citizens who understand the impact that their choices and actions have on their local and global environments, colleges and universities throughout the United States have been slow to add environmental education as a core component of their undergraduate curricula. Harnessing our shared interest in environment issues and the humanities, we designed and taught an experimental course in environmental literature for the honors program at Western Michigan University that we hope will become a template of what is possible in postsecondary environmental education. Using …

Revision In The Multiversity: What Composition Can Learn From The Superhero, David Hyman

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

Constant and ongoing revision is the compositional tactic through which many contemporary superhero narratives negotiate the powerful struggle between reiteration of the genre’s past, and creative expression of its future. Instead of a gradual succession of improved renditions of a text, each one effacing and superseding the imperfections of its predecessors, revision is revealed as the production of multiple versions whose differences and diversities are “capable of being in uncertainties”, as Keats describes the creative attitude which he terms Negative Capability: ontologically equal textual variations that wear their inconsistencies openly, and reject the pressure to resolve their multiplicities into the …

The Storm Still Echoes: Suspense And Ambivalence As A Way Of Life, Shailen Mishra

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of three interrelated components that inquire into two themes: the epistemological and aesthetic merit of narrative suspense, and the generative potential of constraint-based writing. In the opening chapter, titled "Doubt in Perpetuity: Rethinking Suspense as a Mode of Aesthetics, and an Epistemological Inquiry," I undertake a theoretical inquiry to prove that suspense can be a rich analytical device to study complex aesthetics of writers. I theorize suspense at its elemental level and from an epistemological standpoint to prove that suspense is not simply a plot-level concept of "what happens next." Instead, by analyzing particular scenes from …

Of Education: Milton And The Common Core State Standards, Alexander D. Macphail-Fausey

The Research and Scholarship Symposium (2013-2019)

This essay compares John Milton's views of educational reform during the 17th Century in England to the Common Core State Standards currently being developed in the United States. The essay argues that the Common Core is a postmodern reinvention of Milton's education reform presented in his tract, "Of Education." It outlines the education Milton received, and how that compared to the pedagogy Milton developed and implemented in his own school. Then, Milton's pedagogy is compared to the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, specifically focusing on the career and college preparation goals presented by the Common Core and difference …

Teaching Tolkien: Language, Scholarship, And Creativity, Adam Kotlarczyk

Faculty Publications & Research

Why Tolkien?

Let us start with the obvious—if cynical—question, almost certain to come from a skeptical administrator or colleague: why would any serious, self-respecting English teacher want to teach an author whose work is about dragons, fairies, and the fantastic? With all the increased attention to standardized testing and with the demand for rigor in read- ings in the average English curriculum, choosing a popular text might raise eyebrows among critics. The question that an English teacher may be asked (or indeed, may ask him- or herself) is: doesn't teaching Tolkien as "serious" literature just fan those flames?

Applications For Dummies, Carla M. Sanchez

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This poem discusses the overwhelming pressure that is put on students to justify their right to be admitted into universities or to receive scholarships based on their extracurricular activities. Many working-class, first-generation college students are unable to participate in organizations and programs that offer students a more well-rounded college experience. This can lead first-gen students, like the author, to feel isolated, inadequate, or illegitimate. "Applications for Dummies" expresses Sanchez's incessant fear that she will never be able to compete with other students who were given the opportunity to build more worldly resumes, despite her strong academic commitment and intellectual potential.

On Reading & Teaching The Modern Long Poem, With Reference To Williams's 'Paterson' & Two Passages From Eliot's 'The Waste Land', Eric Alan Weinstein, Alan Filreis

Eric Alan Weinstein

Eric Alan Weinstein and Al Filreis spent some time in the Wexler Studio of the Kelly Writers House talking about the problematics of the modern long poem. Can it be taught? Why is it so challenging, despite its central importance? The discussion is intentionally general at first, but soon Eric and Al turn to Eliot's The Waste Land, and in particular to two modally quite distinct passages from the poem. This is a PennSound podcast, number 46 in the ongoing series. To see all episodes at once please see the PennSound archive. To see the series as part of Jacket2 …

Treasure Hunt Without A Map: Archival Research At The University Of Pennsylvania, Meghan Strong

English Independent Study Projects

Under the supervision of Meredith Goldsmith in the English Department, I spent this semester developing archival research projects for lower level students in the humanities. My project corresponded with the aims of the Council for Undergraduate Research, which works to develop undergraduate research skills throughout the disciplines. The Kislak Center is a nearby resource that has the potential to provide students with opportunities to develop crucial research skills while discovering little pieces of history that are hidden away in the archives. The final exercises presented here focus on the subjects of Walt Whitman, Marian Anderson, and Michel de Montaigne.

Finding Aid For The Eileen M. Curran Papers, Eileen M. Curran, Colby College Special Collections

Finding Aids

The collection comprises working files, dissertation materials, photographs, personal documents and artifacts, published reference materials, and accruals by and about Eileen Curran, a librarian, professor of English, and authority on Victorian-Era British literature and periodicals.

Eileen M. Curran was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1927, the only child of Edward O. and Laura (Meyer) Curran. She received a B.A. degree with highest distinction from Cornell University in 1948; an Honours B.A. from Cambridge University (England) in 1950; an M.A. from Cambridge University in 1953; and a Ph.D. from Cornell in 1958. She was instructor of English at the University …

Front Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Front Matter

Praisesong: One (Worn) Path Through Aepl, Libby F. Jones

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

A longtime member takes a poetic look at AEPL's history, philosophy, activities, and her ongoing participatory role in the organization.

Twenty Years: Reflections And Questions, Alice Brand

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Recalling her lifelong research into the connection between emotions and writing, the first editor of JAEPL critiques scholarly contexts that limit the exploration of knowledge about writing.

Jaepl, Vol. 20, Winter 2014-2015, Joonna Smitherman Trapp, Bradley T. Peters

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Essays

Libby Falk Jones - Praisesong: One (Worn) Path through AEPL

Alice Brand - Twenty Years: Reflections and Questions

Tom Gage - Hitchhiking the Labyrinth

Susan Schiller - The Dance of Spirit in AEPL

Kristie S. Fleckenstein - Stepping Beyond, In, and With JAEPL: Twenty Years of Hope

Paul Heilker - Coming to Nonviolence

Beth Daniell - To the Contrary

John Creger - The Personal Creed Project: Portal to Deepened Learning

Jessica Jones - "Put Your Ear Close to the Whispering Branch..." Deep Listening in the English Classroom

Out of the Box

Laurence Musgrove & Myra Musgrove - Drawing is …

The Dance Of Spirit In Aepl, Susan Schiller

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Co-editor of The Spiritual Side of Writing examines AEPL’s role in the global pedagogical movement it has participated in for over 20 years.

Hitchhiking The Labyrinth, Tom Gage

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

James Moffett’s best friend recalls Moffett’s enduring influence on his own extraordinary career, as well as Moffett’s substantial contributions to AEPL.

Stepping Beyond, In, And With Jaepl: Twenty Years Of Hope, Kristie S. Fleckenstein

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Treating readers to a detailed tour through JAEPL’s pages, the journal’s coeditor of 10 years touches on high points, also remembering the conference that initiated her relationship with its authors and readers.

Coming To Nonviolence, Paul Heilker

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

A contributor to the second book that marked AEPL’s influence on scholarship traces the growth of his personal commitment to one of the organization’s foundational principles.

To The Contrary, Beth Daniell

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Author of one of the most important volumes on literacy and spiritual practice finds that four key insights have guided her work, all of them consonant with AEPL members’ practices.

Connecting, Helen Walker, Wanda Njoya, Ann Wachira, David Bedsole, W. Keith Duffy

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Helen Walker - Widening Circles

Wanda Njoya - Miracles Happen

Ann Wachira - Using a Model

David Bedsole - To the Dog Next Door Who Barks All Day

W. Keith Duffy - Aisle Four: Ice Cream, TV Dinners, Humility

Back Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Back Matter

Book Reviews, Judy Halden-Sullivan, Elizabeth French, Brad Lucas, Candace Walworth, Caleb Corkery

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Judy Halden-Sullivan - Embracing the "Beginner's Mind"

Elizabeth French - Richardson, Scott. eleMENtary School—(Hyper) Masculinity in a Feminized Context. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2012. Print.

Brad Lucas - Ryden, Wendy and Ian Marshall. Reading, Writing, and the Rhetorics of Whiteness. NY: Routledge, 2012. Print.

Candace Walworth - Kroll, Barry. The Open Hand: Arguing as an Art of Peace. Logan, UT: Utah State UP, 2013. Print.

Caleb Corkery - Conway, Jeremiah. The Alchemy of Teaching: The Transformation of Lives. Boulder, CO: Sentient Publications, 2013. Print.

The Personal Creed Project: Portal To Deepened Learning, John Creger

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

The founder of an influential and transformative writing project reflects on its grounding in Moffett’s philosophy and presents the model of learning that grew out of it.

"Put Your Ear Close To The Whispering Branch..." Deep Listening In The English Classroom, Jessica Jones

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Taking her cue from Guy Murchie’s Song of the Sky, the author discovers a method for reaching at-risk children, whose ventures into poetry engage them deeply in the natural world and make them part of it.

Drawing Is Learning, Laurence Musgrove, Myra Musgrove

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

JAEPL’s guru of visual pedagogy visits the origins of his strategy for teaching through “handmade thinking,” which gives students the freedom to re-conceptualize how they read and write.

Scribblescholar Was Here: Confessional Notes Of A Vandal Academic, Clay Shields

Theses and Dissertations--English

As a (former) vandal-punk in the academy, I often fear succumbing to Ivory Tower Stockholm syndrome. The identities I perform, vandal-punk and scholar, ideologically clash to the point that they often feel irreconcilable. By codemeshing the high-low discourses associated with these adopted cultures, I attempt to disrupt any hierarchal privileging of either, instead searching for a way to live with and harness both.

Expanding The Literary Enterprise: How We Experience The Texts Of The Advanced Placement English Literature And Composition Curriculum, Molly Ostrow

Honors Theses

How we read the texts of the Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition curriculum.

Advocating For Mother Earth In The Undergraduate Classroom: Uniting Twenty-First Century Technologies, Local Resources, Art, And Activism To Explore Our Place In Nature, Christina Triezenberg, Ilse Schweitzer Vandonkelaar

Ilse A Schweitzer VanDonkelaar

Despite the growing evidence of humanity’s impact on the natural world and the urgent need to shape citizens who understand the impact that their choices and actions have on their local and global environments, colleges and universities throughout the United States have been slow to add environmental education as a core component of their undergraduate curricula. Harnessing our shared interest in environment issues and the humanities, we designed and taught an experimental course in environmental literature for the honors program at Western Michigan University that we hope will become a template of what is possible in postsecondary environmental education. Using …