English Language and Literature Commons^™

Casuistical Connections From Dunton To Defoe, John E. Fossum

Theses and Dissertations

This master's thesis is primarily concerned with the philosophical conditions of late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century England that encouraged the emergence of periodical literature and perpetuated the birth of the novel. While most connections between periodical literature and the novel are made on how the former created the readership that ensured the latter's success, I focus on how the epistemology unique to the advent of empirical science together with the growing prominence of casuistic thought created a space in which periodical literature could emerge and the early novel could flourish. I investigate the underlying assertion of a particular philosophical amalgam …

The Valuation Of Literature: Triangulating The Rhetorical With The Economic Metaphor, Melissa Brown Gustafson

Theses and Dissertations

Several theorists, including the Marxist theorists Trevor Ross, Walter Benjamin, and M.H. Abrams, have proposed theories to explain the eighteenth-century shift from functional to aesthetic conceptions of literature. Their explanations attribute the change to an increasingly consumer-based society (and the resulting commoditization of books), the development of the press, the rise of the middle class, and increased access to books. When we apply the cause-effect relationships which these theorists propose to the contexts of nineteenth-century America, Communist East Germany, WWII America, and 9/11 America, however, the causes don't correlate with the effects they theoretically predict. This disjunction suggests a re-examination …

Advanced Placement English And The College Curriculum: Evaluating And Contextualizing Policy, Jennifer Dawn Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the context in which Advanced Placement (AP) English policies are made, examining the political and economic realities that impact policy decisions as well as the discipline-based critiques of the AP English program which have led many writing program administrators (WPAs) and faculty to question existing credit and placement policies. Recent efforts to dramatically expand the AP program have left many questioning whether the AP English experience actually fulfills the promises suggested by the program. After reviewing current literature relating to AP English, this thesis examines the findings of an empirical study conducted at BYU. The study evaluates …

Learning To Create: A Collection Of Personal Essays, Naomi Lund Christiansen

Theses and Dissertations

This is a creative thesis that focuses on the infertility experiences of the author. The introduction examines the author's justification for choosing personal essay as a genre and French feminism as the guiding theory in writing the essays. Six personal essays center on the author's attempts to have a child and the discoveries and failures along the way. Throughout literary history, women's bodies have traditionally been viewed from the outside looking in, as objects to be reified and preserved or exploited and used. Using the writing the body critics as a theoretical framework, the essays discuss the comforts and discomforts …

Margaret Cavendish And Scientific Discourse In Seventeenth-Century England, Alisa Curtis Bolander

Theses and Dissertations

Although the natural philosophy of Margaret Cavendish is eclectic and uncustomary, it offers an important critique of contemporary scientific methods, especially mechanism and experimentalism. As presented in Observations upon Experimental Philosophy and Blazing World, Cavendish's natural philosophy incorporates rationalistic and subjective elements, urging contemporary natural philosophers to recognize that pure objectivity is unattainable through any method of inquiry and that reason is essential in making sense and use of scientific observation.

In addition to its scientific implications, Cavendish's three-tiered model of matter presents interesting sociopolitical associations. Through her own use of metaphor and her theoretical fusion of matter and motion, …

Satire's Liminal Space: The Conservative Function Of Eighteenth-Century Satiric Drama, Sheila Ann Morton

Theses and Dissertations

The eighteenth century is famous for producing literary satire, primarily in verse (and later prose) form. However, during this period, a new dramatic form also arose of which satire was the controlling element. And like the writers of prose and verse satires, playwrights of dramatic satire claimed that their primary aim was the correction of moral faults and failings. Of course, they did not always succeed in this aim. History has shown a few, however, to have had a significant impact on the ideas and lives of their audiences. This thesis is an attempt to demonstrate how these satiric dramas …

The Aesthetic Mask: Cinematic And Musical Icons In Ellison's Invisible Man, Gary Lemco

The Utah English Journal

Critics of Invisible Man seem to have been blind to the fact that Ralph Waldo Ellison was both music major and filmgoer. While struggling to create a seminal novel of Afro-American identity, Ellison was the cultural inheritor of a vast system of sounds and visual icons making up the national and - I daresay - the international tradition of aesthetic values. If the narrator of Juneteenth comes to claim a movie actress as his mother, so too does the unnamed narrator of Invisible Man seize upon music and film as possible sources of his being, as stable representatives of our …

Doing It For The Love Of It: Weaving Lives In A Community Of Learners, Maryann Felps

The Utah English Journal

Robert Frost said that "what is done is done for the love of it - or not really done at all." This past school year at the non-public school where I work something was done for "the love of it" and served to create a community of learners whose lives became successfully interwoven. What follows is a description of this community, how it was originally developed, how it progressed, and what resulted at the conclusion of its ten-month existence.

"What Do I Do With This One?": Teaching Esl Writers Who Have Been Mainstreamed, Todd Heyden

The Utah English Journal

With the addition of non-native speakers in their courses, teachers may find that their job description also includes the teaching of ESL writing. "What do I do with this one?" is a question I commonly hear from concerned colleagues. Understandably, they want to know how to best meet the needs of the ESL writers who have been mainstreamed into their Pope John XXIII courses. At the top of the list of their concerns is error correction. An ESL writer's essay can contain a myriad of errors, even in just a single sentence. Where does one begin to address so many …

Imagine Lunch, Susan Grandfield

The Utah English Journal

The high school where I teach houses many vending machines. A vending machine resides in every comer of the school known to me, and I think there are some machines in areas that I don't frequent. It's a big school, after all. Kids can buy candy, hot and spicy chips that tum their tongues red, Pop-Tarts, Pepsi (not Coke, though) and a variety of other so-called foods, none of which have nutritional value. Kids without much money have discovered a machine with a large pastry called a "Big Texas" (as in "I got me my Big Texas") for 65 cents. …

Bullies, Brenda Mcneill

The Utah English Journal

Bob blusters into my room. He's a large boy - square in the way football players often are - stocky legs and broad across the shoulders. He is from all accounts a very talented athlete. English though confuses him; the nuances of language and thought frustrate him and he deals with his frustration through anger. Though he may be agile in his body, he is not agile in his mind - and he is angry about it and uses his size to intimidate other students and short female English teachers. However, he needs English in order to graduate from high …

Socrates Does Shakespeare, Victor Moeller

The Utah English Journal

Robert Benchley once remarked that "There are two kinds of people, those who classify things and those who don't." Since I belong to the first group, I tend to classify teachers according to those who still employ the little-red-school-house model of learning (lecture) and those who daily engage their students in active learning. I do so not only because most of my former teachers assumed that they were the most important part of the learning process but also because the lecture method continues to dominate in too many classrooms even today. In contrast, the genuine Socratic teacher knows that the …

Click, Jayne Marek

The Utah English Journal

"It didn't feel like anything special," Perry said. A fine winter night outside, meaning the frost had sharpened the stars. It was colder in Urbana than it had been in Madison when Sis had left that morning. "But all of a sudden I was flat on the library floor. Face hurt like hell."

"Yeah, well, no surprise, with that face," Sis said.

"Shut up."

"So are seizures hereditary?" Sis asked.

"Nah, it's stress. Studying your ass off. As if you would know."

Getting Students Off To A Good Start, Debbie Davis

The Utah English Journal

I wouldn't want to trade places with a secondary student the first days of school, would you? Can you imagine coping with new schedules and new routines - and higher academic demands? On top of that, don't forget tracking all the information we teachers and administrators deluge them with. I wonder how students can remember expectations, rules, and assignments announced by seven or eight teachers, when all they really want to know is "Will I be accepted by my peers?" and "Can I survive this grade level?" I want my students to feel positively about the answers to both questions, …

From "Freshman Friday" To Interior Design: Inside The First Week Of A Ninth Grade English Class, Robert Petrone

The Utah English Journal

As I prepared for my third year of teaching ninth-grade English, I focused my attention on what I would do with the students during the first week of the year. At that point in my career, I felt, for the first time, comfortable with the content-a short story unit, the personal narrative, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Odyssey, and Romeo and Juliet-and so felt at ease to put more energy into some other aspects of my teaching. As I brainstormed ideas of how to go about the first week of the year, an image from my student teaching experience flashed …

Lord Hamlet's Lesson, Harlan Underhill

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.

It's Not So Elementary, Stacy Miller

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.

A Tribute To A Fallen Hero, Stacy Miller

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.

Odysseus, Harlan Underhill

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.

The Utah English Journal, Volume 32, 2004: Full Issue

The Utah English Journal

No abstract provided.

"The Person That No One Understood" Addressing Homosexuality In The Classroom, Amy Wilson

The Utah English Journal

As a concerned educator, therefore, I began to explore how the classroom can be a safe and welcoming place for all people, regardless of their differences and especially regardless of their sexual orientation. I wanted to discover two things: how to make the educational environment a positive place for gay youths and how to promote psychological and emotional well-being for students who belong to this minority. Furthermore, I wanted to learn how to accomplish these goals in a predominantly conservative community. Although I have by no means found "the answer" to those complex questions, this paper reflects an inquiry and …

Abc Books: Connecting With Literature, Constructing Personal Learning, Deborah Dean

The Utah English Journal

"When do we get to make ABC books?"

"Yeah. I've seen those before, and I know the kids made them in your class."

It was the first day of school, but already the students were asking about an assignment that my ninth grade classes were well known for doing. The whole thing began early in my teaching career as I pondered some questions all teachers ask themselves from time to time: How do I help my students make learning personal? How do I help them own a novel, rather than simply parroting back my comments or what "Cliff' might have …

Utah Writing Project Summer Workshops, Debbie Davis

The Utah English Journal

"It was the best workshop I've ever attended. I will never teach writing the same way again!" Linda Simpson, President of the Utah Council of Teachers of English and Language Arts, told me at the UCTE/LA 2002 Conference. Her assessment of the Utah Writing Project's one-week writing workshop made me want that experience for myself. Last summer I attended the one-week workshop, and this summer I attended the four-week. Linda was right- I will never teach writing the same way again!

Engaging Reluctant Readers: Let's Try Nonfiction, Kathryn Fitzgerald

The Utah English Journal

"If it's not fiction, it's not reading." Starkly put, that was my concept of worthwhile literature until recently with, I think, good reason. Not only do we English teachers love reading good fiction, but we know that valuable lessons are taught through literature: students learn about themselves and their own life choices through reading about recognizable fictional characters; they experience cultures and times other than their own by reading diverse current and classical fiction; they learn to think critically about the beliefs and values they are exposed to through fiction (and to reflect on their own beliefs); they learn empathy …

My Students And English Literature, Ellen Mccaffrey

The Utah English Journal

It took me nearly thirty years to be assigned to teach English literature. Although my undergraduate and graduate training in English focused heavily on literature from Britain, my teaching assignments usually involved grammar and composition and literature from the United States. In my district, English literature is a twelfth grade elective course, and those who teach it usually teach it for as long as they can. My opportunity came when the usual English literature teacher became ill and had to retire. To my amazement no one else in the department wanted to teach the course. I willingly, happily, and enthusiastically …

Bringing The Story To Your School, Sherry Meidell

The Utah English Journal

During the first day of the fifth grade, my teacher smiled and gave us graham crackers. The next day she put on a grim face which remained for most of the year. I do remember one day that I saw her smile again. The teacher announced that we were going to have a special visitor from a publishing company. She handed each of us a piece of manila paper and told us to do a drawing from one of the publisher's books. I drew the South Going Zak, which was a character created by Dr. Suess.

Simple Ways To Include Jane Austen In High School, Elena Wilson

The Utah English Journal

While teaching composition courses on the Utah State University campus and completing my master's degree, I learned, through conversations with colleagues and students, that only a few of my associates were familiar with Jane Austen or the titles of her novels. Restless with my findings, I conducted a study through Utah State University on high school teachers' rationales and pedagogy for teaching Jane Austen's novels. I telephoned local English teachers, and I sent online inquiries to over 2000 English educators. Most of my results came from Utah teachers. These research results implied that the four most common rationales for including …

Book Review: Book Blurbs

The Utah English Journal

Resources for Teachers including:

- When Kids Can't Read, What Teachers Can Do: A Guide for Teachers 6-12 by Kylene Beers,

- Tools for Thought: Helping All Students Read, Write, Speak, and Think by Jim Burke,

- Investigating Texts: Analyzing Fiction and Nonfiction in High School by Bronwyn Mellor and Annette Patterson,

- The Drowning of Stephan Jones by Bette Green,

- Why America's Children Can't Think: Creating Independent Minds for the 21st Century by Peter Kline,

and

- Aloft by Chang-rae Lee.

Letters Of Metacognition: Four Key Questions To Ask Of Student Writing By Student Writers, Robert H. Rempe

The Utah English Journal

The Essentials of the Writing Assignment Whenever I have students do any writing assignment, be it essay, research report or literary analysis, I require in addition to the assignment itself a separate essay which I refer to as the Letter of Metacognition. In this Letter of Metacognition each student must answer the following four essential questions:

1. What works in the PROCESS of my paper?

2. What does not work in the PROCESS of my paper?

3. What works in the PRODUCT of my paper?

4. What does not work in the PRODUCT of my paper?

Slam! Poetry As A Genre For Social Activism, Stacy Miller

The Utah English Journal

The roots of SLAM poetry are historically situated in traditional poetry, the poetry of the Beats, and in Hip-Hop music. SLAM taps into the rhyme scheme and versification of traditional poetry but also creates its own hybrid of convention and form that is based in modem poetry. SLAM reaches back into the poetry of the Beats and revives an unconventional use of rhyme scheme, syntax, and grammar. Hip-Hop, which arrived at the tail end of Disco in the late 70's, broke the musical and rhythmic beats in Disco music and birthed the notion of Hip-Hop as a subgenre of music. …