Diversity of Literature
Language can shape the way a person views the world. It is not a neutral medium of expression and communication. It s embedded in history, culture, society, and ultimately personal subjectivity. A student's own use of language in terms of their culturally relative position in the world can be highlighted and explored through comparing and contrasting texts from different periods and cultures.
Students personal growth through English is best facilitated through encounters with a broad and diverse range of literary and non-literary texts. The term "text" refers to all products of language including oral, written and visual. A student's personal growth is characterised by an ever-broadening mastery of language used in a variety of genres and for a wide range of purposes. Genres can be a nebulous term and I mean it in the generalist sense which would include By "genres" mean specific linguistic style within specific categories of language forms such as songs, adverts, dialogues, public speeches, a child's book, an expository essay, a legal document, a scientific report or a poem and also genres of literature such as epic, tragedy, comedy, novel, short story, and creative nonfiction. Texts can also be multimodal such as graphic novels.
There is a temptation for teachers to narrow the range of texts in the interests of examination success if an examination is all-too-predictable, but this is counter productive to students' personal growth and their confidence in their literacy outside of the exam. As the majority of students lives in the future will not be sitting exams it is my priority and my challenge to strike a balance between time constraints and provide a wide variety of textual encounters for my students. The following is a list of texts I have compiled for this purpose;
Isaac Asimov (born Isaak Yudovich Ozimov; Russian: Исаак Юдович Озимов; c. January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov is widely considered a master of hard science fiction and, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, he was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers during his lifetime. He wrote hundreds of short stories, including the social science fiction "Nightfall", which in 1964 was voted by the Science Fiction Writers of America the best short science fiction story of all time. Asimov is also famous for his Three Laws of Robotics which have pervaded science fiction and are referred to in many books, films, and other media.
Nightfall by Isacc Asmiov - 20 pages with numbered lines
I, Robot by Isacc Asimov - 148 pages with 9 short stories. The Three Laws feature in all but Evidence and Run Around might be worth checking out first as an introduction to the concept.
Octavia E. Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction writer. Butler was one of the best-known African-American women in the field. In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Fellowship nicknamed the Genius Grant.
Octavia Jr., nicknamed Junie, was paralytically shy and a daydreamer, and was later diagnosed as being dyslexic. She began writing at the age of 10 "to escape loneliness and boredom"; she was 12 when she began a lifelong interest in science fiction. "I was writing my own little stories and when I was 12, I was watching a bad science fiction movie called Devil Girl from Mars," she told the journal Black Scholar, "and decided that I could write a better story than that. And I turned off the TV and proceeded to try, and I've been writing science fiction ever since." Butler's preface to her only collection of short stories is the best descriptions of the process of becoming a writer I have ever read and can be found here.
Bloodchild by Octavia E. Bulter - 21 pages
This Hugo Award-winning graphic novel chronicles the fall from grace of a group of super-heroes plagued by all-too-human failings. Along the way, the concept of the super-hero is dissected as the heroes are stalked by an unknown assassin.
One of the most influential graphic novels of all time and a perennial bestseller, WATCHMEN has been studied on college campuses across the nation and is considered a gateway title, leading readers to other graphic novels such as V FOR VENDETTA, BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and THE SANDMAN series.
Watchmen
Students personal growth through English is best facilitated through encounters with a broad and diverse range of literary and non-literary texts. The term "text" refers to all products of language including oral, written and visual. A student's personal growth is characterised by an ever-broadening mastery of language used in a variety of genres and for a wide range of purposes. Genres can be a nebulous term and I mean it in the generalist sense which would include By "genres" mean specific linguistic style within specific categories of language forms such as songs, adverts, dialogues, public speeches, a child's book, an expository essay, a legal document, a scientific report or a poem and also genres of literature such as epic, tragedy, comedy, novel, short story, and creative nonfiction. Texts can also be multimodal such as graphic novels.
There is a temptation for teachers to narrow the range of texts in the interests of examination success if an examination is all-too-predictable, but this is counter productive to students' personal growth and their confidence in their literacy outside of the exam. As the majority of students lives in the future will not be sitting exams it is my priority and my challenge to strike a balance between time constraints and provide a wide variety of textual encounters for my students. The following is a list of texts I have compiled for this purpose;
Isaac Asimov (born Isaak Yudovich Ozimov; Russian: Исаак Юдович Озимов; c. January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov is widely considered a master of hard science fiction and, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, he was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers during his lifetime. He wrote hundreds of short stories, including the social science fiction "Nightfall", which in 1964 was voted by the Science Fiction Writers of America the best short science fiction story of all time. Asimov is also famous for his Three Laws of Robotics which have pervaded science fiction and are referred to in many books, films, and other media.
Nightfall by Isacc Asmiov - 20 pages with numbered lines
I, Robot by Isacc Asimov - 148 pages with 9 short stories. The Three Laws feature in all but Evidence and Run Around might be worth checking out first as an introduction to the concept.
Octavia E. Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction writer. Butler was one of the best-known African-American women in the field. In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Fellowship nicknamed the Genius Grant.
Octavia Jr., nicknamed Junie, was paralytically shy and a daydreamer, and was later diagnosed as being dyslexic. She began writing at the age of 10 "to escape loneliness and boredom"; she was 12 when she began a lifelong interest in science fiction. "I was writing my own little stories and when I was 12, I was watching a bad science fiction movie called Devil Girl from Mars," she told the journal Black Scholar, "and decided that I could write a better story than that. And I turned off the TV and proceeded to try, and I've been writing science fiction ever since." Butler's preface to her only collection of short stories is the best descriptions of the process of becoming a writer I have ever read and can be found here.
Bloodchild by Octavia E. Bulter - 21 pages
This Hugo Award-winning graphic novel chronicles the fall from grace of a group of super-heroes plagued by all-too-human failings. Along the way, the concept of the super-hero is dissected as the heroes are stalked by an unknown assassin.
One of the most influential graphic novels of all time and a perennial bestseller, WATCHMEN has been studied on college campuses across the nation and is considered a gateway title, leading readers to other graphic novels such as V FOR VENDETTA, BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and THE SANDMAN series.
Watchmen