The Pocket Instructor: Literature - (Skills for Scholars) by Diana Fuss & William a Gleason (Paperback)

About the Book

"This is the first comprehensive collection of hands-on, active learning exercises for the college literature classroom, offering ideas and inspiration for new and veteran teachers alike. These 101 surefire lesson plans present creative and interactive activities to get all your students talking and learning, from the first class to final review. Whether you are teaching genres or periods, canonical or noncanonical literature, majors or nonmajors, medieval verse or the graphic novel, this volume provides practical and flexible exercises for creating memorable learning experiences. Help students learn more and retain that knowledge longer by teaching them how to question, debate, annotate, imitate, write, draw, map, stage, or perform. These user-friendly exercises feature clear and concise step-by-step instructions, and each exercise is followed by helpful teaching tips and descriptions of the exercise in action. All encourage collaborative learning and many are adaptable to different class sizes or course levels. A collection of successful approaches for teaching fiction, poetry, and drama and their historical, cultural, and literary contexts, this indispensable book showcases the tried and true alongside the fresh and innovative. 101 creative classroom exercises for teaching literature Exercises contributed by experienced teachers at a wide range of colleges and universities Step-by-step instructions and teaching tips for each exercise Extensive introduction on the benefits of bringing active learning to the literature classroom Cross-references for finding further exercises and to aid course planning Index of literary authors, works, and related topics "--

Book Synopsis

The first comprehensive collection of hands-on exercises that bring active learning to the literature classroom

This is the first comprehensive collection of hands-on, active learning exercises for the college literature classroom, offering ideas and inspiration for new and veteran teachers alike.

These 101 surefire lesson plans present creative and interactive activities to get all your students talking and learning, from the first class to final review. Whether you are teaching majors or nonmajors, genres or periods, canonical or noncanonical literature, medieval verse or the graphic novel, this volume provides practical and flexible exercises for creating memorable learning experiences. Help students learn more and retain that knowledge longer by teaching them how to question, debate, annotate, imitate, write, draw, map, stage, or perform. These user-friendly exercises feature clear and concise step-by-step instructions, and each exercise is followed by helpful teaching tips and descriptions of the exercise in action. All encourage collaborative learning and many are adaptable to different class sizes or course levels.

A collection of successful approaches for teaching fiction, poetry, and drama and their historical, cultural, and literary contexts, this indispensable book showcases the tried and true alongside the fresh and innovative.

• 101 creative classroom exercises for teaching literature
• Exercises contributed by experienced teachers at a wide range of colleges and universities
• Step-by-step instructions and teaching tips for each exercise
• Extensive introduction on the benefits of bringing active learning to the literature classroom
• Cross-references for finding further exercises and to aid course planning
• Index of literary authors, works, and related topics

From the Back Cover

"Steal from this book: Diana Fuss and William Gleason want you to. Bringing together an astonishing range of tips on an astounding range of literatures, this is a pedagogical care package for days when you're 'off, ' or students are tired, or the ice needs to be broken again, or you just want to shake things up. These tricks of the trade are more than surefire: they redefine the art of teaching literature."--Scott Herring, Indiana University

"This thoroughly compelling book--the first collection of student-centered teaching tools for English instructors--will be useful to a wide range of teachers."--Maurice S. Lee, Boston University

"Refreshingly hands-on without being reductive, this book makes an important contribution to undergraduate teaching and learning. By coming out in favor of active learning and student engagement, it positions itself at the head of a pack of bestsellers on the craft of teaching. But it outdistances them by calling on a wide range of expert teachers to share lessons gleaned from their experiences."--Jennifer Summit, San Francisco State University

"From the insightful introduction to the systematic collection of diverse approaches to deep learning, this is a treasure chest that will help transform the literature classroom from a passive space to an active, engaged environment in which students encounter literature in new and exciting ways. Every literature teacher will find plenty of ideas and clever tactics to stimulate his or her teaching. New faculty should find it indispensable."--John Zubizarreta, Columbia College (South Carolina)

Review Quotes

"From the insightful introduction to the systematic collection of diverse approaches to deep learning, this is a treasure chest that will help transform the literature classroom from a passive space to an active, engaged environment in which students encounter literature in new and exciting ways. Every literature teacher will find plenty of ideas and clever tactics to stimulate his or her teaching. New faculty should find it indispensable."--John Zubizarreta, Columbia College (South Carolina)

"Refreshingly hands-on without being reductive, this book makes an important contribution to undergraduate teaching and learning. By coming out in favor of active learning and student engagement, it positions itself at the head of a pack of bestsellers on the craft of teaching. But it outdistances them by calling on a wide range of expert teachers to share lessons gleaned from their experiences."--Jennifer Summit, San Francisco State University

"Steal from this book: Diana Fuss and William Gleason want you to. Bringing together an astonishing range of tips on an astounding range of literatures, this is a pedagogical care package for days when you're 'off, ' or students are tired, or the ice needs to be broken again, or you just want to shake things up. These tricks of the trade are more than surefire: they redefine the art of teaching literature."--Scott Herring, Indiana University

"This thoroughly compelling book--the first collection of student-centered teaching tools for English instructors--will be useful to a wide range of teachers."--Maurice S. Lee, Boston University

About the Author

Diana Fuss is the Louis W. Fairchild Class of '24 Professor of English at Princeton University. William A. Gleason is professor and chair of English at Princeton. Both Fuss and Gleason have led teaching seminars for graduate students and received Princeton's President's Award for Distinguished Teaching.