1st Edition

Genocide Literature in Middle and Secondary Classrooms Rhetoric, Witnessing, and Social Action in a Time of Standards and Accountability

By Sarah Donovan Copyright 2017
    168 Pages
    by Routledge

    178 Pages
    by Routledge

    At the heart of this inquiry into the ethical implications of education reform on reading practices in middle and secondary classrooms, the central question is what is lost, hidden, or marginalized in the name of progress? Drawing on her own experiences as an English teacher during the No Child Left Behind era, the author examines school cultures focused on meeting standards and measurable outcomes. She shows how genocide literature illuminates the ethics of reading and helps teachers and students rethink how literature should be taught in this modern, globalized era and the purposes of education more broadly.

    Contents

    Preface

    Part I: Mandates

    1. The Education of a Teacher: The First Year
    2. Reading and Meeting a Mandate to Study Genocide
    3. Part II: Rhetoric, Witnessing, and the Witness

    4. The Rhetoric of the Word: A Case Study of Bosnia Herzegovina
    5. Reading Testimony: Witnessing and the Witness
    6. Part III: Rhetorical Appeals in Fiction

    7. The Rhetoric and Aesthetic of Fiction in Genocide Literature
    8. The Ethics of a Child Narrator
    9. Emotional Appeals, Trauma, and Aesthetic Pleasure
    10. Rational Appeals and Didacticism
    11. Part IV: Into the Classroom

    12. The Writing Workshop
    13. A Teacher’s Testimony: Michael Krzysztofiak

    14. Whole-Class Reading, Research, and Activism
    15. A Teacher’s Testimony: Elaine Vogel

    16. The Reading Workshop
    17. A Teacher’s Testimony: Sumer Samano

    18. Assessment: No More Numbers and Letters
    19. A Teacher’s Testimony: Amy Estanislao

    20. Conclusion: The Education of a Teacher Continues

    Biography

    Sarah J. Donovan teaches middle school English in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, USA, and is an adjunct at DePaul University (Social and Cultural Foundations in Education), USA.