1st Edition

Teaching Secondary English as if the Planet Matters

By Sasha Matthewman Copyright 2011
    200 Pages 11 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    200 Pages 11 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    ‘This is an important book for all concerned with the teaching and learning of English, exploring new and hugely significant areas in a scholarly, thought-provoking and eminently practical way.’ – David Stevens, University of Durham, UK

    Drawing together ideas from a range of disciplines in the study of texts which explore nature, the built environment and issues of climate change and environmental stress, this book shows how English is well placed to develop the cultural, aesthetic and emotional response to environmental themes – both as part of everyday practice and within wider curriculum innovations.

    Features include:

    • critical reflection on the teaching of secondary English
    • connections with the academic study of ecocriticism and/or key environmental issues
    • suggested teaching activities and/or reflections from classroom practice
    • sources of further reading and information.

    The true worth of a school subject is revealed in how far it can account for and respond to the major issues of the time. This timely textbook breaks new ground in showing how English teachers can have a pivotal role in responding to the environmental crisis.

    Chapter 1. Elements of the crisis  Chapter 2. Ecocriticism: The literary critical response  Chapter 3. The English curriculum and environmental thinking  Chapter 4. Ecocritical poetry: A fresh approach to teaching nature poetry  Chapter 5. Animals in the classroom: the potential of anthropomorphism  Chapter 6. Writing the story of consumption and waste  Chapter 7. Understanding environmental debate and discourses  Chapter 8. Reading the City  Chapter 9. Future visions: merging fact and fiction  Chapter 10. Place-based writing: Venturing outside  Chapter 11. New subject territory and ‘New’ Media

    Biography

    Sasha Matthewman is a Senior Lecturer in Education at the Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol where she leads the PGCE English course.

    'This is an important book for all concerned with the teaching and learning of English, exploring new and hugely significant areas in a scholarly, thought-provoking and eminently practical way.' - David Stevens, University of Durham