Earlier in our careers, we taught in a suburban school district in Pennsylvania that drew from a mixture of educated professional and traditional farming families. Our students reflected the swiftly changing socioeconomic status brought... more
Earlier in our careers, we taught in a suburban school district in Pennsylvania that drew from a mixture of educated professional and traditional farming families. Our students reflected the swiftly changing socioeconomic status brought on by rapid commercial and housing development within the district. We were the two primary teachers responsible for the senior British survey course. Our main objective for senior year was to expand students' traditional ways of thinking. We wanted students to question rather than accept what was presented to them as fact, for our pedagogical stance relies on the idea that questioning leads to true discovery and learning. As educated women, we considered ourselves aware of gender issues in our daily lives. As feminists, we were proud to be strong female role models for our students in and outside of the classroom.Susan was, however, appalled when she discovered through a graduate course that she knew little about women in literature. On further ...
Research Interests:
This article presents the authors’ work when they co-taught seniors about the implications of a male- centered, Eurocentric canon and asked their students to explore who is in the canon and what we can do to make the canon more inclusive.
