Anthology Selections vs Complete Works
© Rebecca Kojetin
About six months ago, our district decided that the freshmen English course needed new grammar and composition books and the sophomore English course needed new literature anthology texts. Thus, the search began.
As a group of teachers who wanted to be involved in the selection of the new texts; we met after school to peruse sample texts, weigh the advantages and drawbacks of each text, and choose the texts we thought would best fit the existing curriculum.
Next we had to meet when the chosen books arrived, to determine the material that would be included in every freshmen and sophomore English course. The major concern that was brought up was whether we should include more complete works and cut out some of the short stories, non-fiction, and poetry; or should we just leave well enough alone.
Using a large number of short stories does have a few advantages. First, it allows students to experience a wide variety of authors and genre types. Short selections can also allow the teacher to address literary concepts without having to unravel a complicated plot. However, continuous use of short selections and excerpts does not develop the ability to follow complex plots and to maintain the attention span needed to read a lengthy piece.
Using complete novels and plays gives teachers a great deal to work with. The plot structure for a complete work requires students to maintain a memory of what has happened. It also requires students to understand the various subplots and to keep them separate. Since a novel gives the author a canvas on which to create a well rounded character, it gives teachers a means to analyze a character and character relationships with students. The novel can link with history of a time period or the plights of a social class. It can give a teacher a broader base of ideas to use for discussion and projects. If the right novel is chosen, the work can be studied in depth.
These are some of the concepts that came up in our discussion as we attempted to determine what to leave in the old curriculum and what should be added. For our sophomores, we will be requiring Silas Marnar, Antigone, and a choice of either Julius Caesar or Hamlet; then each teacher can choose for second novel from the following four: A Separate Peace, The Pearl, Frankenstein, or Things Fall Apart. We pared down the list of short stories, poems, and non-fiction selections. It is not that these are less important, but we felt that they get enough of these in their freshmen year. Now, to figure out ways to get the students interested.
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