YOUNG ADULT LIT + ANTI-RACIST TEACHING
Essential questions:
- What does it look like to teach literature through anti-racist and anti-oppressive approaches?
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How do we read and discuss literature with an eye toward disrupting whiteness, white supremacy, and white savior tropes, and more?
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How do English teachers design anti-racist and anti-oppressive educative and responsible ways -- and without doing “extra”?
- How might we advance anti-racist YA lit teaching in the broader English teacher community?
Course objectives:
- Know and be able to use accurate critical race concepts while analyzing and discussing literature
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Design and facilitate critical race discussions about literature
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Gain comfort/affective stamina analyzing and discussing anti-Blackness, racism, whiteness, etc. in literature
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Analyze characteristics of young adult literature and reimagine what counts in the genre
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Evaluate young adult literature as an effective and creative tool capturing contemporary moments/realities
- Connect with English teachers who are teaching and developing anti-oppressive curriculum around young adult literature
Michigan State University
2021
SYLLABUS