English
*Asterisk indicates that the course may be offered less than once every two years.
Children's Literature
ENGL7010 3 cr.
Students in this class study the content of classic and contemporary children's literature plus various approaches for interpreting and teaching a wide variety of children's texts. Close attention is paid to emerging trends in children's literature as well as to the literature's enduring concerns.
The Modern Secondary School
ENGL7012 3 cr.
This course is required of all MAT candidates who do not have initial licensure to teach and covers a broad range of issues faced by teachers in today's secondary schools. Students become familiar with the complexities and demands of secondary school teaching. The course includes 25 hours of prepracticum experience.
Teaching College Writing
ENGL7020 3 cr.
This course is designed to prepare English graduate students or others with proper academic credentials to teach introductory college-level writing, introduce students to central issues, problems, and theories in composition studies, and to examine ways in which our experience as writers can help shape the teaching of composition. Although the emphasis on this course will be on the central, practical tasks of teaching writing, we will move beyond a simple, prescriptive "how-to" in order to examine other theoretical and pedagogical issues that shape what we do and why.
Advanced Methods of Teaching at the Secondary Level
ENGL8000 3 cr.
This course combines academic study with clinical practice and supervision. Theories and topics studied and demonstrated include learning styles, critical thinking, computer applications and inclusive learning environments. Emphasis is placed on integrating culturally or linguistically diverse students and those with special needs. Interdisciplinary course development and implementation, student assessment including portfolio assessment and writing are studied for utilization across the curriculum.
Prerequisite: ENGL7012 or initial teacher licensure.
Creative Writing
ENGL8020 3 cr.
This course facilitates the writing of poetry and/or short fiction in a workshop atmosphere.
The Robert Cormier Collection
ENGL8035 3 cr.
This course is a study of the writings of Robert Cormier, the internationally acclaimed Leominster author, using materials in the Robert Cormier Manuscript Collection at Fitchburg State College. "The Chocolate War," "I Am the Cheese," "Tenderness," "Heroes," "Frenchtown Summer," and other works by Cormier are examined.
Theories and Principles of Language Learning
*ENGL8040 3 cr.
This course provides teachers of multilingual students with a theoretical background for the teaching and learning of languages. It introduces research into second language acquisition from perspectives of the fields of linguistics, psychology and education. Topics include language acquisition; learning styles and strategies; effects of personality, age, motivation and sociological factors; and the role of the first language. Discussions explore the relationship of theory to methodology and classroom practice.
Methods and Materials in ESL
*ENGL8042 3 cr.
The major methodological approaches to teaching English as a Second Language (ESL), including a historical survey and a review of current applications, are explored in this course. The following topics are discussed: interactive, communicative classroom practices; teaching reading, writing, listening, oral communication, grammar, and vocabulary; testing and designing and evaluating classroom materials.
Graduate Study & Research in English
ENGL8050 3 cr.
Designed for students who are new to the English Graduate Program, this course promotes the student's ability to do independent and creative scholarly research and to become more competent in critical approaches to literature, research techniques, new methodologies, and technologies, as well as library and archival examination. Students in the MAT in English Licensure Program develop the research proposal for the classroom research project required during their 400 hour Internship/Clinical experience.
Literature in the Classroom: Readers, Text and Teachers
ENGL8070 3 cr.
This course examines the place of literature in today's middle and secondary school classroom. Using the Standards for the English Language Arts (NCTE and IRA) and the Massachusetts English Language Arts Curriculum Framework as guides, we consider the choice of classic and contemporary literature for whole class and individual reading, strategies for creating responsive and reflective readers of literature, and means of assessing student performance. We will explore the impact of new media and electronic technology on our thinking about literature, literature instruction, and the way people read is explored. Other topics include the application of multiple intelligence theory to the study of literature, the fostering of aesthetic experience of literature, ways of weaving women's literature and multicultural literature into the curriculum, and the teaching of Shakespeare. We experiment with and evaluate a variety of teaching approaches to engage students in active and critical response to literature.
Literature for Young Adults
ENGL8071 3 cr.
Literature for Young Adults is a survey of current books written especially for middle and secondary school students, as well as a study of strategies for teaching them. The emphasis is on the newest books available in paperback that are suitable for classroom use or recreational reading. Strategies for encouraging student engagement with literature, for pairing young adult novels with the classics and for sharing responses are modeled by the professor and evaluated by students.
Process Writing Across the Curriculum
ENGL8076 3 cr.
Writing across the curriculum provides learners with the opportunity to investigate their own thinking as they go beyond the surface level of text or subject matter to arrive at meaningful connections and insights. Students investigate creative approaches to introduce current research journals into portfolios and audience assessment. Working independently and in cooperative learning groups, participants immerse themselves in the reading/writing/thinking process, create their own portfolios, design mini-lessons, conduct research, and share their learning and thinking.
Literature and Film
ENGL8085 3 cr.
This is an introduction to the relationship between literature and film through the critical study of each medium. Special consideration is given to matters of characterization, narration, plot, setting, theme and tone in written works and films. Students are introduced to conventions of the documentary and fictional film, principles of scriptwriting and the elements of formal screen production.
Practicum
ENGL8090/8091 6 cr.
Student teaching experience is offered to give practical classroom experience to those degree students who have not satisfied the state requirements for certification. Students may enroll for a second semester by permission.
Curriculum and Technology
ENGL8250 3 cr.
This course looks at the integration of educational technology in the classroom and its relationship to learning theories and curriculum, specifically, the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. This course explores the use of the Internet as a classroom resource to strengthen curriculum. Various Internet related topics are covered, such as acceptable use policies and copyright issues.
Curriculum Design & Development
ENGL8260 3 cr.
This course is designed to provide students with knowledge and skills of the curriculum development-revision process. The course examines societal demands on the curriculum and the role of the American school in a democratic and multicultural society as students assess, revise, and implement instructional programs and the curriculum in a systematic and logical way. Active participation in school-based curriculum teams, IEP teams, site-based management teams and community groups teach effective delivery of services to all students and school improvement/reform efforts. In collaborative groups students review, revise, and expand the curriculum and assessment procedures in order to integrate current research findings and education reform initiatives.
Literary Theory: Practical Applications
for Today's Readers
ENGL9000 3 cr.
This course surveys theories of literature with emphasis on applying them to our readings of a wide variety of texts. Study includes a brief historical survey, but focuses on such contemporary practices as cultural studies and feminist theory. Texts and theoretical schools may vary from semester to semester. Practical applications in the classroom and in one's own reading guide class discussion.
Chaucer
ENGL9010 3 cr.
Students read Chaucer's major works, beginning with early poems and lyrics, then concentrating on The Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde. Focus is on the Middle English Language; critical approaches, and literary analysis.
The Literature of the Middle Ages
ENGL9011 3 cr.
The course surveys selected texts from the Middle Ages, starting with Beowulf and Old English lyrics, and including representative Middle English, Celtic, Anglo-Norman and French works. Various genres are covered, including epic, lyric, drama, Arthurian romance, legend, religious verse and satire. All works except the Middle English are read in translation.
The Practice of Poetry: Critical Reading, Creative Writing
ENGL9012 3 cr.
This active-learning course explores the contemporary poetry scene: productions, performances and discussions of poetry as it is practiced today. Students compose original poems in a variety of styles and learn interactive methods of responding to poetry. Students read literary works representing major poetry trends. Students visit the computer lab, learning the basics of accessing online poetry groups and publications online. Students attend a live or taped reading, research several literary journals and prepare either a final paper or a selection of original poems.
Folklore in American Culture
ENGL 9015 4 cr.
In this course, students will be introduced to the academic discipline of folklore-its principle organizing methods and theories-and to the development of folk traditions within America and, more particularly, New England. Without necessarily knowing it, we are surrounded from birth to death by a folk culture of our own making. Older than the most renowned literary classics and as contemporary as the latest slang expressions, the stories, jokes, proverbs, ballads and rhymes we share with each other are telling indices of where we've been and where we're headed. Folklore includes traditions that are informally propagated, adaptable to individual innovations and common to cultures around the world. It emerges from occupational, regional, and ethnic contexts, and it's ours. Emphasis will be on verbal forms-i.e. oral traditions studied through textual analysis as a form of literature. Indeed, as has often been acknowledged, orality precedes literacy in all cultures, and folk motifs are often the building blocks of poems, works of fiction and plays. The course will also peruse such "non-verbal" forms as traditional crafts, architecture, foodways, on the assumption that such objects and processes also lend themselves to being read as texts.
Composition Theory and Practice
ENGL 9016 3 cr.
This course is intended to help students create a framework for generating their own philosophy of writing. It is intended to help students develop a deeper understanding of their own writing processes, to recognize the complexities of literacy and writing, and to become more conscious of the rhetorical choices writers make in different writing situations.
Shakespeare's Major Plays
ENGL9020 3 cr.
This course examines Shakespeare's major plays in relation to the culture and interpretive concerns of both Shakespeare's world and our contemporary one. Special emphasis is placed on his works as read, taught, performed and constructed in regard to power, gender, class and literary aesthetics.
Revisiting the Romantics
ENGL9035 3 cr.
This course emphasizes the work of romantic era writers (1780-1830). Students examine the key aesthetic and political debates of the time through an analysis of essays, poetry, novels and plays. Authors include such writers as Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley, William Godwin, Dorothy and William Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats and Byron.
The Quiet Revolution: 19th-Century American Women Writers
ENGL9036 3 cr.
This course considers texts by Matilda Joslin Gage, Sarah Orne Jewett, Harriet Jacobs, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ida B. Wells and others. Students learn how these women used essays, magazine and newspaper columns, novels, short stories and slave narratives as a public forum for discussing issues such as sexism, racism, the reform of labor, marriage, property, voting and education.
American Renaissance:
Works by Hawthorne, Poe, and Others
ENGL9037 3 cr.
This course looks at fiction and poetry by several great American writers of the mid 19th century. Readings will explore the revolution that took place in the treatment of nature and science in the middle of that century.
Mark Twain and American Humor
ENGL9040 3 cr.
This course surveys several of Twain's works, with a focus on his performance as a humorist and as a wry commentator on and critic of American life. The course explores Twain's treatment of such serious issues as race and cultural conformity through the medium of laughter. Humorists who share the Twain legacy, such as Kurt Vonnegut and stand-up comics, are also studied.
American Art and Literature 1800-1860
ENGL9046 3 cr.
This course explores the relationship between the plastic art and the literary art of the new nation. Students learn to identify the forces that inspired imaginative production in both art forms during the period that attempted to define the American style. Slides of paintings as well as literary texts are studied.
Women in European Literature
ENGL9047 3 cr.
At the center of this course are texts by women authors from various European countries written during the 18th through the 20th centuries. Students consider the kinds of writings published by women, their audiences and motivations and the accessibility or popularity of their writings. Close analysis and discussion of individual texts lead students to consider variations of these factors between countries and time periods.
Multicultural Children's Literature
ENGL9048 3 cr.
This course focuses on contemporary multicultural children's literature and requires students to learn and apply appropriate interpretive strategies for understanding texts and cultural contexts. Students gain and demonstrate a firm understanding of the major critical issues regarding multicultural children's literature and formulate and support personal responses to these issues.
The World Novel to 1914
ENGL9049 3 cr.
This course examines significant novels outside the American/English literary canon in translation representing the development of the form. Selected authors may include comic, romantic (Sand), realist (Balzac, Flaubert), and psychological (de Assis, Micha'lis).
20th Century British and American Poetry
ENGL9052 3 cr.
This seminar explores the works of poets such as Auden, H.D., Lowell, Plath, Roethke, Kinnell, Rich, Heaney, Bishop, Walcott and Hughes. Students make presentations on assigned topics and may also be required to attend live and filmed poetry readings.
Modern Irish Literature
ENGL9055 3 cr.
This seminar concentrates on major works by Irish poets such as Yeats, Heaney, Muldoon; Irish fiction writers such as Joyce, O'Connor, O'Faolain; and Irish playwrights such as Synge, O'Casey, Friel.
Contemporary World Literature
ENGL9058 3 cr.
Particular emphasis in this course is placed on authors who write to effect changes in our perceptions of the other so we may understand the otherness of ourselves. Authors studied include: Conrad, Forster, Achebe, Gordimer, Fugard and others.
The Shapes of Modern Drama
ENGL9059 3 cr.
In this seminar students read plays from such traditions as the realist, the symbolist and the expressionist, including works by Yeats, Pirandello, Beckett, Pinter and Mamet.
Women Writers Around the World:
Stories of Maturation and Initiation
ENGL9060 3 cr.
Students take a global approach to women's stories of growing up found in autobiographies, novels, short stories, and poetry. This course includes works by authors such as Toni Cade Bambara, Nawal El Saadawi, bell hooks, Leslie Marmon Silko and Jeanette Winterson. Much of this literature is appropriate for use in the high school classroom.
Africa Through the Novel
ENGL9061 3 cr.
Students read, examine and discuss texts by African writers who have (re)constructed, in their imaginary worlds, specific and multiple visions of African life. All texts were written in the 20th century, although some portray periods prior to that time. Emphasis is on characteristics of style, politics and culture evoked in these works and aspects of contemporary literary theory pertaining to African literature today.
Canon Formation in African American Literature
ENGL9063 3 cr.
This course examines texts by African American writers who have (re)constructed in their imaginary worlds specific and multiple visions of African-American life. All of the texts read in this course were written during the 19th and 20th centuries, but some of them involve historical periods prior to these times. Others are informed by variations of historical consciousness of the past/present/future.
Three American Literatures:
Native American, African American, and Asian American
ENGL9064 3 cr.
The focus of this course is on relationships between culture and society as works by three groups of Americans are considered within historical, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Discussion may concern questions of identity, family, initiation, politics and ideology, education, gender, aggression and violence. Special attention is paid to the novel as a popular art form in aesthetic and social terms.
Women in Contemporary Society
ENGL9065 3 cr.
Women as a force in society are the focus of this cross-discipline course. The political, social and economic issues concerning women are subjects for student research. Areas explored include anthropology, business, education, history, literature, philosophy, psychology, sociology, science and the arts. Students also consider the role of cultural diversity (both nationally and internationally) in the scholarship of women.
Latin American Novels
ENGL9066 3 cr.
This course offers an introduction to the literature of the various cultural areas of Latin America. Such authors as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Amado and Miguel Angel Asturias are studied in their English translations. The roles of the church and the Latin American family are examined as well as the image of tropical nature. Comparisons to English/North American literature are made when useful.
Asian English Literature in Cultural Context
ENGL9067 3 cr.
This course covers selected works, mostly fiction and memoir, of American, Canadian and British writers of Asian ancestry including Maxine Hong Kingston and Gail Tsukiyama. We gain familiarity with the Asian cultural framework of the writers in order to understand differences with western traditions and expectations.
Topics Course
ENGL9075 3 cr.
Course content varies from semester to semester, reflecting contemporary issues in the discipline and depending upon student and faculty interest.
Independent Study
ENGL9080 3 cr.
Independent study provides special individualized study under close supervision for students excelling in scholarship.
Master's Thesis Research
ENGL9100 3 cr.
The student researches in depth a topic of their own interest in English. Students who successfully complete this course should enroll in ENGL 9200 Master's Thesis Writing.
Prerequisite: Signed permission from the Graduate English Chair.
Master's Thesis Writing
ENGL9200 3 cr.
Using the research developed in the Master's Thesis Research course, the student will write a master's thesis under the guidance of a faculty member and following the Graduate English Thesis Guidelines.
Prerequisite: Signed permission from the graduate English chair and Master's Thesis Research.
Clinical Experience
ENGL9400 6 cr.
See BIOL 9400 for course description.
Internship
ENGL9500 6 cr.
The internship is a clinical, capstone experience allowing full integration and application of content knowledge and pedagogical theory and practice. It should incorporate all standards specific to the discipline of English as well as all common standards for classroom teachers (section 7.04). Students must fulfill a minimum of 400 clock hours or one full semester on site under the auspices of the college.
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