Re: greening English in secondary schools?

[Jennifer DeBues <jendebues@yahoo.ca>]

As a student teacher, we read David Orr and I was absolutely taken with his notion that "all education is environmental education".  Our lecturer directed us to many ecocriticism readings and then we were thrust into the reality of the classroom. So far, I haven't found any evidence of greening in secondary English.  The canon is the canon - the students here in my part of Ontario are reading the same books that my sons' friends are reading in Connecticut and Kent.   The English departments I have worked with have no appetite for alternate texts and I have found it difficult to work an environmental stance into my teaching.  (I also teach History and I do not have the same constraints with that subject at all).  

One day I hope to work somewhere where I can try out some of the ideas inLiterature and the Land: Reading and Writing for Environmental Literacy, 7-12 by Emma Wood Rous that get to the heart of eco-literacy.

Thanks for raising the topic here.





----- Original Message ----
From: Clark Meyer <ClarkMeyer@Westminster.Net>
To: asle@interversity.org
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 10:56:58 AM
Subject: Re: [asle] greening English in secondary schools?

Thanks, I have those already and have definitely found them useful.  My interest right now is more specific to the teaching of English, however.  I recently picked up Glotfelty's Ecocriticism Reader, and I'm inspired by her call for change at the university level, her description of the birth of literary environmental studies (including the founding of ASLE).  Moreover, I know that this evolution has continued since she wrote the book in 1996.  But from my limited perspective it strikes me that the trickle-down to the secondary level has been minimal, that we have yet to really participate in this evolutionary process.  Or am I wrong . . . is there change afoot that I'm simply not aware of yet?

Richard, your point is well taken about my not setting up false dichotomies . . . I did preface these sentiments with "In my darker moments."  I do understand the broad value of "literary education of the humanistic type."  But I've also been moved by David Orr's contention that "all education is environmental education" both by inclusion and exclusion.  In literature classes at the secondary level, we pretty well ignore the natural world and our relationship with it, and I'm not comfortable with the implicit environmental education our students receive through this exclusion.

Clark Meyer
English Department
Head Coach, Varsity Girls Soccer
The Westminster Schools
404-609-6257
http://clarkbeast.wordpress.com/


>>> "Kim Leeder" <kimleeder@boisestate.edu> 9/9/2008 4:36 PM >>>
Hi Clark,

A place to start would be The Orion Society's books on nature literacy and
the authors of those titles (some of whom I expect will also respond to
you). Check out:
http://www.orionsociety.org/pages/os/natureliteracy.cfm 

Kim

On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 1:36 PM, Clark Meyer <ClarkMeyer@westminster.net>wrote:

> Greetings, everyone!  I've been lurking on this list for a while now, and
> I'm interested in knowing more about might be happening at the secondary
> school level regarding the teaching of environmental literature.  ASLE's
> focus seems to be higher education; is there anything resembling a
> comparable network for interested educators in middle and high schools? Any
> sort of movement afoot?
>
> From a recent blog post: "I have some questions to ask of my profession.
>  In my darker moments, I wonder why I teach my students the distinction
> between a tercet and a quatrain when they know nothing about tanagers and
> cardinals.  Which kind of learning is more likely to help develop them into
> the kind of adults that will make our planet a more livable place?  And the
> narratives that might help us at this point in our history, why are they not
> a part of the canon we typically share in school?  In the early years of
> this new and uncertain century, what does it mean to be educated any more?
>  Should young people be more familiar with Chaucer and Harper Lee than
> Rachel Carson or Aldo Leopold?"
>
> I imagine that such sentiment is nearly cliche in this community, but it
> has earned me "barbarian at the gates" status within my department, so I'm
> looking both for guidance and strength in numbers.
>
> Clark Meyer
> English Department
> Head Coach, Varsity Girls Soccer
> The Westminster Schools
> 404-609-6257
> http://clarkbeast.wordpress.com/ 
>
>
>


-- 
Kim Leeder
Reference Librarian
Albertsons Library
Boise State University
1910 University Drive
Boise, Idaho 83725
(208) 426-1621

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