A Prospective Teacher's Pedagogy

In my "Theories of Composition and Rhetoric Class," the prerequisite to teach First Year Composition at UCF, we have been talking a lot about axiology (what constitutes good writing?) and pedagogy (what can we do in the classroom to enable students to achieve this sort of good writing?).  This leads me to ponder the same questions regarding literature...

What constitutes good literature?  How can I get students to dissect good literature and appreciate it more fully?  What is my pedagogy for teaching literature?

"What constitutes good literature?" is an important question to consider before diving into my final essay, which will try to convince my reader to teach a novel of my choice in his or her classroom.  I want to promote Frances Burney's Evelina, but I need to decide why it is so wonderful and teachable, and--more than that--what makes it a "must-teach"?  I absolutely love it, but this is not enough.  I will turn to the critics and return to this question this weekend.

The second question, "How can I get my students to dissect good literature and appreciate it more fully?", is crucial.  Showalter emphasizes the necessity to engage students (50), and I believe that the first step in this process is choosing a worthwhile text (a process which I will explore in my final paper).  However, after this, what topics and questions should I raise and what type of assignments should I give?  The more I read Textual Power by Robert Scholes, the more I see the benefit of picking out passages for discussion and analysis based on how the passage will contribute to the students' holistic picture of the author's craft and techniques.  Why not have students read several Hemingway short stories that highlight common themes Hemingway explores or illuminate certain aspects of his craft?  In other words, I would not pick the least "Hemingwayean-seeming" story and present it to the class as a solid representation of who Hemingway is as a writer.  I could perhaps teach "On the Quai at Smyrna" paired with "Indian Camp" and use the first interchapter to highlight the general and cultural codes that link the stories together.  In doing so, we would be analyzing Hemingway's craft as well as exploring the code of interpretation, to "make the object of study the whole intertextual system of relations that connects" the parts together (Scholes 31).

Whew!  Easier said that done, right?  In my position paper 2, I will be exploring how this can be achieved.  I plan to explore how the first interchapter of In Our Time illuminates meaning in "On the Quai at Smyrna" (and vice versa) by examining the codes that, if interpreted and "unlocked" can lead to a fuller understanding of the text.  This is something I need to explore more fully before writing position paper 2.