NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF WOMEN WRITERS
In teaching a content-based writing course at Michigan State University focusing on issues surrounding women in America, I had serious difficulty selecting affordable textbooks that included the range and variety of textual documents that I need to foreground such a complex area of study and discourse. Eventually I chose The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women as the most affordable and inclusive anthology available, but in doing so I had to sacrifice a number of the political documents that are essential in contextualizing the study of women's issues in American thought and language. Documents as fundamental as the 1848 Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments are not included in the NALW. My own problems with text selection, however, brought a new richness to my teaching; in addition to the usual print-based media, specifically the NALW, I've used web-based materials from special collections, such as rare books and letters; e-library documents like the Declaration and the 1966 Statement of Purpose for the National Organization for Women; and websites presenting a wide range of womenAEs studies resources. My students learn to read otraditionaloe texts with a new eye; they develop their papers more throughly and research them more completely and imaginatively as a result of our creative conjunction of text and web-based resources.
Presenter: Lisa Rashley
Categories:
- History
- Classroom practice
Target Audience: Not Applicable
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