The Anthologized Literature Classroom: A Community of Interpreters.

An anthologized classroom is one in which students are writing toward an anthology of their own essays and drawing on the anthologies of previous classes. Students choose which of their own essays to include, and the works are then photocopied, bound, and sold to the students at cost before the end of the semester. The central challenge to the student is to write an essay which another student would be interested in reading. The most difficult challenge is faced in an introduction to literature course, because students have the feeling that they have little to offer in such a setting. In reading student writing on literature, students often criticize features of the texts which the teacher wants to praise, so that the teacher attempts to persuade the students to the teacher's point of view. Students often resist strongly academic writing on literature. Instead, students tend to compliment features such as commitment, passion, and personal voice. Not all students like the same personal essays, differences which sometimes foster highly emotional debates. Students must also try to frame the essay in an eye-catching way, such as through an imaginative title. Besides contributing to a sense of community, the anthologies function as a kind of frame around the course, thus helping to define it by providing students with structure, with examples of previous discourse, and with the instructor's own experience of defining the discipline. (HB)