2110 Teaching Resources
Sample 2110 SyllabiUse the following links to view various syllabi for 2110.
According to Georgia State 's academic catalog "English 2110 is a survey of important works in world literature." Although vague, that description combined with our own personal limitations places an onerous burden on the new, or even experienced, World Literature teacher. Most of us are trained in British or American Literature, not 3 rd century Chinese poetry, so the amount of preparation involved in teaching a World Literature course is often overwhelming. Some of you may come to World Literature for the first time with a good idea of exactly which texts you would like to teach; however, it's much more likely that you will reach this class with a only dim recollection of favorite readings from your sophomore year, or that you'll be drawing from a haphazardly accumulated well of random texts that you've picked up out of curiosity over the course of your educational career. Since so many of us fall into the latter group, we've constructed a few syllabi and assignments to guide you as you approach World Literature for the first time, or, if you're a veteran, to introduce you to some new strategies.
When you turn to the syllabi section, directly following this introduction, you will find three versions. The first reflects a standard chronological approach. Although it is difficult, if not impossible, to place world literature in anything other than a very broad continuum of influence, a chronological approach is one of the most comfortable ways to deal with the World Literature course, and one of the most popular. The second syllabus illustrates a thematic approach. While the chronological might be the most comfortable approach, many of us find the thematic approach to be the most motivating. Your students will make thematic connections between the texts regardless of whether you choose to approach the class thematically, but giving their readings a theme will allow you and your students to work from the same play book and can make the differences between the cultures much less overpowering. Finally, for those of you interested in form, we've offered a generic (genre-based) syllabus. This syllabus is broken into three sections: poetry, drama, and prose. Within those sections are unlisted subsections further limiting those genres. We've arranged the works chronologically within generic division, but be aware that this syllabus will still require moving back and forth over huge spans of time.
Of course, these syllabi are merely suggestions based on texts and strategies that have worked for us in the past. You will notice, for example, that Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart appears on each of the samples. We've included that work because it's very accessible and extremely popular with our students. For more sample organizational strategies and tips on choosing complimentary texts, look over the opening pages of Teaching with The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces: Expanded Edition in One Volume . The authors offer several different thematic approaches and can help you determine which readings fit your teaching style. You may also notice that we chose to use The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces: Expanded Edition in One Volume in all of the sample syllabi that we presented. We chose that text because it is the only World Literature anthology in one volume, an important issue when you consider the price of multi-volume textbooks. It goes without saying that you can choose to use other textbooks if you so desire. Other anthologies that you might consider are The Bedford Anthology of World Literature and The Longman Anthology of World Literature , both of which have impressive reading selections and come in six volume sets. Of the three text books, we found Bedford 's organizational style to be the most accessible.
Following the syllabi section, you will find a few sample assignments. These assignments reflect the learning outcomes for World Literature and should offer basic guidelines for new World Literature teachers. Hopefully, these assignments should also be easily adaptable to whichever course arrangement you choose.