| This archival study explores what happens when students transact with literary theories in the high school English classroom and describes how their responses affect this teacher's practice and pedagogical beliefs. Various genres of student writing are examined as students respond to pieces of literature through various theoretical lenses, such as Deconstruction, African American Critical Theory, Psychoanalytic Theories, Feminism, Poststructuralism, Queer Theory. The nature of student transactions is explored to better understand how: (a) students engage in a dialogue with literature using various literary theories, and (b) theories in dialogue with literary texts influence students' responses.;This study asserts that including literary theories in literary critical analysis enhances the dialogue by inviting students to read from multiple perspectives. This ability to read from and understand multiple perspectives is a requirement of and a fulfillment of a pedagogy rooted in democratic impulses, for the democratic dialogue ideally invites and respects multiple and diverse voices.;Hence, the essential questions of this artifact study are: What happens when students transact with literary theories in the high school English classroom, and how does that affect how I see my own practice and pedagogical beliefs? . |
