Categorising the Imagination in the Age of Standards-based Reforms: Teaching, Learning and Culture in the English Classroom

Abstract

In this essay I explore the tensions between the static nature of standardised assessment and the dynamic student-focussed approach to appreciating literature that I value. I have closely analysed two of a series of lessons on the gothic literary genre taught by a student teacher on her first placement. By reflecting critically on my own journey as a teacher and by drawing on the recent debate surrounding the inculcation of genre theory in the curriculum, this essay aims to explore the way that such standard-based reforms can shape and mould the topic.

Keywords:

• English
• standards-based reform
• practice
• learning
• genre theory
• curriculum
• culture
• canon
• collaborative learning