The BYOT (Bring your own text) Assignment
In university I took an English class entitled "Victorian Children's Literature" and as a final project in that class, we had to choose a book from the 1800's and research/document everything about that book that we could. We could either find the book at a thrift store, in the library's Special Collections or use one we already had. We would then read that book and report on the content as well as observe the book and report on its make and makers. The most exciting part of this project was that if there was an inscription of the reader/ owner then we could look into the person and imagine what their experience was with the book.
Now in order to learn as much as possible, our professor allowed us to have a seminar themed presentation of our projects at the end of the semester. This meant that we would bring in the physical book, a poster that showed the theme of our project and the documentation to our last class. Then the class would split in half and for half of class time, your group would either be walking around the room looking/ discussing projects or sitting at a desk with your project and presenting to the students that came in front of you.
(Me presenting my project beside a friend during the seminar!)
My BYOT
The text that I brought to this course was "A Picture History of England for the Young". This book is significant for multiple reasons both personal ( I got it on the day I got engaged) and also educational (it was with this project that I received the highest accolade of my undergraduate degree). However, as a whole, this project was specifically the most memorable assignment that I have ever had as a student. This is because I was given autonomy to choose a book that inspired and interested me, I was able to express my knowledge of the book in three different formats (poster, essay and presentation) none of which were overwhelming and there was never a wrong answer.
Throughout my English degree, I was constantly told by professors to write reflections on what I was getting out of my reading and my perspective of the subject matter. However, my perspective was often considered "wrong" as if there was a very specifically correct way that I should be comprehending the hidden meanings of literature. This concept that there was always going to be a right and a wrong way of interpreting any given novel always bothered me. Why wasn't I allowed to venture into my own observations without being told "No"? In this BYOT assignment I had more than enough room to do just that! I was finally allowed to ask questions or make theories without the fear of being told "Yes" or "No", and I was given recognition for making those ventures. It was amazing!
All of the above being said, I I am a student that love structure and maybe from the first glance it doesn't sound as though this assignment had very many guidelines, but it did! Our teacher specified certain research points that we had to talk about within our essay (the novel's make and maker, its genre, its potential purpose, who read it, how popular it was), and the novel had to be from a specific time period and intended for a particular audience (a child's book from the 1800's isn't simple to find). Thus, the project allowed (for me) the perfect mix of creativity and guidance.
This project also allowed for better memorization and comprehension of particular content learned in the course. As this book addressed Victorian literature the class learned about bookbinding, copy editing, publishers, and engravers and because we had to address all of these topics within our research of our chosen novel the specific information about these subjects was more accessible.
BC Teachers Standards
In BC there are certain standards expected of teachers which fall into the branches of : Knowledge, Practice and Commitment. Summarized this means that teachers should be:
- Caring of all of their students which includes being interested in learning alongside them.
- Interested in contributing to the field of education in the support of their students.
- Have a substantial base of knowledge and expertise in their teaching subject.
- Actively assisting student development (both inside and outside the classroom).
- Showing respect to their students and those integral to their student's growth.
- Intentional and sincere in their practice as an educator and thus role model.
Taking My Learning Foward
After reading the BC teaching standards I do believe that my professor actively engaged in all of the expectations set out for her as an educator:
- She showed us respect by giving us the tools and lessons we needed in order to succeed in this project.
- She allowed us to develop in that we took responsibility for our learning while also offering us support whenever we needed it.
- She was knowledgeable about her subject and even more so about her assignments as she could always supplement our progress.
- She was asking for these assignments so that we could add contributions and insight into the realm of Victorian literature.
It was because she exceeded the expectations set before her as an educator that I found myself to be a better student. This project allowed me to grow as a learner as I discovered how to research archives from the 1800's, how to tell the difference between bookbinding, how to see an educational theme within literature and how to predict the popularity of a novel without any statistics.
Transforming this Inspiration into High School cirriculum
I want to adapt this project to a high school level because it insisted that I use creativity, critical thinking skills and multi-modal displays of progress --- ALL of which are currently being incorporated into today's BC high school curriculum for English Language Arts.
I think that a project like this will allow high school students the type of autonomy that they need to get excited about English and motivated to learn.
One way to adapt this project would be to have the students choose a novel/story that they read as a child (and hopefully had an inscription inside). Then they would do a write-up on the novel discussing its themes, its plot, its popularity in the country as well as their own personal opinion of the piece as well as who bought it for them and how was it physically created/ by whom. Then the students could easily present it in the same way that we did at UVic, with both an essay and poster and presentations in a seminar of their peers.