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Oh pants. This is going to be embarrasing.
p, li { white-space: pre-wrap; } This week saw my students undergoing their assessed discussions in a module on cultural theory. Since a central theme of this module is to explore popular culture and...
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Why I stopped believing in MOOCs
p, li { white-space: pre-wrap; } When I was starting out in education, I really longed for an exciting range of technological solutions that could engage students from a distance, and encourage online...
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New Year Resolutions for a Balanced Academic
Today was my first day back at work, and I have to be honest I came with something of a spring in my step. Despite the break I had managed to get some good work done so had little to fear from my...
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Google Translate for Academic Writng?
The other night, and in view of the fact that my students were facing an imminent submission deadline, I tweeted a number of hints and tips for polishing up essay drafts prior to submission. In all...
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The American Revolution: A Brief History
By the middle of the eighteenth century (1750), the English colonies in America ranged from north to south along the eastern side of the Appalachian Mountains. The French, dividing the loyalties of the...
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The Search for an Independent American Literature
Following the American Revolution of 1776 American literary culture underwent a considerable period of identity crisis. What is American literature? Is there any such thing? If there is, is it anything...
View ArticleEugene O'Neill
By the end of the nineteenth century, the problem of production monopolies such as the Syndicate and the Schubert Brothers, and their stultifying effect on theatre, had been countered inEurope by the...
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Clifford Odets
"The Great Depression", writes Anne Fletcher, "no doubt defined the American 1930s" (2007, p. 108). It is perhaps difficult for us to understand the impact of the Depression in American in the 1930s....
View ArticleClifford Odets: Topic Questions
Watch this video and consider the following (ALERT! Contains plotspoilers!):1) What do we learn about each of the characters in this scene? Try mapping out each of the characters and comparing this...
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Tennessee Williams
The Depression of the 1930s had left many questioning the extent to which the America envisioned by the Founding Fathers, the America of idealism, of optimism, and of equality, had really succeeded....
View ArticleArthur Miller and the American Dream
The notion of the American Dream has now established itself fully into the mythological life not only of America, but of many nations around the world – including (arguably) our own. The term ‘American...
View ArticleChildren's Literature Assessment Design
For this task, due on 10th June, you will be writing an essay – but not just an ordinary essay. Remembering that one of the learning outcomes for this module is to “[d]evelop skills in crafting writing...
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Something New: Designing a new module in Children's Literature
In the forthcoming semester, I will be embracing something NEW and teaching a module on children’s literature – a significant shift from my areas of specialism in eighteenth-century literature,...
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Re. Clothes do not make the scholar?
This morning's interesting read comes again from Pat Thomson's excellent blog, in which today she comments on several articles that have focused on the dress sense of academics. These articles, she...
View ArticleShaun Tan: Migration, Displacement and Belonging in Children's Picturebooks
I have been reading a lot about Shaun Tan in recent weeks. His illustrated books are extraordinary things, and well worth a look. Equally interesting though, is what Tan himself says about them -...
View ArticleIt's fine to be angry about government, but not to become self-righteous
A comment was made to me recently that I had been keeping 'rather quiet' of late. It was nice of anybody to notice of course - and I muttered some drivel about marking, and assessment boards, and...
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What is 'language'?
Loading...Language is frequently defined as being simply a form of communication – and this is true to an extent, because language is certainly a means of communication. But then there are many ways in...
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Introduction to morphemes
So does language begin with words?No. Language begins with sounds. It is important to understand this first and foremost. We have already raised this point, but it is worth raising again – language...
View ArticlePlato's cave, reality, and stuff
Today was my first day back in the classroom (hooray!), and despite feeling about as unprepared and disorganised as I ever have on a first week, it is certainly good to be doing 'real work' again....
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