Thinking Critically About Teaching Criticism: The Literary Theory Implementation Model in Secondary English Classroom
Abstract: With the standardized test movement well under way, students are expected to perform proficiently on standardized assessments associated with reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Much of the burden of this movement inevitably falls with secondary English teachers whose responsibilities now include a daunting task that emphasizes students' abilities to think and read critically (IRA & NCTE. 1999; Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2010; National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2009). Unmistakably, this charge has many challenges. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to describe the results of a participatory action research study about the Literary Theory Implementation Model created by this researcher. This model incorporated an online training program along with a series of researcher developed online YouTube worksheets that could be used as classroom tools to meet this new challenge to English teachers.