StC News
Upper School English teacher completes second summer study in Middlebury College Bread Loaf program
Whalen, who spent last summer at Oxford, studied in Ripton, Vt. this summer
During the summer of 2016 Upper School English teacher Chris Whalen began working on a master’s degree through Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English. Program participants complete the degree over four or five summers, spending time at campuses in the U.K. and in the United States. Chris began his studies last summer at Oxford and continued them this summer at the program's campus in Ripton, Vermont. Earlier this week we caught up with Chris to learn more about his progress, what he's studying, and how his studies will play out this year in the classroom back at St. Christopher's.
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What was your focus this summer?
I took a courses on The Arabian Nights and Theory and Criticism.
What did you read?
Two different translations of The Nights, essays on Orientalism, Islam and common tropes in The Nights, excerpts from the Bible, a wide array of theory and criticism, The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson, I Love Dick by Chris Kraus, Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine. I also managed some pleasure reading in the midst of all of this. I read Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, The Circle by Dave Eggers, and I’m sure I read a few more.
What performances did you see?
I saw a performance of Othello and Red Velvet. I also saw Nancie Atwell (a winner of the global teaching award and author of various pedagogical texts) speak. She emphasizes personal choice in reading. Her middle school students typically read about 40 texts a year! I plan on encouraging personal choice in reading a bit more, but can’t really replicate her method in a high school. I also attended readings by my peers and professors.
What have you learned this summer that you can't wait to teach this fall?
I’m interested to see how using some of Nancie Atwell’s strategies works out. I also think I can teach a bit of The Arabian Nights in conjunction with Things Fall Apart. Kids get hung up on the cultural differences between Okonkwo’s village and their day-to-day life. Teaching The Nights could offer them a wider global scope.
How far are you into the program? What's next?
I’m two years into the program. I have three years left if I continue at this pace. I plan on returning to Vermont next year. There’s a course on race in American lit. that I think could really inform my teaching given the current political landscape. I also want to take a course about theater in the classroom. There are two courses I want to take in Oxford with my remaining two years. I want to experience the tutorial format, which requires one-on-one meetings with a professor and (according to Oxford) an average of 13 hours of independent research before each meeting.
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