SHARP News is developing a new division for writing about book history pedagogy. SHARP in the Classroom will provide tools for teaching book history as well as reflections on pedagogical practices and reviews of resources. It is our intent that this body of work will help veterans of and newcomers to book history teach across our field of knowledge. To this end, we are soliciting pieces for the following sections:
- Pedagogical tools: Do you
teach the global history of the book and want to share how your course works?
Have you successfully integrated library work with theoretical approaches and
have exercises that others can use? Are your assignments creative ways of
evaluating what your students have learned? This section focuses on the
structural support for organizing and evaluating book history classes, whether
as part of a semester-length course or as brief units embedded in other
courses. Syllabi, assignments, and exercises for all ranges of classes and
units are welcome. (200 words for introductory text) - Resource reviews: There
are many resources out there for studying and teaching book history, from
textbooks and readers to databases and websites. But are those resources
useful? And what are they useful for? This section welcomes reviews of any
resources that are intended for or can be used in teaching book history.
(500-1000 words) - Reflections on pedagogy: Teaching
is a complex endeavor, with different strategies and approaches to meet
different needs and audiences. How do you integrate a feminist pedagogy into
classes on text technologies? What can experiential learning do for rare
materials study? Why would critical disability studies be helpful in working
with printing presses? This section provides space for thinking about
pedagogical practices writ large and how they impact our work as teachers. (1000-2000
words) - Voices from the Classroom: Hearing
from students, teachers, and librarians doing book history work in the
classroom can illuminate the benefits and excitement of studying book history.
This section offers a chance to give voice to what being in the classroom is
like. Students can share the work that they’ve produced in courses, teachers
can offer viewpoints from leading that work. (1000-2000 words)
Interested in becoming a peer reviewer for this initiative? Fill out this form: https://forms.gle/DxSeWwk3EstUvGTDA
SHARP in the Classroom is published under a CC BY-NC-SA license and all work is peer reviewed under the auspices of the division’s editor, Sarah Werner, and the guidance of an editorial board.
For queries, contact Sarah Werner at sarah@earlyprintedbooks.com.