Cultivating Confusion in Teaching The Turn of the Screw

ABSTRACT

This narrative inquiry explores the author’s attempt to teach Henry James’s novella The Turn of the Screw in a high school English class, making the celebration of confusion – in the tradition of John Dewey – the cornerstone of the experience. The students’ interpretive discourse is analysed, prompting reflection on promising approaches, opportunities, and challenges connected with teaching difficult literary texts in high school and introductory college courses.

KEYWORDS:

• Literature
• confusion
• secondary pedagogy
• teaching of reading
• Henry James
• John Dewey

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Andrew Rejan

Andrew Rejan teaches English at Darien High School in Connecticut (USA). He holds degrees from Yale University, Middlebury College, and Teachers College, Columbia University, where he received his PhD in English education and served as an instructor in the Teaching of English master’s programme. His articles have been published in English Education, English Journal, and Changing English, and his current research projects include work on the disciplinary history of English education and on the impact of artificial intelligence in the teaching of writing about literature.