Great World Texts in Wisconsin is a yearlong program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Center for the Humanities that brings contemporary and historical literature from around the world to life in Wisconsin high schools. Focusing on different texts each year, UW–Madison scholars produce an educators’ guide and a series of on-campus programs for high school teachers and their classes.
Great World Texts in Wisconsin is a yearlong program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Center for the Humanities that brings contemporary and historical literature from around the world to life in Wisconsin high schools. Focusing on different texts each year, UW–Madison scholars produce an educators’ guide and a series of on-campus programs for high school teachers and their classes.
Great World Texts in Wisconsin is diverse by design, both in terms of its participants and the texts on which it focuses. The program draws in classes from around the state.
“This is not a program that’s only for Advanced Placement students or the most college-ready students,” Humanities Center Director Sara Guyer notes in a video (below) introducing the program. “Great works of literature are for everybody and we believe, I believe, and the program demonstrates, that that diversity is precisely what literature is good for.”
The choice of texts each year reflects this commitment to diversity. “We like to reflect geographic and historical range,” Guyer says. “There are so many places and parts of the world that we want to think about and explore with these students.” With these considerations in mind, the Center tends to select texts that are not usually taught but that offer opportunities for learning close reading, discussion, and analysis.