Educational Resources for Teaching and Learning About Walker Percy
Educational Materials for Use by Teachers, Students, and General Readers of Walker Percy
Directory
Through the following directory links, you can choose learning activities for various levels, beginning with two sections that will interest general readers.
General Resources (All Audiences)
The Project offers resources for all audiences, including new enthusiasts of Walker Percy. Explore the Project's website, watch a documentary of his life, and participate in Percy discussion and writing opportunities.
"Why it is that of all the billions and billions of strange objects in the Cosmos – novas, quasars, pulsars, black holes – you are beyond doubt the strangest?"
— Walker Percy
The Project as In-depth Educational Resource
The Walker Percy Project itself is designed as a permanent interactive educational resource. All levels of readers will find value in its many different sections where you can find information on (and informational links to) Percy's life, his work, and the cultural legacies of both.
Using the various sections of the Project leads to such learner-based outcomes as critical reading and writing skills, engagement with humanities-centered values, and the ability to think critically about literary culture. For instance, the Interactive Exhibits, Quizzes, Multimedia Gallery, Listserv Discussion, and Stories Writing Forum each entertain as well as inform.
Walker Percy Documentary
Louisiana filmmaker Winston Riley filmed and directed a documentary about Walker Percy that aired on PBS. The one-hour movie contains rare video footage of the author and interviews with other writers and those who knew him personally. To learn more about the film or purchase it for a viewing, visit the Walker Percy: A Documentary Film website. The documentary video trailer is available both there and on YouTube.
Discussion and Writing Opportunities
Percy-L Discussion: Percy students, general readers, and scholars may wish to submit learning or discussion questions to the Percy-L listserv community, another educational opportunity.
Stories Writing Forum: Submit personal responses to Percy's writings in the Stories Writing Forum. Posts from Percy students, general readers, and scholars are each welcomed.
Learning Activities: Project Exhibits & Quizzes (All Audiences)
The Project offers learning activities in the form of interactive learning exhibits and quizzes. These resources provide readers with an opportunity to learn about Walker Percy in novel and entertaining ways.
Learning Exhibits
Learn about Walker Percy — his life and his work — through the Project's Exhibits section. A book collage introduces you to his books, an Interactive Allegorical Portrait teases you with hidden treasures of information, and a photograph gallery presents photos of his life, his places, and his books. This section also offers a fun surprise.
Interactive Quizzes
ONLINE:
Part of The Walker Percy Project's goals is to provide educational challenge, whether you're a teacher of Percy or a high school scholar. The Quizzes section includes a multiple-choice quiz, a True-or-False quiz, a "First Lines" test of his novels, and a fun "Who Said?" quiz to test knowledge of Percy's characters.
DOWNLOADABLE:
Additional supporting materials are available for printing. You can download quizzes specific to the Percy novels below. Each quiz contains 10 multiple-choice and 5 true-or-false questions in individual PDFs. These quizzes were prepared by Dr. Farrell O'Gorman of Belmont Abbey College and Dr. Doug Mitchell of the University of Mobile (AL).
- The Moviegoer (PDF)
- The Last Gentleman (PDF)
- Love in the Ruins (PDF)
- Lancelot (PDF)
General Literary Reference Tools and Writing Resources (All Students)
Consult these practical resources on the Internet to assist in the study of and writing about literature.
- MLA Style Guide - Information about the style guide of The Modern Language Association, the editorial style used in humanities research and writing.
- Writing Links & Links for Writers: Reference & Research - A comprehensive collection of links to encyclopedia, maps, newsfeeds, search tools and more of use to the writer.
- Bartleby.com - Encyclopedia, dictionary, thesaurus, full-texts of major English-language works, and more.
- Dictionary - Standard dictionary, although there are many authoritative online dictionaries.
- Thesaurus - Standard thesaurus for finding synonyms.
Advanced Research Tools (Undergraduate and Graduate)
The Project offers advanced research tools through its materials in the following sections.
- Project Bibliographies - The Project provides interactive bibliographies for scholarly research.
- Books on Percy - The Project provides a listing of critical books on Walker Percy along with their catalog descriptions.
- Collections - The Project gathers in one place links to all the major collections of Walker Percy Papers from around the country.
- Professional Research Tools - The Project provides links to bibliographic materials related to Walker Percy.
Recommended University Exercises & Scholarly Book Annotations Project (Graduate and Undergraduate students)
The Project suggests the following exercises for graduate and undergraduate seminars and classes:
University-level Student Exercises
For Graduate Students:
- Scholarly Book Annotations by graduate students are invited for submission, especially as new books are released each year. These exercises are perfectly suited to graduate student-level seminars. Graduate students will develop their literary criticism skills as well as have a chance to publish their one-page book annotation on the Project website. View the Annotations Directory of past annotations that have already been contributed to the Project by graduate students.
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The Project's Stories Writing Forum is available for students to submit personal responses to Percy's writings. Instructors have the option of having students submit these materials for review after completion of a Percy novel.
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For a more advanced exercise, have a student locate a critical essay on the Walker Percy novel you're studying and have them write a short synopsis of it. Alternatively, have several students collectively put together an annotated bibliography of critical works on the novel. One or two students could be responsible for reviewing each given item/article in the bibliography and providing a five-minute presentation on the article.
Commercial Materials for Teachers & Students
Downloadable lesson plans and study guides are available for purchase online to serve both the teacher and the student. Some are one-time purchases; others require a subscription.
- Commercial Materials - View a compilation of links to external resources available for teaching and studying Walker Percy's writings.
Submitting Materials to The Project
Contributing materials to The Walker Percy Project helps others in the study and enjoyment of Walker Percy's work and thought. The Project provides a permanent storehouse of materials for community reference. You can find several opportunities to contribute.
Requested Materials & Targeted Audiences
TEACHING TOOLS
The Walker Percy Project is interested in collecting and disseminating select, highly creative and quality educational materials to supplement its existing resources for students at a variety of levels. Suitable materials may include:
- Syllabi
- Essay questions
- Lesson plans
AUDIENCES
With your help, The Project plans to offer a range of learning activities on Percy writings for the following levels:
- Adult readers groups
- Secondary students
- Composition students
- Undergraduate students
- Graduate students
Contact the Project
If you have developed or discovered educational tools related to Walker Percy that you think can benefit teachers or readers, please contact The Project. The Walker Percy scholarly and educational community thanks you in advance. Submit materials in PDF, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or links to Internet resources.