Integrating Contemporary Novel into Polish Literary Education in Upper-Secondary Schools (Based on Delia Owens’s Where the Crawdads Sing)

Abstract

The amendment to the core curriculum of general education for general secondary schools and technical schools of September 1, 2024, intensified the inclusion of contemporary literary works while excluding some existing readings, including the story The Cathedral from the volume In the Country of the Unfaithful by Jacek Dukaj. In response to these changes, the article presents a method of introducing the latest novel into literary education using a book from outside the canon as an example − Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. It reflects a creative approach to Polish language teaching, on the one hand referring to „project thinking” and on the other supporting the idea of agency. The description of the author’s concept of the series of meetings with the text is primarily patronized by Stanisław Bortnowski, who for years has consistently drawn attention to the need to make the student the subject of the lesson.