Alive
“Everything we do in life is rooted in theory” -bell hooks
"A man with one theory is lost. He needs several of them, or lots! He should stuff them in his pockets like newspapers." -Bertolt Brecht
I wonder where hooks' theory comes from, and whether it be woven of many or few. Krista Tippet from On Being always asks her interviewees what their spiritual background is, and I wonder this about her, too. I think we develop theories from a variety of sources, including the spaces we grew up in, and the decisions we make throughout our lives as related, to what we believe.
I like the idea of using Literary Lenses, as by it's definition it is a method of Critical Literacy. I imagine stations up around the classroom with different microscopes, under which a poem or a story is set. On the microscope is written the name of a particular lens. Students can practice trying on the different views, as they move around the room. I'm more and more into the idea of having students move around the room as a way to engage their physical bodies in the process of learning.
Zipes presents a reasoning for this kind of movement (enactment) in learning that stands out more to me than anything I've yet read. It is grounded in the realities of more than just a few types of kids, while Appleman's ideas seem limited. Zipes appeals to the constant-changing, often aggressive physical world kids live in, and readies them to exist powerfully within it. Through activities that stretch students in their environments, Zipes says: "The children recognize that the classroom, which will often display their artwork, can be changed to their liking, and they will use found objects to create their plays and become something other than they normally are... Environmental change leads to personal change" (p. 70). This is something I want to think more about throughout my Practicum research at PHHS, and this Monday during the Bridges presentation. Engagement with literature does not have to be so static.
In my own chronology, I experienced connection to literacy and literature through personal narrative. More, my family acted as a sort of physical, moving text. Being a literary family, there was always something or someone to read. I was majority educated in a white and European/American context in high school and college. I am well-versed in the Whitmans, Melvilles, Wordsworths, and Keatses of the world. I didn't connect much outside of my bubble until later in life, taking interest in Latin-American poetry and African literature, through literary connections I made at an international company I worked at. The thing that stands out, though, from my younger years, is watching my cousins do theater. I remember so many shows, so many stories; at one point I counted over a hundred shows that I had seen. I wonder how many it is now. There is something about the tangible telling of stories, the acting out, the watching and taking on and exploring of new/other experiences. It takes you outside of yourself. I began to dabble in some play-writing and acting myself, at age 14, and I learned some powerful lessons about perspective and power. From Neighborhood Bridges 4 Patterns of Critical Literacy: “Remember, just like [student name] said, when you tell a story, you are in charge of it. You can change it.” Just like I learned, kids can learn this from us, and take the tangibility into their real lives.
Regarding poetry, the use of dead white poets in the classroom is dead. Sylvia Plath's "Mushroom" poem for Critical Lenses is interesting, but at this point I'm thinking more about incorporating the poetry of my friend Emily Finke, for example. Incorporating poetry that is alive now, perhaps Nayirah Waheed and Rupi Kaur. (And rap!) Perhaps I could reveal new poetry in contrast to more traditionally taught poetry, as a compare and contrast, or synthesis-type of CL activity. This makes text more alive to students, makes them more easily connect it to the ground they walk on, the shoes they walk in, or might want to.
Bringing texts to life is the key goal of poetry and drama in the classroom. From the Tasmania article: "We no longer consider texts to be timeless, universal or unbiased." Why not make it as relevant as possible, to the real lives and needs of our students?
"A man with one theory is lost. He needs several of them, or lots! He should stuff them in his pockets like newspapers." -Bertolt Brecht
I wonder where hooks' theory comes from, and whether it be woven of many or few. Krista Tippet from On Being always asks her interviewees what their spiritual background is, and I wonder this about her, too. I think we develop theories from a variety of sources, including the spaces we grew up in, and the decisions we make throughout our lives as related, to what we believe.
I like the idea of using Literary Lenses, as by it's definition it is a method of Critical Literacy. I imagine stations up around the classroom with different microscopes, under which a poem or a story is set. On the microscope is written the name of a particular lens. Students can practice trying on the different views, as they move around the room. I'm more and more into the idea of having students move around the room as a way to engage their physical bodies in the process of learning.
Zipes presents a reasoning for this kind of movement (enactment) in learning that stands out more to me than anything I've yet read. It is grounded in the realities of more than just a few types of kids, while Appleman's ideas seem limited. Zipes appeals to the constant-changing, often aggressive physical world kids live in, and readies them to exist powerfully within it. Through activities that stretch students in their environments, Zipes says: "The children recognize that the classroom, which will often display their artwork, can be changed to their liking, and they will use found objects to create their plays and become something other than they normally are... Environmental change leads to personal change" (p. 70). This is something I want to think more about throughout my Practicum research at PHHS, and this Monday during the Bridges presentation. Engagement with literature does not have to be so static.
In my own chronology, I experienced connection to literacy and literature through personal narrative. More, my family acted as a sort of physical, moving text. Being a literary family, there was always something or someone to read. I was majority educated in a white and European/American context in high school and college. I am well-versed in the Whitmans, Melvilles, Wordsworths, and Keatses of the world. I didn't connect much outside of my bubble until later in life, taking interest in Latin-American poetry and African literature, through literary connections I made at an international company I worked at. The thing that stands out, though, from my younger years, is watching my cousins do theater. I remember so many shows, so many stories; at one point I counted over a hundred shows that I had seen. I wonder how many it is now. There is something about the tangible telling of stories, the acting out, the watching and taking on and exploring of new/other experiences. It takes you outside of yourself. I began to dabble in some play-writing and acting myself, at age 14, and I learned some powerful lessons about perspective and power. From Neighborhood Bridges 4 Patterns of Critical Literacy: “Remember, just like [student name] said, when you tell a story, you are in charge of it. You can change it.” Just like I learned, kids can learn this from us, and take the tangibility into their real lives.
Regarding poetry, the use of dead white poets in the classroom is dead. Sylvia Plath's "Mushroom" poem for Critical Lenses is interesting, but at this point I'm thinking more about incorporating the poetry of my friend Emily Finke, for example. Incorporating poetry that is alive now, perhaps Nayirah Waheed and Rupi Kaur. (And rap!) Perhaps I could reveal new poetry in contrast to more traditionally taught poetry, as a compare and contrast, or synthesis-type of CL activity. This makes text more alive to students, makes them more easily connect it to the ground they walk on, the shoes they walk in, or might want to.
Bringing texts to life is the key goal of poetry and drama in the classroom. From the Tasmania article: "We no longer consider texts to be timeless, universal or unbiased." Why not make it as relevant as possible, to the real lives and needs of our students?
Brittany,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog this week. Your writing style is personal and thought provoking. I was especially intrigued by your thoughts on enactment in relation to Zipes. I, like you, have been thinking more and more about how important it is to engage students by allowing them to move around the classroom. Your idea about stations with a different literary theory at each station is outstanding. I think this would be a very engaging way to learn these theories by using space as a way to differentiate between the various theories. I wish I had thought of this myself!
I'm wondering what your thoughts are about engaging students in a poetry unit who have developed a disdain for poetry based on previous experiences in a classroom setting. I experienced a lot of students in high school and college who hated poetry because of their bad experiences with poetry to which they could not relate or in which they had no interest. How do we reach these students and not simply focus on students who are already highly interested in poetry? These are things I've been wondering as we've been reading about poetry.