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Carly Friesen: Blog & Portfolio |
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After designing and introducing two assignments to my two classes today (posted below), I read this article and thought it had some good things to say. I took the author's cue, and have designed a new 'essay' assignment I hope to introduce this coming week. I'm hoping to get buy-in from Mr. Hehr ;)
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This was what happened to me yesterday, listening to my students' autobiographical poems. Un. Be. Lie. Va. Ble!!!!!!! I would listen to them over and over again. So honest, so raw, so gripping, so musical, so deep. It was an absolute treasure.
To top that off, one of them came by at the noon hour, and had this (roughly) to say: "Ms. Friesen, you know how you asked us on the first day what we wanted to do when we grow up and I told you 'A lawyer'? Well, I've made my decision now. I want to be a human rights lawyer. Specifically, I want to focus on women's rights. It's terrible that there is still so much domestic abuse and pay inequality and things like that. Some people say that feminists just hate men, but it's really about gender equality, and that's what I want in the world." Whaaaat?! Yeah. That just happened. I told her I she would have the chance to explore issues with gender and power through the texts we study, as well as the connection between culture and communications. Just one reason why teaching English is so baller. One of the things that breaks my heart is knowing that my students deal with varying degrees of anxiety for a variety of reasons, some of whom have been formally diagnosed and are receiving treatment or therapy. My PSI teacher (grade 4) dealt with restless, boisterous, or distracting/distracted students by having them go for a walk through the hallway, touching 50-odd lockers, complimenting someone, and then returning to class. I really liked this idea and explained to my students on day one that, if they were feeling anxious or simply needed a break, that they should simply let me know that they're "taking a walk" and to do a lap around the floor and come back to class. On Wednesday, my 20-2 students were exhibiting their self-portraits for our photography/visual literacy unit, and one of my students, whom I'm particularly concerned about, slipped out of the room without my noticing. I told the students I needed to look for their classmate, and asked a colleague (my mentor teacher, actually, who was prepping in another room) to supervise while I tried to track the student down. While I was frantically searching, the student returned to the room and explained to me later that s/he had just needed a break from the stressful environment, and also apologized for not letting me know (my colleague had had a talk with the student upon his/her return). Frankly, I was delighted and relieved that this student came back to class of his/her own volition. Because attendance tends to be an issue in the -2 classes (often due to family/life situations), one of my primary goals is to make my class a place where the kids want to be. The class community still feels a bit disjointed to me, but group activities and performances are one way we seem to be getting closer.
Following the theme of the autobiographical poem in my poetry unit, I chose to examine Sylvia Plath's "Lady Lazarus" more in depth with my grade 10s. In hindsight, I would not use this poem again, and not so much because of the fallout regarding the content (talk of suicide on a Monday morning), but because it's a long poem with a ton of allusion and other devices that merit analysis probably too advanced for a grade 10 reader (though my class is full of eager and adept readers). The analysis became cumbersome and my class wanted to move on to something more accessible, which I had planned anyway ("Warren Pryor" by Alden Nowlan ... from their textbook ... which is probably a better guide of what's appropriate for grade 10s).
I followed up with an email to my students that evening that read as follows: "Hi class, "I wanted to apologize for how things went today with Plath's poem, "Lady Lazarus." Most of Plath's writing is very controversial because of the content as well as the personal connection, but it is also very much worth studying because of her impeccable talent as a poet and the connections she makes with ideas and issues beyond her own life (see a summary of her life and work here). In hoping to focus on the latter, I overlooked the possibility of shock regarding the former. "Out of my desire to buffer an emotionally charged reaction to horrific information, and because I didn't want to force a discussion for which people were not ready (it's an intense discussion for a Monday morning), I may have come across as casual about Plath's struggles and ultimate decision. I certainly did not mean to. Mental health is to an extremely important issue, especially for you all at this stage in your life. I hope you recognized my willingness to address these issues in my decision to share what I did in my own autobiographical poem, "This is Me." This is the difficulty in discussing controversial things in class, but is also one of the things you'll likely find unique about English classes: we attempt to talk about issues that other classes don't. "Ultimately, I want this to be a safe space where we can feel okay discussing hard life stuff, but I also want to balance that with laughter and encouraging talk. This takes trust, and trust is built between all of us over time. I'd love to get any feedback from you regarding your thoughts on class today and about anything in this email. "See you tomorrow, "Ms. Friesen "P.S. For anyone needing help at any time and wanting to do so anonymously, here are some links to excellent resources with real people on the other end. Kids Help Phone Wired Safety Cyberbullying.ca Teen Mental Health Text or Chat with a Mental Health Professional in Alberta Eating Disorder Hope" One student responded back with this, which made me feel both relieved and glad I followed up: "Hi Ms. Friesen, "I really enjoyed class today and I think that it's wonderful that you are willing to talk about serious and somewhat controversial issues within the class. If we do not talk about things like that then we will either repeat past mistakes, or be unaware of possible dangers or problems around us. I think it is better to learn and understand controversial issues, than to pretend they don't exist. I understand why you would be worried about downplaying the issues confronted in the poem, however I feel that you did take them seriously, and I could tell that the only reason that the discussion was not as dark as it could have been was for our (the students Benefit) and not because the issues were not taken seriously. I really like that you would contact us about how we felt the class went, and about how issues were confronted in the class. Thank you for all of your hard work!" Perhaps one day I will identify readily with the title "Marxist Literary Critic/Philosopher," but for now, I seem to be an admirer from afar.
I recall learning about Marx in high school, but for whatever reason, social studies and political-economic theory was largely inaccessible to my brain at that point. I re-encountered Marx in my full-year contemporary lit theory class in second or third year university and was gripped by a number of the ideas, particularly the focus on class relations and ideology. (I like to tell myself that I care about people who are oppressed and needy, and sometimes I think I sort of do this. But I have a long way to go.) The theories came up again in my final year of my B.A. as I studied literary theory from the lens of applied ethics (in which I focused on Gayatri Spivak's work, but also studied Gramsci, Deleuze and Guattari, and Althusser more in depth), as well as researched and wrote my thesis on political correctness (in which I had a delightful read of Eagleton's work). After university, I continued to read non-fiction heavily, and at one point picked up this fascinating book and convinced myself that I wanted to do a Masters in Public Policy (still up for consideration). This is all to say, I like what I read of Marxian origin, and I can't always put my finger on why. I think it has to do with justice. Or sticking it to the Man. Anyway, tonight I'm preparing for a discussion with my ELA 10-1 class regarding Edward P. Jones' short story, "The First Day." What struck me about the story were the class relations and conflicts, and I thought I'd refresh myself on (and possibly introduce these young minds to) Marxist literary theory. Picking up my old textbook, I read the following: "In the 1844 'Paris Manuscripts,' Marx argues that the capitalist division of labour destroyed an earlier phase of human history in which artistic and spiritual life were inseparable from the processes of material existence, and craftsmen still worked with a sense of beauty. The separation of mental and manual work dissolved the organic unity of spiritual and material activities, with the result that the masses were forced to produce commodities without the joy of creative engagement in their work. Only folk art survived as the people’s art. The appreciation of high art was professionalized, dominated by the market economy and limited to a privileged section of the ruling class. The truly 'popular' art of socialist societies, argued Soviet critics, will be accessible to the masses and will restore their lost wholeness of being" (p. 85). It struck me that the stuff I gleaned (see last paragraph here) in that article by Heidegger (who, like Marx, drew from Hegel) so closely mirrors what Marx is getting at here. And it makes me sad to see and know that language (and other) arts are such a challenge for many of the students at my school, and for many, considered only marginally valuable as a university entrance requirement in pursuit of an engineering degree. I hope, in my limited time with my students, that I may help reignite (and I say re- because I believe it is innately human) their joy in creating and appreciating beautiful things--the works of their hands, of their minds, and of their hearts. Allotting grades to things makes this ridiculously more challenging, but I'm hoping I can navigate it wisely and gently. Context: Teaching English 10-1, 20-2 at one of the largest schools in Calgary, which also has a reputation for excellence in academics
Prep: Much of my prep involved learning about the Diagnostic Writing assignment that students in ALL English classes do so that I could prepare students for it while also fitting it in to my first unit. Activities with the students: Gave students a number of options for activities (answer questions about course outline, respond to prompt on whiteboard, find 3 things in common with partner, discuss the text provided) while I conferenced with each of them one-on-one about their previous experiences in ELA and other things to help me get to know them. What went well: The 1-1 conferences made it very easy to remember names, and helped me establish relationships with each of them. What didn’t go so well: I couldn't get through all of the students in one class! So I've been trying to meet with the others while they're doing group or independent work. Also, conferencing for much of the class also didn't allow me to circulate while the class was working, which made management tricky with my 20-2s (though both classes are extremely well-behaved because of the school and demographic culture). What would you have done differently: I conferencing, but I would have set those up front/centre of the room and made them a shorter by asking students to write the answers to many of the questions I had asked. Important things learned: The other English teachers are so friendly, are willing to help, and are still learning to teach these classes even after 20+ years; they are an excellent support system for me. |
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