Teaching is challenging! Watching "A Class Divided" really brought out how important lessons are and how they have impact for the rest of a student's life. Those students did not just encounter a good teacher, they encountered a lesson in prejudice that lasted for a lifetime. This is an excellent example of how a lesson that involves the student on the emotional level with real concrete "lived" experience will be remembered for a lifetime. The challenge for me, is to recognize the commitment of the teacher and to consider how going into a lesson like that needs to be considered before its implemented. It was good to hear Mrs. Elliot's comment that the "debriefing" part of her lesson is of the utmost importance, and that if it were not handled correctly it could damage a child. As a future teacher, that is the most important aspect of the lesson. I would love to attempt a lesson like that, but also need to keep the needs of the students first. I never want do something that is damaging to a child.
I enjoyed rereading To Kill A Mockingbird, interestingly, I have loved this novel for a long time, but do not think I studied it in school- maybe that's why-it wasn't "ruined" for me. I think my favorite scene in the book is imagining the scene where Scout beats up Francis. I have laughed out loud reading that more than once. But, in light of our readings I was thinking about how a different reader would consider aspects of the book. I always identified with Jem and Scout, but a black person would "look at" them differently than I do. Similarly, the book deals with the "classes" that existed in Maywood. How would I effectively "teach" the book and challenge my students to consider the differences between the Finches and the Ewells? I hope I can come up with strategies that teach awareness of prejudice and stereotypes. I believe this is an especially difficult issue because knowledge of an issue is not enough. The student must be made "aware" of behaviors that contribute to it. Hade's article illustrated this very well. I really liked how he proposed reading books against each other. It seems to me this would be effective and would help counter the potential of labeling a book as "bad."
Finally, Hade's thoughts concerning the argument of imposing meaning or exposing injustice is really important. I completely agree with him that a child does not naturally possess meaning. All stories have a meaning, but each individual supplies their personal meaning. Like Hade, I agree that we have a duty to expose injustice. I know this can be controversial, and believe there are parents out there who would disagree, but also believe a teacher should teach social responsibility and with that social justice.
You wrote about how you were thinking about how other readers would approach different aspects of the book, and honestly I never really read a book thinking about how someone else would read it. It's hard to think that soon we will have to read books considering the thoughts of, sometimes, over a hundred other readers. When reading a text we want to teach I think it will be very necessary to think of how your students will react to the text (especially when it comes to multicultural texts). Their reaction could be a reason TO or NOT TO teach something.
ReplyDeleteI think that a lot more people need to be like Jane Elliot. She followed through with her plans and she made a lasting impression on her students. I think it is important for a teacher to use experiments in order to make children understand but I agree that it is important for a teacher to end the lesson making sure that the students are back on track and understand the what and why of the lesson so that they are not scarred forever. I think it is interesting you bring up the point of the characters and who you identify with. I think Harper Lee did a good job of creating characters that almost anyone could identify with. whatever character you identify with can really change your view in how well you like or understand the book. As for the Hade article, I find that this man takes meaning to a whole new level. I could not help getting angry at this man when I read his article because some of the stuff he said I found to be ridiculous. However, it seems like you got a lot from the article which is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we should see how Jane Elliot's debriefing goes because that is an extremeley important part of the lesson. I actually would be scared to do it without hearing how it should go because I would do it wrong and a student might end up hurt and remember this experience as a terrible one instead of a learning experience.
ReplyDeleteAlso, in To Kill a Mockingbird, I think we all need to realize that we have to be the ones to make the book fun and interesting. It is our jobs to discuss and analyze the issues in the book and make sure the students realize what is most important without beating them with a stick (or giving them quiz after quiz on plot).
I agree with you when you say that teaching topics such as multiculturalism is such a commitment. There are some teachers that don't teach the topic correctly, and they do this by only imposing their opinions upon their students. It is important for the students to form their own views about controversial topics such as multiculturalism. Elliot did a fantastic job during her lesson. I think the reason why it was so effective was because the students had the experience and could then relate to multiculturalism after. It impacted their lives so much. As a teacher, we should all have an impact on our students lives through great lessons such as Elliot's.
ReplyDeleteI also keep returning to the "imposing meaning" v. "exposing injustice" concept. This suggests an inquiry-based approach would be better for students to find their own meaning, with perhaps a little guidance. Although not completely related, this reminds me of something I saw in my observation this week. The students were I observe were asked to choose one of a few options for a final project on "The Outsiders," each ending with writing they would recommend the book to someone. What if they wouldn't recommmend the book to a friend? Too bad I guess!
ReplyDeleteThis connection made me realize how important it is to extend this principle past teaching multiculturalism. While we should guide our students toward recognition of certain ideas (likely the "accepted" views of a text) we should allow them to disagree with these views if they genuinely feel that way. Just like we said in class, we should not impose our views on students or maybe not even express them at all, and never make a student feel like their voice doesn't matter.