I decided I needed to change my tactic. Rather than bogging students down with ten-step strategies and methods for analysis, I gave them a question completed unconnected to the standards. I gave them a question about life, and asked them to start by examining their own beliefs.
How do gender stereotypes affect society and the individual?
Of course, this was a bit lofty for self-reflection, so we started with these questions:
Are boys and girls today raised differently? What are modern society's expectations for each gender? Should boys and girls be treated differently?
The ensuing conversation (and debate) lasted for an entire class period, with students slamming their hands down in frustration at not getting the last word at the end of class. Wow.
Rather than looking at poetry as something to be beaten to death and analyzed for a test, we used it as evidence to help us answer our guiding question about life. One of my students shared the following slam poem with me. It's remarkable.
I asked my students to mark down the places where the crowd reacted audibly to her powerful statements. Then, we went through and marked all of the places in the poem that were not meant to be taken literally. We discussed the endless possibilities opened up by her nonliteral language. My students came up with dazzling theories about why she describes her mother "waning" and her father "waxing." They were able to make amazing inferences once they had a reason to read it beyond "analyzing poetry."
Our students are evolving, so shouldn't our study of poetry evolve with it? Why not use literature, poetry, art, and other forms of expression as a form of exploration into the human soul? After all, that is one thing that will never change.
My AP students last year had a great discussion on the purpose of poetry. They were reading The Picture of Dorian Gray and Wilde's statement that "all art is quite useless" was driving them crazy. Art, literature, poetry, etc. doesn't have a "function" in the same sense that science and technology does, but it does open us up to the human experience that you so well described in your post. And you're right that that is one thing that won't change. I love poetry, I love Shakespeare's plays, not because I'm some sort of English literature snob, but because poets and those plays describe humans across time as the same . . . in a beautiful way that I never could. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteOoh.. I like the part when you had students watch for the audience's reaction! I think poetry is often so misunderstood by students...unfortunately, too, because you're right, it can have such a strong connection to life. I'm glad your students had a chance to experience poetry in a non-traditional way! Awesome :)
ReplyDeleteI think watching the audience's reaction is a wonderful idea! Sometimes we're so caught up in the moment we don't realize the impact we have. Awesome!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, as I was reading your post, I was screaming, "YES, YES, YES!" I love that you took that poem beyond the test-taking walls of your classroom. How you taught that poem was so much more meaningful, and I guarantee they were taught skills that will not only stick but will also be used in other subject areas. I do not mean to convey that the state standards are dumb by any means, because your lesson did embody state standards, but how you assessed their understanding of the poem is what really made students thrive. Not all students are meant to take multiple choice tests. I'm glad this was such a success for you!
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