I came across this article from the New York Times on Freud's place in education:
Freud Is Widely Taught at Universities, Except in the Psychology Department
We talked in class about how Freud and his theories are considered too flawed to be considered within psychology. Are his theories still relevant to literary studies? I feel like we need to know Freud to understand Plath, for instance, since her work was so influenced by his theories. However, I am wondering if it is valid anymore to use Freud to interpret the work of Shakespeare and other pre-Freud works. Should we develop a more relevant psychology-based theory instead?
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
All Day in a Night
One of the most impressive presentations I attended at NCTE was one on teaching Elie Wiesel's Night. I wanted to share the website the presenters created for educators. I'll let you peruse the website, but the premise is the unit culminates in a schoolwide, daylong reading of Night.
Here is the website:
All Day in a Night Handouts
Here is the website:
All Day in a Night Handouts
Sunday, November 4, 2007
SES and MySpace versus Facebook
Considering Webb's discussions on postmodernism and postMarxism, you may find this article to be interesting
Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace
If a few of you read this, we can spend some time talking about it in class.
Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace
If a few of you read this, we can spend some time talking about it in class.
Webb, Chapter 7- Testimonial, Autoethnography, and the Future of English
I've taught I, Rigoberta Menchu, here are WMU (in my English 1100 class). It was my first time teaching the text and I remember being disappointed that my students didn't have the same reaction to the text that I was expecting. Their overall disposition can only be described as apathetic. I couldn't believe that anyone reading about Menchu's travails in Guatemala wouldn't be moved to tears and want to know more. That was the reaction I had had. Why didn't my students feel the same way?
Webb mentions that students who have been desensitized to violence on television and the movies would react differently to something they read. This was not the case for this class. Is it possible that today's student are now so desensitized that even a powerful testimonial like I, Rigoberta Menchu would leave them unaffected? Perhaps it had more to do with it being the last text we read in a Spring semester, and they were just anxious for the school year to be done. Perhaps it was my approach to the text.
Despite my less than positive experience teaching this text, I still recommend it for the secondary classroom. Everything Webb says about it is true: 1) the language is very accessible, 2) the story is important one to be heard, especially by Americans with a limited view of the rest of the world, and 3) testimonials show students that every individual voice is important - and thus so are theirs. I like Webb's ideas for turning this text into a project where students collect ethnographies of their family or people in their community.
On a side note, I've also had the privilege of meeting Rigoberta Menchu in person. Because of my work with PeaceJam, I am given the rare opportunity to meet a different Nobel Peace Prize Laureate each year. Last year, Menchu came to WMU for the PeaceJam conference. In what turned out to be one of the most memorable moments in my life, I had lunch with Menchu and other members of our task force. Menchu is the definition of diminutive and she is exceedingly humble. I kept thinking that if this tiny woman was able to come from her oppressed background and change the lives of millions of Guatemalans and indigenous peoples everywhere, then truly any one of us could help change the world as well.
This is the message I would want my students to walk away with after reading her testimonial. For this reason above all others, I hope you find the opportunity to teach I, Rigoberta Menchu in your classrooms.
Webb mentions that students who have been desensitized to violence on television and the movies would react differently to something they read. This was not the case for this class. Is it possible that today's student are now so desensitized that even a powerful testimonial like I, Rigoberta Menchu would leave them unaffected? Perhaps it had more to do with it being the last text we read in a Spring semester, and they were just anxious for the school year to be done. Perhaps it was my approach to the text.
Despite my less than positive experience teaching this text, I still recommend it for the secondary classroom. Everything Webb says about it is true: 1) the language is very accessible, 2) the story is important one to be heard, especially by Americans with a limited view of the rest of the world, and 3) testimonials show students that every individual voice is important - and thus so are theirs. I like Webb's ideas for turning this text into a project where students collect ethnographies of their family or people in their community.
On a side note, I've also had the privilege of meeting Rigoberta Menchu in person. Because of my work with PeaceJam, I am given the rare opportunity to meet a different Nobel Peace Prize Laureate each year. Last year, Menchu came to WMU for the PeaceJam conference. In what turned out to be one of the most memorable moments in my life, I had lunch with Menchu and other members of our task force. Menchu is the definition of diminutive and she is exceedingly humble. I kept thinking that if this tiny woman was able to come from her oppressed background and change the lives of millions of Guatemalans and indigenous peoples everywhere, then truly any one of us could help change the world as well.
This is the message I would want my students to walk away with after reading her testimonial. For this reason above all others, I hope you find the opportunity to teach I, Rigoberta Menchu in your classrooms.
Webb, Chapter 4 - Addressing the Youth Violence Crisis
As I was reading this chapter I kept thinking about what the right wing talk radio shows would say about this chapter:
"There those liberal professors go again, excusing violent youth as the victims of society." I am reminded that our daily news reinforces that opinion through their choice of news stories and how those stories are covered. Because of all these reasons, I consider this to be an important chapter. Once again, this is not about changing people's minds - this is about opening a dialogue and encouraging people to think critically about their world.
I wonder what everyone thinks about Bigger's feeling of importance and freedom after the murder. I don't think this is condoning his actions in any way. Instead, it is about the reader understanding the social situations that lead up to the murder. We see that Bigger is both victim and aggressor.
Potentially more controversial is the opinion that Bigger's plan to rob Blum was justifiable considering his position - that it was a positive psychological move (55). Remember, this was not the teacher's position, but the student's. I think this conversation is useful. Would school administrators worry that even discussing gang violence would be a kin to justifying the behavior in every day life?
I agree with Webb when he says that these conversations are equally important to have with students who come from safe backgrounds (57). Their home lives and their parents have protected them from the harsh realities of our country. History books often gloss over or ignore actual events that paint our majority culture in a bad light. We owe to all our students to give them an eye opening education, even if this education might shatter the illusions of a safe world.
Another point Webb makes which I want to draw attention to is the necessity of teaching multicultural literature using a cultural studies lens (60). Teaching multicultural literature using New Criticism often misses the point of the texts themselves. However, I am not saying that it is OK to read white literature with New Criticism because it comes from the cultural majority. All literature can have a cultural studies lens applied to it.
Finally, I think to teach the texts and have the discussions Webb suggests requires a certain amount of courage as a teacher. The conversations will often be uncomfortable and students will say things we don't want to hear. We may have to prove to administrators and parents the importance of what we are doing. Despite all this, we should consider multicultural studies addressing violence to be an important component of the language arts curriculum.
"There those liberal professors go again, excusing violent youth as the victims of society." I am reminded that our daily news reinforces that opinion through their choice of news stories and how those stories are covered. Because of all these reasons, I consider this to be an important chapter. Once again, this is not about changing people's minds - this is about opening a dialogue and encouraging people to think critically about their world.
I wonder what everyone thinks about Bigger's feeling of importance and freedom after the murder. I don't think this is condoning his actions in any way. Instead, it is about the reader understanding the social situations that lead up to the murder. We see that Bigger is both victim and aggressor.
Potentially more controversial is the opinion that Bigger's plan to rob Blum was justifiable considering his position - that it was a positive psychological move (55). Remember, this was not the teacher's position, but the student's. I think this conversation is useful. Would school administrators worry that even discussing gang violence would be a kin to justifying the behavior in every day life?
I agree with Webb when he says that these conversations are equally important to have with students who come from safe backgrounds (57). Their home lives and their parents have protected them from the harsh realities of our country. History books often gloss over or ignore actual events that paint our majority culture in a bad light. We owe to all our students to give them an eye opening education, even if this education might shatter the illusions of a safe world.
Another point Webb makes which I want to draw attention to is the necessity of teaching multicultural literature using a cultural studies lens (60). Teaching multicultural literature using New Criticism often misses the point of the texts themselves. However, I am not saying that it is OK to read white literature with New Criticism because it comes from the cultural majority. All literature can have a cultural studies lens applied to it.
Finally, I think to teach the texts and have the discussions Webb suggests requires a certain amount of courage as a teacher. The conversations will often be uncomfortable and students will say things we don't want to hear. We may have to prove to administrators and parents the importance of what we are doing. Despite all this, we should consider multicultural studies addressing violence to be an important component of the language arts curriculum.
PAKZOO at Dino's Coffee Lounger - Wednesday, November 7th
Dino's Coffee Lounge
773 West Michigan Avenue, Kalamazoo, MI
Wednesday, November 7th
8:00 to 10:00 PM
Appleman, Chapter 8 - Critical Encounters: Reading the World
This chapter really puts the rest of the text together. If I doubted the book or the use of literary theory in the secondary classroom to this point, The final chapter put those doubts to rest.
There are two points Appleman makes which are important to understanding the usefulness of literary theory: 1) using multiple literary theories gives students the ability to read a text in multiple ways, and 2) literary theories offer a way for students to "read" their world.
To the first point, I think it would be a mistake to teach only one literary theory in a secondary classroom. One theory would force students into a mold they would not necessarily fit. When we witness student resistance to feminism or Marxism, we shouldn't just dismiss it as narrow-mindedness. However, by teaching students multiple theories, they can see that certain theories work better to understand a certain text and that certain theories fit certain personalities and backgrounds. I keep remembering that teaching no theory is still teaching theory - in fact, it's probably New Criticism.
To the second point, if we're not preparing our students for the world beyond our classrooms, then we are only doing half our job. We need to give them tools for interpreting their world so they can interact with it in an intelligent manner. Literary theory seems to be an excellent tool for students to use.
The final exercise students did, where they brought in cultural artifacts from their worlds so the class could analyze them, was a perfect way to transfer a knowledge set from one mode (literary interpretation) to another mode (cultural studies).
I am happy with this text as a tool for future English teachers. If nothing else, it has some great examples of activities we could make use of in our classrooms.
There are two points Appleman makes which are important to understanding the usefulness of literary theory: 1) using multiple literary theories gives students the ability to read a text in multiple ways, and 2) literary theories offer a way for students to "read" their world.
To the first point, I think it would be a mistake to teach only one literary theory in a secondary classroom. One theory would force students into a mold they would not necessarily fit. When we witness student resistance to feminism or Marxism, we shouldn't just dismiss it as narrow-mindedness. However, by teaching students multiple theories, they can see that certain theories work better to understand a certain text and that certain theories fit certain personalities and backgrounds. I keep remembering that teaching no theory is still teaching theory - in fact, it's probably New Criticism.
To the second point, if we're not preparing our students for the world beyond our classrooms, then we are only doing half our job. We need to give them tools for interpreting their world so they can interact with it in an intelligent manner. Literary theory seems to be an excellent tool for students to use.
The final exercise students did, where they brought in cultural artifacts from their worlds so the class could analyze them, was a perfect way to transfer a knowledge set from one mode (literary interpretation) to another mode (cultural studies).
I am happy with this text as a tool for future English teachers. If nothing else, it has some great examples of activities we could make use of in our classrooms.
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