1
Mr. Pechart
Miss Pfannebecker
Ms. Pound
“Teaching, among other things, is a performance; a teacher must conduct a classroom version of himself as much as an actor creates a character.” (102)
GET LIT FOR TEACHING LITERATURE!
MEETING STUDENTS WHERE THEY ARE:
TAKING THEM TO THE CANON
ARGUMENT
Denby argues that the practice of teaching literature should empower students to make personal connections, hold independent discussions, and establish their own interpretations. Good teaching strategies as presented in the book motivate students to realize that literature
whether part of the canon or not
is central to opening themselves to self-discovery.
ARGUMENT
ONE AUTHOR. THREE SCHOOLS.
BACKGROUND
THE ISSUES
Key Questions
Are students interacting with the canon?
Are they reading what we assign?
Are they reading for fun?
How can we push kids to read harder literature?
Are they "getting it"?
What is reading in the 21st century?
THE AUTHOR
DAVID DENBY
Writer for The New Yorker
film critic
staff writer -Investigative Reporter
B.A. from Columbia University
MA in Journalism
Graduate student at Stanford
My own observation, after spending a lot of time talking to teen-agers in recent years: reading anything serious has become a chore, like doing the laundry or prepping a meal for a kid brother. Or, if it’s not a chore, it’s just an activity, like swimming or shopping, an activity like any other. It’s not something that runs through the rest of their lives. In sum, reading has lost its privileged status; few kids are ashamed that they’re not doing it much. The notion that you should always have a book going—that notion, which all real readers share, doesn’t flourish in many kids. Often, they look at you blankly when you ask them what they are reading on their own.
Issues with Denby
How he sees students
Often condescending to teenagers
"earned her sadness" (74)
Very gendered ideas about reading
How he sees teachers
No teaching experience
"Again I was astonished by how hard a successful teacher had to work" (82)
How he sees technology
anti-technology stance fuels his opinions about the students (55)
elitist
"The internet has created a generation of information snobs and put-down artists" (42)
THE SCHOOLS
THREE SCHOOLS
Hillhouse, CT
Mamaroneck High School, NY
poor
low performing
"worst performing public school in New Haven, and one of the worst in the
state." (146)
42% of 960 students were chronically absent
gang culture
Median family income was $37k
"Oasis for families to keep kids in the building" (148)
The Beacon School, NY
The gap between rich and poor America couldn't have been any clearer. (149)
Very wealthy
93% of students go to college
61% of that is private post-secondary ed
Experiment in 2013-14
"laddering"
greater difficulty into greater enjoyment
Book Talks
14% of students recieved free lunch
High Volume High Success Reading
Book Flood
Teachers post their current books outside their rooms
"Mamaroneck wanted to build a kind of reading ego: having chosen a book on thier own, the students took control of it and enjoyed pride of ownership, a very American idea." (94)
Mamaroneck's approach is independent and couldn't be farther from the stern syllabi at Beacon
progressive, very small
competitive entry magnet school
Top Half in Standardized Test
ethnically mixed, diverse
economic class
Humanities School
No student choice
"pressed, challenged, even overwhelmed, at least at first." (92)
Performance Based Assesment
95% of graduates go to college (8)
ANALYSIS
"He was an English teacher, and he would get them writing in good sentences while asking them what their purpose in living was." pg 139
HOW CAN WE USE LIT UP?
Get excited over teaching reading
Teach literature in more engaging ways (Ms. Whittemore and The Scarlet Letter)
Approach student's apathetic attitudes toward learning
Make connections between student life and literature
A model of various teaching styles and classroom environments
WHAT DOES THIS TEACH US?
The relationship between content, pedagogy, and persona MATTERS
Teachers have to set expectations for themselves in addition to their students
Teaching English is about teaching reading, writing, speaking, thinking, listening, and analyzing
The ELA classroom is unique because it pushes students to discover their identity
SO WHAT?
SO WHAT?
"There is no perfect syllabus, no perfect set of classroom conversations, and certainly no perfect model for how understanding, assurance, and daring should be enlarged in teenagers" (238).
"If we think of our own lives, we will remember how gradually, through so many moments, through so many stupidities, errors, and evasions--seeming failures--we moved ahead and got any place worth going to."
"Education is laborious and intermitent."
Teachers always have to adapt to the needs of their students, and most importantly, teachers must find ways to break student resistance toward learning.
The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Response Poem:
Write a poem about a time you had to make an important decision, and how you felt about your choice. Follow the pattern of Frost’s poem as closely, or as loosely as you like.
Write 5-10 lines.
WHAT IS YOUR TAKE-AWAY FROM LIT UP?
Pick one of your highlighted quotes from the reading and briefly explain its relevance toward your developing teacher identity.
Write at least three sentences.