Tricky Teaching Maneuvers
A Facebook friend of mine posted a link recently to Pride and Prejudice told in Facebook status updates, which of course I bookmarked and sent to all my friends whom I though would appreciate it. I also sent it to the teachers I work with who cover Pride and Prejudice because I thought they and their students might get a kick out of it.
The trouble with web projects like this is that they are funny and clever, but how do we turn them into true teaching aids? The tricky part is trying to move beyond a clever gimmick, especially when it comes to technology, and really use it to help the students see the book in a new way. So I started thinking about whether I could adapt it somehow in my own courses. I already do a pretty good board game project in conjunction with Jane Eyre
When I first was thinking about how to teach Gatsby, I came across this lesson plan from the NEH talking about the “secret society” in Gatsby, which really brought home for me how much the novel is about what goes unsaid between the characters. And isn’t using Facebook updates a great way to map that out, to show some interior monologues, a new and somewhat passive-aggressive way for Tom and Daisy and Gatsby to do their fated and fatal dance? I’m going to have my students try it in the spring, as an in-class exercise when we read Gatsby, and I’m excited to see how it goes. Either we’ll do it at the end, as way to wrap-up the novel, or maybe as an ongoing activity we can all collaborate on together as we read.
Today with that same class, we watched portions of Dead Poets Society, a classic in the hearts of English teachers everywhere (or at least, in mine), which was timely for us as we finish a unit on Whitman and Emily Dickinson and move into a unit on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
For me, the lesson I wanted them to take away is that there’s no use in trying to remain too cool for poetry. Even if it doesn’t resonate with you, at least take the risk and give it a chance, because if it does hit home, there are immeasurable riches in store for you. And I love the part where Keating (played by Robin Williams before his scenery-chewing got the better of him) says that medicine and engineering and the law are all worthy fields and admirable goals, but that truth, beauty, love and poetry help us think about why we are living our lives and what is most important to us in those lives, no matter what career we pursue.
Who knows what the students will take away from it all, but I’m willing to take the chance whenever I think it’s worthwhile.
- Posted in: media mentions ♦ teaching
Delurking to say that I also LOVED that P&P Facebook site and have been meaning to link to it since seeing it a couple days ago.
Also– am I imagining things, or is it snowing on your blog? It’s very festive!
Hello,
I would just like to inform you that your blog post has been reproduced at this website:
http://how-they-see-us.blogspot.com/2008/12/tricky-teaching-maneuvers.html
This blogger has done the same to me as well as another fellow blogger.
However, keep up the good work!
——————-
RK Project (http://rkproject.wordpress.com)
I had just linked to it before reading about it here! I loved that!
It is snowing! WordPress gives you the option during the holiday season, and I took it.
I talked to a colleague today about doing the Gatsby project this spring, and now I’m even more excited.
Hey Jackie. My friend was saying how Facebook and text messaging has enabled passive aggressive people. Particularly in dating she has found that guys are so bad about confronting situations and have resorted to Facebook statuses and text messages to not have to deal with situations that are uncomfortable.
There’s a paper here somewhere….
I’m glad I’m not hallucinating with the snow!
And I’m sorry that guy stole your post. Grrr….
I’m always wracking my brains trying to come up with ways to use Facebook in my teaching, so I’ll be interested in more ideas!
Aliki, you would probably even have a bit more leeway than I will– our tech people prefer we keep everything on our own server, which is a bit frustrating. The tech person for our division and I are pretty excited about the project though, so I will definitely be updating as we develop it.
The guy stealing my post is a bit frustrating, but it’s equally ridiculous– what exactly does he hope to gain, you know?
Tom, my students said the same thing this semester! I’m hoping some of them explore that a bit in their final papers, which come rolling in Monday night.
thanks for stopping by my blog! I’ll put yours on my list to read
that austenbook is cool! and I’ll have to check out that Gatsby unit too. A coworker just did a “Macbeth myspace pages” thing that I thought was cool – I like the facebook news feed idea as an ongoing reading organizer type thing.
The wonderful man who taught me 12th grade English retired the same year I graduated. At one of our senior things that spring he was doing some general announcement or introduction or whatever – and all o f his students pre-arranged to stand in our chairs as soon as he was done. He got teary eyed – it was cool
An ongoing reading organizer– exactly! I teach Macbeth in the spring, but I hadn’t thought about applying a similar structure to that text…. very interesting! For Gatsby, we’re hoping to be able to have the students create photo galleries too, the way you can on Facebook, for different events in the novel, or even for events that happen outside the novel (like Tom and Daisy’s wedding, for example).
What ana amazing moment for that teacher of yours too!