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.
? It has certainly become my winter album, though Jenny Lewis’s 
is a worthy contender as well.
is one of three memoirs by Ruth Reichl, food writer extraordinaire, and I’ve always thought it was such a great title. Titles are tough for me, so I always appreciate a good one, and all three of her memoirs have great vivid titles.
to help me build my repertoire.
