Judith Langer's Response-Based Approach to Reading Literature

I've always wanted to teach literature because stories are like living creatures which help us grow in ways we may never have expected.  Stories engage and entertain us, they teach us, they provoke us and challenge us to see the world and our lives differently.  So teaching literature in the old-school way, complete with vocabulary quizzes and multiple choice tests on characters and theme, just doesn’t feel right to me. 

 

I can remember a high school English teacher explaining the themes and the meaning hidden behind character’s names and what the characters themselves represented.  I left that class still loving the book, but heartily dissatisfied with the lack of exploration.  On test day I filled in the response the teacher desired and I’m sure she went home feeling good about her day.      

 

It was wonderful to read Judith Langer’s “A Response-Based Approach to Reading Literature”, and see the process of teaching literature unfold in such an exciting way.  Teaching literature as the vibrant thing that it is and allowing the students a way to find their own way to interpret it brings life into the subject. 

 

I appreciated Langer providing guidelines to accomplish the goals of this way of teaching.  I liked that she mentioned at least twice that the teacher should encourage “wonderings and hunches even more than absolutes”.  This is what tells us the students are truly thinking through the material and finding ways to integrate and, hopefully, retain the information.  Allowing the students ideas and interpretations to be the guide in the discussions was also very exciting. 

 

This way of teaching Literature will help the students engage with what they are learning.  The discussions will help students learn open yet respectful discourse and will help them develop new ways of looking at Literature, as well as learning material of all kinds.  It will also develop their critical thinking skills and help them to see different perspectives, which may serve them well in countless ways throughout their lives. 

Teaching Social Justice in the Classroom

In the article "Of Mice and Marginalization", written by teacher Michelle Kenney, I read about an experienced high school English teacher's decision to change her curriculum after moving to a more conservative school.  Kenney likes to bring books of diversity and promoting social justice into her class and had planned to teach a unit on A Long Way Gone, "a memoir of a boy's experience as a child slave during the civil war in Sierra Leone".  The parents were uncomfortable with this choice and before long Kenney was offering the suggestion of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men instead.  The parents were very pleased with this choice, so Kenney moved forward. 

Many of the female student's were bothered by the only female character portrayed as manipulative, "kind of a slut", and of course dies in the story.  The Latino and African American students were put off by the one African American character was overwhelming weak physically.  Many of the students stopped coming to class and she had to talk them into returning.  When it came time for the essay on the book, the reports were dry and sometimes plagiarized. 

Kenney went on to teach A Raisin in the Sun more successfully.  The students once more were engaged and seemed to connect to the characters, which were more complex and determined to rise above their circumstances.

This article was interesting to me in that Kenney went against her own instincts as a teacher and brought in a book (though I admit, I love it) which didn't support her goals of teaching social justice through literature in her classroom.  She remembered the novel and thought it would work well, before looking at it from the viewpoint of an early 21st century teen.  I love classic literature and am looking forward to including works from the canon in my classroom.  However, I am going to have to take into consideration exactly what I want to teach.  It isn't enough to give a brief explanation and warning about taking into account the historical and social context of the time in which the work was written.  The students may not yet be capable of  keeping that in mind as they are fighting their way through a book which may represent many of the insurmountable obstacles the student has encountered.

I'm certainly not advocating tossing the classic books from our shelves.  I do think, however, we're going to have to look at them with fresh eyes.  There is the danger, of course, in being overly sensitive and depriving the students of great literature simply because some think they are offensive, violent, or vulgar.  We need to look at the character's carefully and see what they represent.  Also, we must take in the overall themes of the books and find if they follow with what we are trying to convey to the student.  Finally, whatever books we choose, we need to bring candid discussions in the classrooms where the students will feel at liberty to express their thoughts and opinions about the material, both positive and negative, since there is learning to be had in both. 

"Critical Pedagogy & Popular Culture in an Urban Secondary English Classroom"

The article about the experiences of Jeff Duncan-Andrade and Ernest Morrell incorporating critical pedagogy into a contemporary classroom helped me understand how this would look in our classrooms today.  There was less talk of oppressor/oppressed relationships, though those relationships were in fact there and were addressed somewhat.  There were practical examples of how Freire's theory can change the way we teach classic literature, as well as how we can introduce more current aspects of popular culture that the students may find more accessible.

I was especially interested in how they would bring current insights of marginalized people, or "others", to classic literature.  While I think this is valuable, I would imagine this isn't a new or unique aspect of teaching these subjects.  Surely, while teaching the historical context and background of these great works, teachers have been incorporating a 21st century point of view into the mix.  In any case, it was good to see the intentional merge and an explanation of how they did it. 
I was also interested in what they had to say regarding standard multi-cultural curriculum, that they were sometimes "more disempowering of students of color than more traditional and less diverse texts". 

I also appreciated the teacher's seemingly openness to including works of "popular culture" into the curriculum.  Keeping balance in mind, I believe the students will (and obviously do) learn from all kinds of information and am unwilling to throw out a valid, possibly complex, learning experience simply because it may be deemed "pop" culture.

Building on the accessibility of pop culture, I thought the setting classic poetry to a hip hop beat was inspired.  Utilizing a full unit with analysis of literary themes, comparative analysis, and including class discussion sounded like a sound learning experience.  I also liked, knowing not all students would take to the hip hop performance style, the teachers allowed the students to recite the poetry in whatever way was comfortable for them. 

It was also great that the teaching went beyond a standard literary class and involved the students in civic or community issues.  Through the discussion and openness of the classrooms, they had enabled the students with tools and courage to take steps to improve their environment for themselves and others. 

Response to Peter McLaren’s “Critical Pedgogy: A Look at the Major Concepts”

In Peter McLaren’s “Critical Pedgogy: A Look at the Major Concepts”, I felt there was further clarification of how Freire’s “Pedogogy of the Oppressed” may be applied to American classrooms of the 21^st century.  I find it frustrating as a student, when the teacher inserts his or her own values or political views overtly in a lecture.  The teacher has a position of power in the classroom and possibly undue influence over the student regarding his or her views.  To realize beyond this obvious attempt at applying their own particular bias, there are countless hidden ways the teacher may influence the students is something I haven’t really stopped to consider.  This information will make me much more aware of what perspective I take when presenting a subject and will help me remember to keep as objective a view of the piece as possible. 

Although I can’t say it was a complete surprise, it was disheartening to hear how the male and female students were still being treated differently in our classrooms.  I would have thought at the time of this writing (2009?) there would be more awareness of, and more success at curbing, sexist or racist bias in classrooms by the teachers.  The mention that even though the boys were out talking the girls three to one, the girls were the ones held up as the more disruptive with their talking.  Although this is clearly a bias which short changes the female students, this result calls into question for me what other outdated and narrow-minded treatment are all of our students subjected to.     

Pedagogy of the Oppressed - Chapter 2

After the initial chapter of Pedagogy of the Oppressed, I suppose I was vaguely let down by the follow-up chapter and Freire's correlation of the oppressed/oppressor relationship to that of education.  I won't say it doesn't make sense, but it is difficult to see (from the perspective of an American student in the 21st century) the student/teacher relationship compare to that of a "violent" oppressor and their oppressed victim. 

This is not to say I have not had classes which could fall into the banking education type. The teacher droned on with their information, seldom if ever pausing for the opportunity of comment or even an inflection indicating questions were welcome.  When some brave soul did raise their hand, offering their opinion or insight, they were quickly shot down by the professor's obvious superior knowledge.  As the teacher smugly renewed his pace of lecture, other students vowed to keep their opinions to themselves and endure his blathering with silent contempt.  

However, I have also had the teacher who can bring an otherwise dry subject to life with a gift for vivid story-telling.  I had a teacher in high school who sat on the edge of his desk as he carefully brought to life various aspects of history, specifically World War II, for a group of teenagers who would normally never have given the subject more than a passing thought.  I don't remember if he welcomed questions, most likely he did.  He certainly didn't shoot down a curious student.  

It is possible the education Freire was alluding to was something we could imagine taught presently in North Korea or a similar oppressive society.  Though I certainly don't know, I imagine their education is heavily laden with propaganda with very sparse question and answer time. 

I personally am much more drawn to the problem posing education scenario.  It is very gratifying to engage in meaningful discussion in a class and if the teacher is gracious enough to hint the learning was for him or her as well, I appreciate it.  So while I agree that problem-posing education is extremely valuable and is a much more effective manner to teach and encourage vital critical thinking, I am not quite ready to throw out the entire lecture format.  As with most things, I think my personal view would lie somewhere in the middle.

      

Paulo Freire: Pedagogy of the Oppressed

In reading the first chapter of this work by Paulo Freire my mind ran to several different scenarios that would serve as demonstrations for this line of thinking.  The theme of the dreadful balance of the oppressed and their oppressor has been played out continuously over the course of history in as small a space as a violent, dysfunctional domestic relationship to an entire race of people exploited and dominated by another race, either foreign or domestic.

 

One of the early and mind expanding points of this chapter is the fact the tension between the oppressed and the oppressor is just that -- there is a flow of power and submission flowing between the two and it is only the beleaguered oppressed who has the ultimate control to break the stream.  The other side of this point comes in understanding the oppressed is not the only one suffering dehumanization in this situation.  The oppressor is also dehumanized.  This may seem counter intuitive, so I will give an example.In our own American history we of course are all familiar with the plight of the African Americans and their generations of slavery and abuse.  It is not surprising to find one of the ways this institution was rationalized was to dehumanize the slaves, quite literally.  They were said to be ape-like, beasts, not capable of human feeling and attachment.  To tear a child away from their mother was both constant and expected – after all they don’t feel toward their young they way the whites do.  They nurse this one or the other.  They are not human.   Families separated and any attempt at families may have seemed quaint to a tolerant slave owner, as if they were just attempting to imitate the civilized white folk.   When a slave owner eased up on the slaves, it may have been thought of as a great kindness, instead of merely a brief relief of oppression. 

Skipping forward a few generations we find the African Americans technically free, but living in a society in which they are still regularly abused, discriminated, and generally given little opportunity to develop into the complete and free men and women they need to become.  Can anyone look at the footage of hate-filled white men and women screaming in the face of young black American’s who are trying to go to school or sit at a lunch counter and not see the oppressors as less than human?

As Freire explains, it is only the oppressed, finally realizing their oppression and fully comprehending the need for liberation which can free both the oppressed and the oppressor.  Often the oppressor will initially feel anger and (mistakenly) feel oppressed (see white-supremist movements of the 80’s).   However the need for liberation must come from the oppressed themselves.  This must be an honest and authentic desire, not the result of propaganda and persuasion which may, though perhaps be well-intentioned, manifest in just another form of oppression. 

The Use of Discussion in a Classroom

I enjoyed the reading from the book "Discussion as a Way of Teaching" by Steve Preskill.  It successfully pointed out the benefits and pitfalls of utilizing discussion as a tool for learning in the classroom.  As a student, I have found this to be one of the most effective means of learning, with a few exceptions.  I plan to incorporate discussions in my classroom and this gave me solid clarifications on ways to do so and the stumbling blocks I may come across. 

It will be interesting to see, as a teacher, students overcoming their hesitancy to jump in and share their thoughts and experiences.  I have found in a few discussions in class how easily a few can dominate discussion.  I've never considered how the teacher needs to find a balance so all the students may benefit.  I find this challenge a bit exciting.  

One of the points I really appreciated was the author's honest disclosure of the challenge of listening to all points in an active discussion.  This is definitely something I have been guilty of and am determined to improve both as a student and a future teacher.