Comments for Teacher Talk

Comment on Reflection 10: No Hablo Espanol by grammarfan

grammarfan — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:07:39 +0000

I like the points you make here, Sandy. I love it when students add a little of their native language into their personal writing—it spices up the writing and really makes the student’s voice stand out (as I said in my blog entry). Students should be encouraged to communicate in their own language as well as in English, and if the opportunity presented itself, I would encourage speakers of other languages to enrich our class readings with their language and experiences. Reading something like “The House on Mango Street” or “Dreaming in Cuban” with a Cuban or Hispanic student in the class could offer many opportunities for both student and teacher learning.

Comment on Reflection 9: Meaning Making and Test Taking by grammarfan

grammarfan — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:38:44 +0000

We’ve talked about this issue a lot in the last week, but I think that the problem is ultimately the test. College writing professors tend to think that high school teachers are trying to give students a “magic formula” and “rigid rules” for their writing, which (in their opinion) kills their ability to write well and creatively. From our side, we have to prepare our students to pass the HSGT, so we have to prepare them, often by giving them formulae and rules. If we only had to prepare them for freshman composition in college, we may teach differently than we do now. I find myself in an interesting position as a 12th grade teacher because most of my students have already taken the HSGT (I’ll take that back—ALL of them have taken it—SOME of them have passed it) so I am in a position to “prepare them” for college writing, but I feel like I have so much to do just meeting the county’s standards for literature, technology, and writing that I don’t have enough time to “re-teach” them how to write for college. It’s almost as though I give them some tips, work with them the best that I can, and cross my fingers that they don’t fail freshman comp!

Comment on Reflection 8: Things Fall Apart by ludlow

ludlow — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:25:07 +0000

You’ve hit the nail on the head. The key to deconstruction is th seek out and expose the contradictions. If you find a contradiction, you jam your deconstruction crowbar in the cleft and pry the gap in meaning wider and wider, until the dichotomy of meaning becomes so stark that there is no way the modes of thought can be reconciled to one another; at this point, the meaning of the text becomes undecidable and you achieve aporia. Indeterminacy reigns and the totalitarianism of absolute meaning is swept away…

I have to admit, I didn’t like the idea of “undecidable meaning” when I first started reading about deconstruction theory. I have embraced the concept, however, and I encourage you to consider this aspect of deconstruction; this theory encourages the natural inclination in teenagers to rebel against the established meaning of text. As they try to find ways to pull down the meaning of a text, they may inadvertently learn something new.

–Ludlow

Comment on Reflection 6: It’s All about Me! by macnificentwriter

macnificentwriter — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:06:01 +0000

I often require my students to tell me what they think about literature and then I have them to explain to me why they feel this way. I try to make reader response painless. The further we get into the year, the better my students are at picking quotes and noticing literary devices on their own. I think that Reader Response, even though it can seem scary, can helo students to understand that a writers words must be interpreted in some way. Maybe we could think of Reader Response as the gateway theory.

Comment on Reflection 7: A Class Act by macnificentwriter

macnificentwriter — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:01:58 +0000

ILTRGB, I too would like to see my students move pass the personal connections in literature. Often I use reader response to help my students to connect with the literature but I always want them to take it a little further. I find it hard to help my students to realize that everythin is not about them. Teaching theory from “behind the curtain” seems to be a goodd idea, but even still I feel that my students my make thier analysis self-centered. How can this be avoided?

Comment on Reflection 7: A Class Act by grammarfan

grammarfan — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:11:22 +0000

You said, “It’s hard to convey issues of class, gender, and race to teenagers when they may not have the life experience to fully engage in the discussion. But maybe I’m not being fair.” I would have thought the same thing, but I found that my students were insightful and experienced when it came to a discussion of class and economics. I have students from all different economic levels (though mostly low), and they are very aware of their class and economic status. They also seem to know a lot about welfare and food stamps.
I did have a really good discussion about discussion and class with them, but I did not actually apply the term “Marxist Criticism” to it. I think in the future, I might.

Comment on Reflection 6: It’s All about Me! by iluv2write

iluv2write — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:20:20 +0000

What you’ve shared is the fear I have of reader response in the classroom and the reason why I think maybe it shouldn’t be part of literature discussions. However, this isn’t the case because reader response is valuable and has a place in the classroom. Reader response is a theory that should be part of the classroom because students need to learn how to connect to the text, especially since this connection keeps readers interested in the text. However, I am with you that maybe reader response prompts off topic discussions instead of discussions that use the text.

To combat this problem, my best suggestions, is to use the idea Appleman shares and that you included in your blog. Clearly explain the reader response theory and may sure your students understand that there is a critical element to this literary theory.

Comment on Reflection 6: It’s All about Me! by ilrlo

ilrlo — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 01:56:44 +0000

I really like having students respond by making personal connections to literature or a certain aspect in the text. One way that this has worked (and, I promise, many others have not worked for me) is to have this response be their journal entry. The journal is not graded for mechanics and is supposed to help students to become comfortable expressing themselves through free-writing. I give an allotted amount of time to discuss the journal, then I am firm about moving on to the text and other discussions about the text that are not wrapped up in personal stuff. If the students aren’t quite finished with discussing their journal entries, I still stop the discussion but tell them that: “I’m so glad that you have so much to share, I appreciate the conversation that we’re having. Please don’t feel limited to this class. I’m always open to hearing more before or after class, but please, continue the conversation with multiple people beyond this class. Use your voice!”

Also, perhaps you could combine a little reader-response with literary study. For instance, when speaking about how language in a text reflects the time period, location, and culture that the text is set in, I gave a very brief example that they could relate to and then they could better understand and focus in on how these literary elements influenced the language and actions in the text.

Comment on Reflection 6: It’s All about Me! by grammarfan

grammarfan — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 01:07:21 +0000

I have had virtually the same experience with my classes! They have no problem relating the text to themselves, but they will begin talking about their own lives and lose sight of the text. It is really difficult to get them to connect the text to other things (besides themselves.) Actually putting a name on what they are already doing—reader response criticism—could go either way. Either they will view themselves as more intelligent members of a literature community or they will start thinking too much and stop talking. I would hope that it would be the former, but I could also see the latter happening. The trick will be to encourage an increased awareness and participation in the literature discussion.

Comment on Reflection 5: Classroom Control by iluv2write

iluv2write — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:55:59 +0000

To continue the discussion of praising students’ positive behavior, I find that a little praise can do wonders for classroom management. Instead of yelling, raising my voice, or listing the classroom rules, I praise students who are doing what they should do. When students hear me say, “Thank you Susan, Tom, Ryan, and Katie for coming into class and quietly getting your supplies ready for the day,” it is surprising how all of a sudden most students if not every student quickly and quietly gets ready. And, of course, to be equal to all I continue to say “Thank you” to each student who gets ready for class appropriately. All students like attention, be it positive or negative, so giving positive attention for following the rules I have found gets students to follow the rules.

A second point that I think is great about this post is in the first paragraph. Respect is the most important element in the classroom to me. If there is no respect between teacher and student, student and student, student and property, and student and learning, not much will be accomplished. I started off this year with a big talk about respect. But, this isn’t enough, which I am starting to realize, and I am learning that the importance of respect needs to be addressed on a regular basis and that learning how to respect comes from the teacher.