All posts by Dana Huff

English Department Chair/English teacher, doctoral candidate at Northeastern University, reader, writer, bread baker, sometime soapmaker, amateur foodie. Wife and mom of three.
Teaching Literature

A Wagner Matinée and A Pair of Silk Stockings

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We’ve been busy with the change to a new semester. Two-thirds of my students are wrapping up the research paper process, while the other one-third are starting. It’s been a bit hectic.

When I was in college, I took a class in Southern Literature under the direction of James Kibler. Much of the literature we studied, post-Civil War at any rate, was based in Realism and Regionalism. I decided that I really liked it a lot, so I took a course the next quarter in American Realism and Naturalism. I did not love much of the literature we studied, but in retrospect, given the trajectory of my teaching career, it was the single most valuable English course I took. I have been primarily a teacher of American literature since the beginning of my teaching career. It is during the antebellum time period when Realism, Regionalism, and Naturalism developed, that American literature really took on a distinctive flavor — it became different from European literature. Over time, it has become possibly one of my favorite time periods to teach.

Students usually enjoy the works written by writers such as Mark Twain, Jack London, and Ambrose Bierce — much more so than they do some of the earlier American writers, anyway. Of course, student interest in the topic always makes it more fun for me, too. After all, I have already read all this stuff… several times. It is experiencing it again through their eyes that makes it fun.

One of my favorite stories to teach within this unit is Willa Cather’s short story “A Wagner Matinée.” If you haven’t ever read it, you might want to take some time to check it out. Alternatively, you can listen to a radioplay version at Scribbling Women, but you may need to register (it’s free). In the story, a young man named Clark hosts his Aunt Georgiana from Nebraska. Much of the story centers around Clark’s fond recollections of Aunt Georgiana’s love for music. When he was a child, his aunt taught him Latin and Shakespeare. Clark moved to Boston. Aunt Georgiana comes to visit because of some legal business with a will, and Clark decides to take his aunt, who taught music before she eloped with Clark’s uncle to the wilds of Nebraska, to a matinée of Wagner music. Aunt Georgiana completely loses herself in the enjoyment of the music. In the end, Aunt Georgiana, faced with going back to Nebraska and leaving such music behind — this time for good — tells Clark poignantly, “I don’t want to go, Clark, I don’t want to go!”

I pair this story with Kate Chopin’s short story “A Pair of Silk Stockings.” In this story, Little Mrs. Sommers (as Chopin describes her) has found herself in possession of an extra $15. She goes shopping, thinking to spend the money on her family. Instead, she finds her hand resting on a pair of silk stockings, on sale at $1.98 down from $2.50. Chopin evokes the Garden of Eden: “[S]he went on feeling the soft, sheeny luxurious things — with both hands now, holding them up to see them glisten, and to feel them glide serpent-like through her fingers.” After that, temptation runs away with Mrs. Sommers. She purchases the stockings, then decides she needs new shoes. She winds up spending the whole $15 on luxuries.

I think the stories have very similar heroines. They speak to what women were (and, in many cases, are) expected to give up for their husbands and children. Sometimes students judge Mrs. Sommers harshly — they think she should have spent the money on her children as she planned. I think they have trouble relating to Aunt Georgiana. Today, even in the wilds of Nebraska, one can listen to Wagner at any time with a CD player or mp3 player. They have trouble understanding how cut off Aunt Georgiana is from all the cultured things she loves, especially music. This matinée will most likely be the last time Aunt Georgiana gets to hear music that she doesn’t perform on her own parlor organ.

I just finished these stories with one of my classes (and I am getting ready to do them with another class). I thought I had my opening activity for “A Pair of Silk Stockings” on my work computer, and I didn’t, so I didn’t do it (which is sad, because it really gets students in the frame of mind to make judgments about Mrs. Sommers’ spending). The activity centers around five fictional people who each receive a windfall of $100. They spend the money in various ways — either selfishly or selflessly. Students rate the five spenders based on how well they used the extra money and a class discussion ensues. After that, students read “A Pair of Silk Stockings.’ You can download this activity in rich text format by clicking this link.

My students concluded that it was OK for Mrs. Sommers to treat herself to one glorious day with the extra money. By the way, I always suggest students take the story home and read it with their mothers so they can have a discussion about it. However, these students concluded it might have been better for Aunt Georgiana to have missed the concert. They felt it was too painful for her to have for just a short time only to have it snatched away again.

As I taught “A Wagner Matinée” this time, I felt it — the students weren’t into it. I stopped in various sections and played some of the Wagner pieces mentioned in the story. I also told them about Wagner’s background and music — I have an “in” because my husband is an operatic heldentenor, so I’ve learned a little bit more about Wagner. However, it should be easy for anyone who wants to try this with his/her own students to learn more about Wagner and find a CD with the pieces in the story on it. The students drifted when I played the music. I thought it was all pretty much a wash until one student raised his hand and commented that he thought the pace of the story seemed to match the music — if I played a piece of music mentioned in the story, then turned it down and continued to read as the music played in the background, the story seemed to rise and swell to the music. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but it was an interesting observation, and it was worth it to me if he was the only one that was into it. One student enjoying it and making connections made it worth it. Of course, it’s nice when they all do, but I’m realistic enough to know that’s pretty rare, and often not because of anything I did or didn’t do.

Teaching Literature

Making Meaning

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I got the question today. You know the one, if you’re an English teacher. The one about whether the author truly intended something or other I pulled from the story.

Let me back up. As a teacher of tenth grade American Literature and Composition, it falls to me to teach the research paper. I have taught it so many years now that I have it down to a science. Last year, I decided to walk students through each step by writing a paper myself. I was intrigued by a short story I had not read until last year. It’s called “A New England Nun,” and it was written by Regionalist writer Mary E. Wilkins Freeman. It isn’t a particularly interesting story, but I found it intriguing because the protagonist, Louisa Ellis, so clearly exhibits typical signs and symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. I wrote a research paper proving the following thesis: Louisa Ellis, a character in Mary E. Wilkins Freeman’s “A New England Nun,” exhibits signs and symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

Because the story is obscure, I am able to answer students who tell me they can’t find anything on Huck Finn. (I actually got that one this week!) We read the story so they can see how I was able to draw conclusions about the character and also how I was able to take notes on the story for note cards.

One of my students asked me whether Freeman intended to create a character with OCD. I can’t answer that. I’m not sure Freeman was aware of the disorder. She might have been. Even if she wasn’t, people have been exhibiting OCD behaviors throughout history, and she could possibly have modeled Louisa on someone she knew who was “like that.” So my answer to the student was that I don’t know. I can’t prove it. But I asked my students this — just because an author didn’t intend to put something in a story, does that mean it isn’t there?

For example, J.R.R. Tolkien is famously quoted as saying he hated allegory. Yet, I find it very easy to read his writing as allegory. Does that necessarily make me wrong?

I explained to my students that we all bring things to a story that a writer can’t control, and we make meaning of their writing based on those things we bring. If we make a connection or notice a symbol or develop a theory based on that writing because of what we brought to it, is it necessarily wrong because the writer didn’t think of it (or we don’t know whether the writer thought of it)?

For the first time when I’ve been asked “the question,” I could see wheels turning. The students considered what I said, and I think they found it valid. It was a far cry from the way I used to approach teaching literature to students who didn’t draw the same conclusions as I did — they just didn’t have much experience as a reader. How could they be expected to “get it”?

I recommend a book I read last year called How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster. There is a way to get students to understand that digging into a text can make it more interesting and “gratifying.” The book is an engaging read for English teachers who are interested in learning how to get kids to do this.

Issues

School Vouchers

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How many of you who stop by here teach in private schools? It doesn’t seem as though there are many of us private school teachers out there in the blogosphere. I read Waterfall’s blog; she teaches at a Christian school in North Carolina. If you know of others, I would appreciate links. I feel like an island!

When issues like school vouchers come up, I admit that in my new position as a private, indeed a parochial school teacher, I feel as though I should feel torn. I don’t. I’m against them. Obviously, I have no problem with parents who choose to send their children to private schools and are willing to pay the tuition. I do have problems with parents expecting the taxpayers to send their children to private schools in the form of vouchers. I know of many students at my school that might not be there if not for scholarships, but those funds are freely donated for the purpose of giving students a Jewish education.

The New York Times reported Friday that Florida’s Supreme Court “struck down a voucher program … for students attending failing schools, saying the State Constitution bars Florida from using taxpayer money to finance a private alternative to the public system.” I would venture to guess that many other state constitutions have similar clauses. However, I was surprised to find that the U.S. Constitution did not:

The United States Supreme Court has ruled that the federal Constitution does not prohibit vouchers, but it also held last year that states were not obliged to finance religious education as well as secular education. Those actions left it to state courts to decide whether voucher programs were legal, and focused national attention on the battle over vouchers in Florida, which teachers’ unions first challenged in 1999.

Florida’s Consititution says, “Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure and high quality system of free public schools.” [Emphasis mine.] The court added, “This diversion not only reduces money available to the free schools, but also funds private schools that are not ‘uniform’ when compared with each other or the public system.”

And that’s the point, isn’t it? For instance, the curriuculm at my school requires Hebrew and courses in Tanakh (Bible) and Rabbinic Literature (as well as other Jewish studies), in addition to academic courses such as English, math, social studies, and science. I can think of no public schools that require Hebrew (or even offer it) or offer courses in Judaic studies. Our school is simply different from public schools, and students from public schools who enroll often find it is a bit of adjustment. We might not offer classes those students were taking in their public high school, such as French.

Governor Bush seems to be considering amending Florida’s Constitution. He referred to the ruling as “a blow to educational reform.” I just can’t agree with that assessment. It is clear to me that we need to do something to reform public education, but giving students money to go to private schools is not the answer.

Issues

Block Scheduling

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Does your school use block scheduling? Some years back, and I’m sure someone who remembers the particulars can fill us in with a comment, lots of schools jumped on the block scheduling bandwagon. Block scheduling would allow students to take, in most cases, eight classes a year. This would accomplish several things — first, students would be able to work for longer stretches without interruptions, which would help them get more done; second, students who failed would have more wiggle room in their schedules to re-take classes; and finally, it would serve to make the day less hectic.

I currently teach a modified block schedule. Each of my classes meets for 45 minutes three days a week. One day a week, each class has a double-block of 90 minutes. There is also one day off for each class. It took me a while to learn my schedule; it’s a bit complicated. I’m used to it now, and I have figured out how to make it work, but I won’t pretend it wasn’t an adjustment. Students, on the other hand, take a total of eight classes (one of which is either Study Hall or Spanish) each year except senior year when their schedules are often very light. On any given day, they will attend six classes, two of which will be 90 minutes long.

My daughter goes to a school that runs on an A/B block. She has four classes each day, but they alternate. On A day, she takes Science, Orchestra, Social Studies, and a Focus class (organization, skills, minimester-type classes, such as Southern Music). On B day, she takes Math, Language Arts, Reading, and a Connections class that changes each nine weeks (this past nine weeks it was Spanish).

My first year teaching, I taught a 4X4 block schedule, which meant students took four classes each day, but each was 90 minutes long. Two semesters were covered in one semester. I didn’t find it worked that well with English, frankly, and in order to keep my disadvantaged, low-level, non-reading students interested in English for 90 minutes, I most often wound up teaching a lesson and giving them an assignment based on the lesson. They almost never had homework, and if they did, it wasn’t done.

It looks like some schools may be moving away from block schedules. The Washington Post reports that schools in Ann Arundel may drop an A/B block schedule due to teacher complaints of a heavy workload. Rather than teaching five classes and planning for one period, teachers were teaching six classes and planning for two periods over two days. The increased workload of one class did not outweigh the “extra” planning period, teachers found. The extra class typically expanded the average teacher’s number of students from 150 to 180.

When I taught a 4×4 block, I taught three classes and had a 90 minute planning period. I also had about 90-100 studens. This was really nice. But I can see how it would not work the same with an A/B schedule. At my current school, the normal workload for a teacher is five classes, and not six as in Ann Arundel schools. Because I am also the coordinator for a new track in the 10th grade, I actually teach four classes. We also sub for each other whenever one of us is out, so some of my blocks are designated sub periods. Some days of my week are very hard — Mondays, for example, I teach three single blocks and one double block; all four of my classes meet. On Tuesdays, my lightest day, I teach one single block and one double block. While I teach two doubles and a single on Wednesday, it doesn’t seem as hectic as Monday, because I don’t meet with all my students. Thursdays are heavy meeting days for me, aside from the three single blocks I teach. I teach all four classes in a single block on Fridays. I also have a small number of students. I currently teach about 65 students in four classes — my largest class has 20 students.

Class size and the number of blocks make a huge difference. I don’t know how I could do an adequate job teaching writing without enough time to grade all the student essays. As a matter of fact, I feel like it takes me forever to grade a set of essays as it is. I can’t imagine having to grade 180 essays each time. It makes my head spin.

Ann Arundel has a serious problem on its hands. The block schedule was cited as the number one reason for leaving on surveys taken by teachers leaving the system. To solve the problem, Ann Arundel is looking at the 4X4 block. I think they will find that while it will lighten the workload, the 4X4 schedule is not without problems. The article cites issues with AP and IB classes. I don’t know enough about IB to comment, but I know that AP tests typically take the school year for which to prepare. It is problematic to contain these classes in one semester — if students take them first semester, too much time elapses between the end of the semester and May, when the tests are taken. Electives, especially ongoing classes like Band, Chorus, and Orchestra, will find it difficult — students will have scheduling issues. We didn’t have that problem at the school where I taught 4X4 because we didn’t have those classes available to students. The schedule also allows for gaps in learning. A student can take Algebra I first semester of freshman year, for instance, and possibly not take math again until second semester sophomore year.

You can read some research in block scheduling from EducationNews.org.

Teaching Writing

College Writing and Literacy

One of my side interests is genealogy, and several months ago I visited my grandfather’s cousin to see some old pictures and discuss family history. Her husband is a professor at Mercer University, and it is my understanding that he works with teachers in training quite often, though he is a professor Religion and Philosophy. He asked me if I had noticed a decline in the writing ability of my students during my tenure as a teacher. I nodded, understanding his meaning, but I need to explain… I have been teaching nearly eight years, and I feel that my students do not write as well as my own peers did when I was in school; however, I don’t feel I have been teaching long enough to see a long-term trend of decline. Indeed, my first year teaching was at a poor rural school in Middle Georgia, and my students’ writing skills were nearly nonexistent. My current private school students are much more advanced than my previous public school students, but I still see some rather startling issues in their writing. Duane, my “cousin,” explained that his college students did not write as well now as his students have in the past. We had a very interesting discussion.

Today, I came across Friday’s New York Times article about declining literacy levels in today’s college graduates. I believe firmly that reading and writing go hand in hand, and the more a person reads, the better he or she will write. It is a matter of being exposed to writing models much more often. For example, last year, two of my students moved up from the lower track to the middle track. They also just happened to be the two students who read the most on their own. Less able writers who do not read do little to expose themselves to effective models for writing.

What I find alarming about the article is that “[t]hree percent of college graduates who took the test in 2003, representing some 800,000 Americans, demonstrated ‘below basic’ literacy, meaning that they could not perform more than the simplest skills, like locating easily identifiable information in short prose.”

OK, I’ll ask the question. How is it that these people became college graduates if they cannot perform basic reading skills? I find that frightening. It tells me that a college degree today must be worth less than a college degree awarded, say, in my own parents’ generation — the late 1960’s.

The usual culprits — television and the Internet — were blamed for the decline in literacy. In fact, many of you are probably aware that the works of Shakespeare will be available in text message form, ostensibly to be a good study resource. I fail to see how that can possibly be true, but that’s beside the point. The fact is, we’re living with a generation who routinely inject chat speak in their essays and spell “ludicrous” like the rapper “Ludacris.” As teachers, we have to do something to get students to read. Tim Fredrick suggests offering more choice, which is fine if the curriculum allows, but I think part of what we need to do as English teachers is help students establish a cultural literacy that comes with reading. For example, students of The Scarlet Letter will understand what it means if someone says, “Fine, why not just slap a scarlet letter on my chest and be done with it.” Or even this — watching a Star Trek movie and understanding what Alfre Woodard means when she says Captain Picard is like Captain Ahab, still chasing that white whale when he expresses determination to pursue the Borg. There is a world of meaning in our collective cultural consciousness. I don’t think it will die out. There are those that will carry it on; however, I do worry that the gulf between different socioeconomic classes will remain as long as there is this disparity between literacy levels.

Two students in my class recently had an “argument” over whether a quote by Walt Whitman could be used to bolster one student’s contention that John Steinbeck was Marxist. I’m not worried about them. But they are part of the smallest minority, and that worries me.

You can read more about the National Assessment of Adult Literacy.

Technology

So Many Resources, So Little Use

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As you may recall, I have been considering the question of how to get my students to utilize the class blog and wiki I’ve set up for them. I have bounced the idea off colleagues, and it seems to me that the most common response is to require it. My students all have access to the technology at home. Even if they didn’t, they have access at school during our long lunch period, breaks, and study hall time. There is little reason why they might not be able to fulfill a requirement to check and/or post to the site or wiki.

I decided to bounce this idea off the education blogosphere. What exactly would be considered in my requirement? Should I, for instance, require students to make a certain number of posts? What sort of posting? My blog is not a classroom blog in the vein of Mike Hetherington’s or, I’m sure, of other similar classroom blogs.

Also, what suggestions do you have for engaging students more actively in discussion in the blog or on the wiki?

I actually became so frustrated with the work I’ve done on the blog (with so little use) that I didn’t update yesterday. No one noticed or said anything. I did a catch-up post today, but it bothered me. I think I have gotten past any issues I may have had with requiring students to use the technology. I’m ready to do it. Suggestions?

Blogging

What Am I Doing This For?

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The obvious answer is “me,” because the students don’t seem to be getting much out of it. This is a short vent about my students. Each day, I post an update to my classroom blog. It doesn’t take long. I find it enjoyable. I give them a short literary story, then I recap the day and make announcements. I also created a wiki for them.

They won’t, WON’T use them. It’s frustrating. Why am I bothering? I don’t want to give up, but I feel… sort of defeated. Do I need to require them to use the blog and wiki in order to ensure that they will be? That just bugs me to have to do, but I’m not above it.

But the kicker is what they said yesterday. They might actually use my site if it was on MySpace. Can you freaking believe that? They claimed it would be easier to check. Oh, much easier I’m sure than typing a URL once and bookmarking it so you never had to again. I have already resorted to posting extra credit on the site and not mentioning it — ever — in class. Mixed results. Well, no results, really.

OK, tell me to keep plugging away and it will pay off eventually.

MySpace. Please.

Blogging

More on Student Blogging

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Without realizing it, I seem to have hit upon a hot topic in the technology in education blogosphere with my post about student blogging yesterday. I was simply thinking about concerns I have about my own students — and reminded that I had meant to post about those concerns by Bud Hunt.

I have been visiting the posts written by others, and I wanted to say that I wholeheartedly encourage the use of technology in education. I have found blogs and wikis a valuable resource. My students aren’t yet participating as much as I’d like, but I see some real potential. What scares me is the “blogging” they do on their own time. I am concerned that they are posting things that could lead to their harm. I think it is our job as educators to, well, educate them about the dangers online. Actually, I think it is the job of parents, but I have to wonder how many of my students’ parents can possibly know they have MySpace.com sites when I read the things they post on them. I floated the notion of having a learning session with students during one of our morning programs, but I haven’t yet heard from the powers that be.

That said, I think benefits outweigh the risks, and I hope that was clear.

You can read some excellent posts on this topic at:

If you’ve seen others, let me know.