Week of 10-27-14

This week in American Literature, we had to pick a poem and analyze it. I chose It's all I have to bring today (26) by Emily Dickinson. When I made the connection between the clover that she talks about and the Holy Trinity (the number 3 shows up a lot in that poem) I began thinking about how big of an issue religion was for Dickinson. She struggled with it quite a bit, and felt pressured to join the church as all her family and friends professed their faith and became full-fledged Christians. But Dickinson never did, and that suggests a strong sense of self. There's an anonymous saying that goes, "Stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone."

That's what I think Dickinson did, and that's what I think a lot of the people we're studying for National History Day had to do. Even if some people had had the same viewpoint for a while, it takes courage to be one of the only ones expressing it. Starting the bandwagon moving is the hardest step. Looking at the women's rights movement, the notion had existed since the founding of the country with Abigail Adams. That means it can't be that foreign of a concept. But the people who decided to do something about it are the ones who stood up and turned it from a concept into a cause.

It takes a lot of strength to stand against what everyone else is doing. Dickinson wrote many poems about that struggle, and it's not hard to see it taking place in the time period we're looking at for NHD (1870 - 1917). The year Dickinson's father, sister, and future sister-in-law joined the church, she wrote in a letter, "I am standing alone in rebellion." This is the same sentiment expressed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony when they wrote "But standing alone we learned our power..." This idea, that strength and courage reside in standing up for what you want regardless of how popular that is, seems to be one that many people still struggle with today. And based on how long that's been true, I'd say it's not about to change.

Are you comfortable with standing alone? Is it easier with other people? Or are you more likely to purposely stand against the social norm?

Week of 10-6-14

We are about to start our poetry unit in American Literature, and I'm actually a little bit excited about it. I know a lot of people really hate poetry, but I think there's a lot more to analyze than with prose. We've already looked at The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, which is the perfect example. There's repetition, in the line "Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore.'" But there's also the author's decision to only end every stanza with that line towards the end of the poem. To me, there's just so much you could read into that - maybe the narrator is losing his mind until this is all he can think of, or the idea of never seeing his wife again is overwhelming him the more he thinks about it.

We were also given that very long packet, chock full of poems. It's daunting because of the size, but it's also, in my opinion, better than the readings we've had in the past. Because there are so many poems, we have options of what we want to analyze or close read -  and you could probably find one that you either relate to or are interested in. There are also so many different styles and topics of poetry that it's very easy to connect with as a category of literature, so I'm hoping we'll be able to choose some of our own. Are you dreading or looking forward to this unit? Do you like poetry?

Week of 9-29-14

Yesterday we had our first unit test of the year. It was open note, so there wasn't very much memorization, and I didn't feel like I needed to study facts and dates. While I really enjoy having that kind of test, I also know that I was not all that happy about having to take the notes that made that test possible.

I know that almost every teacher lectures sometimes. But for me, personally, I can't really understand the material we're learning by sitting in the same place for an hour, writing down the important information and listening to a lecture. I prefer to do interactive activities - group work, maybe, or a discussion. Debates really help me understand the different views and perspectives of the people we're studying, because I can get involved in what we're learning

Can you learn well from note-taking? Do you think having open-note tests is worth it? I know some people are auditory learners, some are visual, and some are kinesthetic. I feel like in order for a teaching method to be successful, you have to address all of those preferences. But maybe that's just me.

I know notes can be helpful at times, but I'd like to see some more interactive classes in the future. How do you feel about it?