Beyond School

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1. emotional reactions being the substitute for thinking among those who can’t think [↩]

I really love Screencast-o-matic (SOM), the free, web-based screencast creator. I’ve been using it to make short edtech tutorials for teachers (who aren’t using them, of course) for the last week. But this Saturday morning, I used it for my students in AP Literature.

A few days ago, I had them do a timed writing of an old AP Lit essay question under exam conditions–40 minutes to read a challenging poem and write an essay that could make or break their opportunity to get college credit for our course.

Many students had a hard time with it. Many didn’t manage to write more than half a page, hand-written–two small paragraphs–for the assignment. (The poetry essays are apparently always what they do worst on in the real AP exam, which is why we’re starting the year with six weeks of poetry.) So I did the assignment myself, with headphones and mic on, talking through each stage of my own approach to taking timed essay exams on poetry.

I’ll share their feedback on the value of this as a learning tool as soon as possible. Here’s how it looks (but you really should take a glimpse at the AP Lit channel on SOM itself, because it allows comments, time-stamped notes, downloads, and more. It’s awesome!) :

Part 1: Attacking the question, annotating the poem:

Part 2: Writing the essay (part 1)

Part 3: Writing the essay (part 2)

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Pageflakes - your free student and teacher start page

• I am a complete idiot for not reading Will Richardson religiously. Pageflakes for students and teachers is powerful stuff.
  - post by cburell

Weblogg-ed » Using Pageflakes as Student Portal

• A gem from Will Richardson on classroom use of Pageflakes. I see a migration coming.
  - post by cburell

Extracurricular :: For technologists who do their homework : July 2007 : THE Journal

• From the article:

  The benefits of integrating technology into K-12 education are being demonstrated nationwide. Here is an illustration of the quantitative impact Texas’ Technology Immersion Pilot has had on the Floydada Independent School District. - post by cburell

Borderland » Blog Archive » Teaching the Controversy

• Note the “habits of mind” approach to ‘teaching the controversy” instead of “indoctrinating.”
  - post by cburell

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It’s summer. Let’s enjoy a poem, and the “pleasures of the text,” as some theorist I’ve forgotten from college once said. Cross-posted from an AP Lit workshop Ning I’ve started with other workshop teachers. What’s interesting is that Leah and I read the same poem, but took away two radically different meanings. Would love you literary types to play along with your own opinions in comments.

And yes, I know. “How school-y.” Nobody’s saying that pleasure should be sacrificed on the altar of “citizenship”; my thrust lately is that the reverse should not continue to be the case in our schools, our culture, ourselves.

Here it is:

“Textual Openness” in Heaney’s “Clearances #5″: Two Teachers, Two Interpretations

Poem:

Sonnet by Seamus Heaney
From Clearances - 5

The cool that came off sheets just off the line
Made me think the damp must still be in them
But when I took my corners of the linen
And pulled against her, first straight down the hem
And then diagonally, then flapped and shook
The fabric like a sail in a cross-wind,
They made a dried-out undulating thwack.
So we’d stretch and fold and end up hand to hand
For a split second as if nothing had happened
For nothing had that had not always happened
Beforehand, day by day, just touch and go,
Coming close again by holding back
In moves where I was x and she was o
Inscribed in sheets she’d sewn from ripped-out flour sacks.

Prompt:

Heaney’s sonnet is less obviously sonnet-like as we read it. How does the form work here? What is the effect of the rhythm? the imagery? How do they combine to create the tone?

Response 1: Leah

The Voyage That Never Set Sail

What a great poem!

Initially, the poem establishes the speaker’s hope for change and life within this relationship (imagined as the act of folding the sheet, a joint project that ties the lovers together). The repetition of sounds and words in the opening lines suggests the repetitive cycle of this relationship. Instead of rhyming, the first four lines end with words that are fragments of one another: “line/linen” and “them/hem.” In the first case, the word grows through their folding, and in the second, the words shrink, which shows that each moment of growth is followed by retreat.

He imagines at the outset that something will be different from what has always been, that the sheet will be wet instead of dry. He imagines the sheet becoming a sail, a vehicle of movement and change. That he imagines the sheet will be wet (water being like the ocean, a site of movement. water can also be seen as a source of life and renewal) also suggests the possibility of voyage. His hopes are thwarted with the realization that the sheet is dry with the onomatopoeic and aggressive “thwack.” Things are as they always were.

The syntax that follows is awkward: “For a split second as if nothing had happened /For nothing had that had not always happened/ Beforehand, day by day, just touch and go,” which suggests that the condition of possibility motivating the poem is no longer available. It is difficult to read those lines, and the syntax forces the reader to slow down. He takes the phrase “touch and go,” which in the cliche suggests volatility, and ironizes it, referring to the action of coming together and moving apart inherent in folding the sheet.

I find the tic-tac-toe imagery particularly interesting. A game of tic-tac-toe is competitive, as any game is, but it is also predictable. When adults play this game, the moves are limited and predictable, and no one usually wins. That seems to be a fitting image for the aggression underlying this relationship. The sewn-together flour sacks, which can be seen as a synechdoche for the couple’s bed and therefore relationship, suggest their poverty and the impotent aggression of their relationship (I imagine that the sewn-together flour sacks might look like a tic-tac-toe board). What is the significance of the fact that she sews them together? What is her role?

I think Heaney is self-consciously playing with the sonnet form as love poetry and as a source of epiphany (what seems to happen here is a non-epiphany, if that makes sense). The first line suggests that the poem will be in iambic pentameter, but the substitutions starting with the first word in the second line immediately call the form itself into question. I find the substitutions make the flow of the poem halting, tentative, and uneasy, which might reflect the speaker’s attitude toward the relationship and toward encapsulating it in a sonnet. The only source of true unpredictability in this poem is in the speaker’s inability to use the sonnet form to describe the dynamics of this relationship.

Response 2: Clay

Heaney’s sonnet is less obviously sonnet-like as we read it. How does the form work here? What is the effect of the rhythm? the imagery? How do they combine to create the tone?

Beyond the 14-line trait, I’m hesitant to classify this poem as a sonnet at all.

The argument, if there is one, develops along neither Petrarchan nor Shakespearean lines (quatrains + couplet or octave + sestet), but instead seems to break down into these units:

• lines 1-7: the unknown persona, while folding linen with a nicely ambiguous “her,” expects “damp” linen, “but” finds it “dried-out”;
• lines 8-9: he and she, while folding, meet and retreat “as if nothing had happened”;
• 10-14: that “as if” is extended as an emblem of the relationship between the persona and, with clues from the final line, a “she” this reader assumes is the persona’s mother.

Likewise, there’s no traditional sonnet rhyme scheme:

a
b
a slant
b

c
d
e
f
f slant (or is it c slant, or d slant? Fun.)
f

g
e
g
e slant

–this is fun, so I’m going to follow these rhyme divisions for a second to see if they add meaning. Hm. That’s interesting. To make it more visual, here’s the poem given stanzaic breaks according to rhyme:

The cool that came off sheets just off the line
Made me think the damp must still be in them
But when I took my corners of the linen
And pulled against her, first straight down the hem

And then diagonally, then flapped and shook
The fabric like a sail in a cross-wind,
They made a dried-out undulating thwack.
So we’d stretch and fold and end up hand to hand
For a split second as if nothing had happened
For nothing had that had not always happened

Beforehand, day by day, just touch and go,
Coming close again by holding back
In moves where I was x and she was o
Inscribed in sheets she’d sewn from ripped-out flour sacks.

–does rhyme add meaning here? It certainly divides the “argument” differently than my original 1-7, 8-14 reading. Now the argument is:

• 1-4: “I” exected damp as I folded with “her”;
• 5-10: but there was no moisture; this dry folding brings “us” “hand to hand” “as if nothing had happened,” which characterizes “our” relationship;
• 11-14: “our” relationship is sadly paradoxical, a “coming close…by holding back,” apparently because “she” - his mother now, we imagine - has been “dried-out” by the poverty and hardship of her life.

“What is the effect of the rhythm and imagery, and how do they combine to create the tone?” teacher asks. What a nice, challenging question.

Let’s see. The first line is perfect (and lovely) iambic pentameter, but the next line breaks that spell, intentionally for sure, most notably in the trochee (?) ending the line (”IN them”). The third line adds an extra syllable to further destroy the perfection of the opening line. In this increasing rhythmic breakdown, sound enforces sense: all is not as perfect as the first line suggests it could (should?) be.

“Diagonally” (l.5) is interesting in the sound-sense connection as well. Rhythmically, it doesn’t fit the iambic well (Latinate words are so often anathema to verse). But it works to “cross,” as diagonals by definition do, the tone of this poem like the “cross-wind” in the simile in the next line, and the “x” in the penultimate one.

More examples like this abound: the broken rhythm of line 6 supports the image of the “cross-wind;” “as if NOthing had HAPpenned,” in lines 9-10, have no music at all, as full of “nothing” sonically as the sense of the phrase. Several more examples follow, but the final line is the most notable: again, an extra syllable ruins the basic meter, and the natural stress of “RIPPED-OUT FLOUR SACKS,” four in a row*, points to the sad root of this “crossed” sadness.

Perhaps the son himself is the deeper root of the mother’s sorry state, the heaviest “cross” for her to bear: he’s an “x,” after all (l.13), which is a cross of sorts; and that mysterious “she was o” metaphor might point to her maternal responsibility for him, the “o” being a classic symbol of the female and the womb. She “bore” him from her womb, and poverty makes him still her “cross to bear.”

You know, I didn’t care for this poem particularly after the first two or three reads. Now I do. Something to share with my students to try to take the “anal” out of the “analysis.”

—

*What are those again? Trochees? Spondees? Do students have to know the jargon to please the AP scorers?

Reflection Question:

What do you think about the differences between these two interpretations? Is one more “right” than the other? Is a third interpretation different from these two validly possible? What else do you notice or think?

Afterwords: Dialog b/w Leah and me

Me:

Wow, Leah. Nice!

In the first case, the word grows through their folding, and in the second, the words shrink, which shows that each moment of growth is followed by retreat.

–nice description of nice, close reading.

I just read the rest of your interp after pausing to quote that line above. How interesting the differences in our interpretations! And better still, how interesting that both are valid (well, I hope you agree mine is valid too; I certainly see the justification for yours).

I especially love the different directions we took the “x and o” metaphor, and also the identities and relationship of the two characters in the poem. This is a great example of textual “openness.” It made my day. I’m going to share it with my students, after having them do the exercise first.

It’s wonderful what happens when the reading is close and detailed, focusing on specific words, phrases, lines, patterns, as you do. Thanks for that!

Leah:

Thanks, Clay! I absolutely see your reading. The more I look at the poem after reading more your response, the more I wonder why I saw this relationship immediately as a relationship between lovers, not mother and son. I absolutely see that it could just as easily be mother and son, which would change the whole cast of the rest of the poem for me. The pain of the poem in that reading is so much more striking to me.

I love what you had to say with x’s and o’s, too. It just goes to show you how much your initial impression of a poem drives how you make sense of all of the details of the poem.

Me:

The funny thing is, though, that I’ve been daydreaming the poem as you saw it, and to me, _that’s_ more painful and poignant. Imagine being the husband whose inability to provide even basic bedding for his wife makes her so care-worn and dried-out.

This really has been one of the most enjoyable lit experiences I’ve had in too long, outside the classroom.

I look forward to more

It’s so cool. When you think of the potato sacks stitched together to make the sheets, the grid-like imagery supports _your_ tic-tac-toe interp. AND your interp of the relational identities, period.

That _doesn’t_ mean I don’t like the “cross” reading. Beware false disjunctives, saith the logician.

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[Update: Ouch, that title bit me when I revisited this post after moving more boxes into my new apartment. I want to make it so clear (and try to below) that, as I've said before, I admire Karl immensely. Not only is he brilliant, he's also one of the few giants in this field who did more than look on with interest when I was trying to turn the 1001 Flat World Tales idea into a flat classroom reality. He helped turn "talk to action," to quote one of my favorite blogs, by lining me up with Michele in Denver, my first flat classroom collaborative partner. Quite possibly, that project would have remained an idea without Karl's contribution.

So the focus here is on ideas, and on extending them. To allude to "Did You Know?" is just shorthand - and I know that Karl knows that it's more than just economics. I hope the post below makes it clear that this is about ideas, and about one more unintended consequence of the dizzying effects Karl's "viral" video.]

Diane posts a thoughtful extension of the “student voices” conversation taking place (and here) lately on her new-ish (and worthwhile) blog, Journeys. She starts with this definition of “student voice” from Wikipedia:

“the individual and collective perspective and actions of young people within the context of learning and education.”

After summarizing the conversation amongst Karl Fisch, me, Scott Schwister, and Carolyn Foote, Diane reflects:

All of these conversations have led me to reconsider some of my plans and strategies for next school year. I had intended to encourage students in my class to share their projects with our Board of Education, both to demonstrate what they’ve accomplished and to advocate for more technology tools being made available in the district. But if I, as teacher, choose what they present, is this truly “student voice”? Should I let them decide what to request and how to do so?

Diane then closes with one very pregnant, very relevant (my new shibboleth for education) quote from Piaget:

The principle goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done; men and women who are creative, inventive and discoverers, who can be critical and verify, and not accept, everything they are offered.

Diane concludes, “Our students need to find their voice, and we need to learn how to listen to it.”

I left a lengthy comment on Diane’s post that readers on aggregators won’t see on my CoComment widget, so I’m going to paste it here (I’m getting more and more frustrated with this and other shortcomings of blogging). It concerns the proper role of teachers and educators in relation to “student voices,” and argues that “student voices” are, without teachers as “futurist guides,” simply the voices of the status quo cultural forces, and the opposite of what Piaget envisions. Here it is:

What jumps out at me in your post are, first, the inclusion of the word actions in the Wikipedia definition of “student voice.” I’m currently ambivalent about creating more blog-talkers as the ultimate goal of this initiative. Talking and writing aren’t enough, though schools typically seem to think so. No wonder citizenship is dead. We have to change that.

The second thing is your closing quote by Piaget. The next generation, which we’re teaching now to be replicants of our own problematic lifestyles, are damned if they’re not equipped - or even conscious of - the world of their future. It’s been said a million times: “Our past is not their future.”

The one wrinkle I see in letting students decide what to present is this: they are only aware of what their community - parents, teachers, preachers - make them aware of. And that community is generally not cognizant of the shape of the future, busy as it is with its own daily round and daily diet of soft news.

So I still see a role for adult educators to serve as sort of “futurist guides” to the next generation of adults.

Karl Fisch is already an example of someone playing that role, however unintentionally, by virtue of the viral reach of his “Did You Know?” video. According to that vision, largely a condensation of Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat, the future to prepare for is one of economic competition with China and India.

But there’s more to our young people’s future than economics - especially when most of those economic practices are unsustainable. All this talk about “21st century workplace skills” disturbs me to no end for its trancelike oblivion to the unsustainability of that workplace.

Friedman actually mentions “green innovation” as one of those skills, incidentally, but that’s not mentioned in “Did You Know?”, so educators are largely not thinking of it. This isn’t Karl’s fault, since that video wasn’t intended to be anything more than a district edtech professional development presentation. But it’s taken a life of its own, and educators are so wowed by the flash of the animation they don’t seem to think beyond it to what else awaits in the future.

There are other futures we need to alert this generation to that are more fundamental, in my view. Global Warming and Climate Change, combined with the Peak Oil situation, top the list.

If we adults don’t use our capacity for being more informed, beyond the media, about the future we’re creating for our young, they have nobody to educate them in what is relevant to their future. We’ve surrendered our role to the larger forces of culture and media that are stuck in the status quo.

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