Alright, I am going to be a bit disjointed here, Matt, but I have a few different things to get off my mind…
1.In today’s class discussion about the cultural backgrounds and interpretations of the different poems we used in Jessie’s model, I find myself torn. While I think it is important to recognize, acknowledge, and explore other cultures, I don’t think that we should try to read or insert culture into a text just because the authors are from multicultural backgrounds. The poem I explored, “I Am Singing Now,” did not provide any insight into the culture of the writer other than her location as being somewhere in the south—references to mesas and pickups (I recognize that pickups exist in other spheres, but A LOT of people drive pickups in the south). I don’t think that I should read the name of the author and project my generalized conceptions (and/or misconceptions) of their culture into how I respond to the text. At the same time, these additions might help students take on another perspective…any thoughts on this one?
2.I understand where Pirie is coming from in his diatribe (maybe not a so forceful or bitter, but at least critical exploration of) on the five paragraph essay, but I still am not sure I understand how he suggests that we remedy the situation. I think his examples of dialogues between students and both texts and each other, but I’m not sure I understand his ideas about how we teach student expository writing without such structures. I’m all for trying something new, and I don’t think that I ever really had a firm lesson on the FPE, but what can we do? Where can we find examples for students to work with and learn from? When do we teach them how to write a FPE for success on state/national achievement tests? I loved this article in theory, but how do we go about putting it into practice?
3.This last one is more of a statement…I think the Ibo Diary activity is great! I have done similar things as a student (I wrote from the perspective of Ophelia’s maid in watching the tragic events of Hamlet unfold) and as a teacher (creating a project in which students become a “witness” of genocide and must write about their experiences), and it is such an enlightening experience—both creative and academic. I like reading about activities like this in Becoming (Other)wise and being able to see teacher/student reflection. Very cool!
Fin.
Meredith,
ReplyDeleteDisjointedness is fine, especially in light of the Pirie's thoughts on standardized organization :)
So, in regards to your first point, I don't think it was necessarily a part of the exercise to "insert" cultures into a text, but the focus was more on taking a different perspective...learning how to look at something from a point of view other than your own...perhaps the fact that we're looking at these texts in a class with the word "multicultural" in the title has us hyper-focused to standard definitions and issues relating to "culture."
Also, I totally agree with a lot of what you say about Pirie, and if you read my entry for today, I also had a lot of issues with his (her?) points. I think it all comes down to determining the purpose and audience for each piece of writing...if you're looking for other kinds of essays, I would recommend the "Best Essays of 20XX" series for a wide selection of example texts.