Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin amazes me. I was first introduced to her in my Humanities class when I was a senior in high school. Mrs. Kuhn taught us a story by her, and some of us girls read The Awakening, which was considered to be a little risque. Mrs. Kuhn had a poster of D.H. Lawrence on one of her bulletin boards, and she was very enthusiastic about teaching us about writers that old Miss Howard wouldn't even consider. I was never sure whether Mrs. Kuhn's departure after that one year was because of her willingness to share previously censored materials with us, college bound seniors in a Humanities class (the best of the best), or whether it was attributed to something else, like her husband taking a job elsewhere and needing to move from the area. I never did find out.

Women in Literature was an elective class for English majors at Indiana State and one that I was excited about taking. Of course Kate Chopin popped up again. I loved reading literature written by women who were challenged by the time periods, their husbands, antiquated ideas, and society in general.

Since that time I have welcomed the opportunity to include some of Ms. Chopin's stories in my classes. Juniors have read "A Pair of Silk Stockings," seniors and the ENGL 111 students have read "The Story of an Hour." It was natural, then, to include several of Ms. Chopin's selections in ENGL 223 in the Women's Pod, right?

Kate Chopin wrote 100 years ago. Her literature was being submitted for publication, and often rejected, at the turn of the century. Naturally I think about my great-grandmother who would have been newly married at that time and who gave birth to my grandmother, her only child, in 1903. I remember her and her friends, Anna Chilson, Aunt Myrtle, Aunt Rachel, plus other Quaker ladies, getting together for lunch in Great Grandma's dining room, using the good china, silver, and crystal. I had a place of honor next to Great Grandma on the little telephone chair. I felt so special listening to their conversations.

Why am I sharing this information about Great-Grandma Eva? Because she and her friends would be the ones to have read those stories by Kate Chopin when they were first published. I can't even begin to think of those prim and proper Quaker ladies reading and discussing "At the 'Cadian Ball" or "The Storm"--at least not to discuss with each other! Or maybe they did. Maybe they were the secretive readers who really enjoyed Kate Chopin and wished they could be more like her.

Who knows? Wouldn't it be fun to find out?

Reflections on Pod #1

Today is the last day for submissions for the first Pod---Regionalism, Etc. The Men. Since this is the second time this Pod has been studied/used/read/utilized, I thought about similarities and differences between the two groups.

One: More activity with this group than the group last spring. That is a GOOD thing, of course.

Two: More discussion board posts. That too is a good thing. Interaction among the students is great!

Three: More Pronto participation. We had a fantastic group on Monday evening. Questions were asked; answers were given. Concepts were explained. Information was given for new assignments (books, Blogs).

Four: Staggered submissions. One of the purposes of the Pod is to allow students to read according to their schedules, select the authors and titles they think they will enjoy or be challenged by, and submit when they are finished. Many students have submitted early in the week, rather than waiting until Friday at 11 to submit everything. This is great time management, in my opinion, to post at times OTHER than on Friday night.

Five: a little disappointment. I really like Bret Harte and Jack London and only a couple of people read their short stories. "Poker Flat" is one of my all-time favorites and I love "To Build a Fire" too. "Owl Creek Bridge" was very popular as was "Editha." I was also surprised by the number who read Huck Finn--all of it!

Six: Positive feedback...several students have sent notes or told me in person that they are really enjoying the Pods, the format, the selections. That is great news for me!

Onward to Pod #2--The Women! Hopefully some will start Blogs this week also.

Happy Reading!

Can I be in your class?

One of the fun things about being the scorekeeper for the Lady Trojans is talking to old friends and acquaintances at the schools we visit for away games.

Last night at halftime Dr. Beth Dean came over to sit with me after her middle school girls' basketball team was introduced. Beth and I have a history---she was my student teacher from St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer years ago, actually when my youngest daughter was just a baby (and Hilary will be 27 in April). After graduation Beth taught at North White, then moved to Pioneer as assistant principal, earned her masters and PhD, and is still at Pioneer in that role. A few years ago Tom, my program chair, told me "Find someone to teach at the Winamac site or it will be you" and Beth came to the rescue. Since our English classes haven't run lately at Winamac, she has been teaching for us at Rochester.

ANYWAY.....we were talking about her ENGL 112 class which meets at Rochester on Monday evenings, her possibly teaching one of my Wednesday night classes, and my schedule. I shared my excitement about ENGL 223 and how good our Pronto discussion was on Monday evening. When she asked what we were reading and I explained the Pods, she asked if she could be in the class. She loves the regional time period--London, Bierce, Crane, Twain. She was excited about some of the short stories from the next Pod also.

Once a lit teacher, always a lit teacher, I guess. She taught some of these same selections when she was student teaching for me years ago. One thing I love about teaching this class, and putting together the curriculum, is that I can share some of my favorites (and some that aren't) with my students. Literature is timeless.

Can I be in your class? Sure!

Ready for Pronto!

Tonight will be the first Pronto session for the class this semester. I hope we have a full classroom and lots of conversation.

One of the disadvantages of an online lit class is the lack of discussion. Discussion board forums are really crucial to exchanging thoughts and feelings about literature; however, often one post can sway people off track, or in the wrong direction, and then they are hesitant to state a viewpoint that may be different than the others in the class. I hope that doesn't happen. I remember teaching Red Badge (and I had for years) when one student popped up with an interpretation that I had never thought of before--and it was great! He was a little afraid to state his opinion because he might be wrong, but it is one interpretation that I remember well and add to my list of meanings when we discuss symbolism in the novel. I hope my students are courageous enough to state their opinions of literature---and be respectful while doing so.

Participating in Pronto discussions is another way to exchange ideas. Often the students think that I will lead them in the direction they should go...but that is not what happens. I might throw out an idea or ask a question, but I like for the students to just 'talk' on the screen. Those are the best discussions. I might have to steer them back to the topic (because it is easy at times to stray into an area non-literature or class related); otherwise, the discussion is usually student driven.

Tonight is the first session. Only ten of the twenty have added Pronto to their Blackboard items. I hope that more names appear. I hope that many of those listed are able to participate. The first session is always interesting. No one knows what to expect, who will attend, and what will happen.

Stop by and see!

Tie it together

I have never been one to enjoy history. I spent most of my time in US History in high school wondering if Mr. Gibbs, the basketball coach who taught the class and who was also nearly 7 feet tall, would hit his head every time he went through the door to the hallway or if his vision 'from up there' could see our papers from afar a little better than Miss Howard, who was barely 5 feet--in all directions.

My interest was piqued a little when I enrolled in the two survey semesters of American Lit at Indiana State, using the Norton Anthology, the same one (but an earlier edition) as we are using today. The correlation really hit home, however, when my teaching assignment changed to ALL junior English classes. Mike Harter and I decided that since all of the juniors were in his classroom for US History and in mine for American Lit, we could create some interesting team teaching opportunities. Since the small school scheduling didn't allow us to actually team teach at the same time, we had to use different strategies.

When Mike taught his unit about the Civil War, the juniors read The Red Badge of Courage. The Transcendentalism unit butted up against that same time period as it was discussed in Mike's classes. I remember well a group of students groaning as I talking about Walden Pond and the Transcendentalists, telling me that they had already heard all of this in Mr. Harter's class. My response? "Well, now you get to read what those people were writing and you will know where they were coming from while they were doing it!" Smile.

Mike and I even created a research paper which focused on an aspect of US history. He taught the content portion of the paper; I taught the research, documentation, paragraph structure, outlining. When the papers were submitted, he graded the content; I graded the composition. One assignment, two grades.

I know that larger schools would actually assign two teachers to a class such as this, but since we were too small, we had to 'make do' with what we had. We often talked about the fun projects we could undertake if we would actually put our two classes together to make a Humanities class, or a History through Literature or Literature through History course. What fun that would be!

The point is---a good lesson to learn is that most writing, whether poetry, short stories, novels, or essays, reflects the time period in which it was written. That is why the Regionalism, Realism, Naturalism units are among my very favorites. I like the 'slice of life' that the selections represent.

My husband and I have two dream vacations. One is a trip on the East Coast where he can explore the battle fields and I can visit the Whaling Museum, Walden Pond, Edgar Allan Poe's gravesite, and Emerson's home. We have already planned a trip this summer to Virginia and Washington DC with my daughter (an English teacher/librarian) and son-in-law (a history teacher)with a stop at Gettysburg on the way. I see one dream vacation in the future!

Re-reading some old favorites

Someone mentioned to me (not a student) that he would not like to take my class if we were reading some thing he had already studied before in high school. Works such as Huck Finn, The Great Gatsby, and The Red Badge of Courage are often the 'stand-bys' of high school literature. I taught all three of those novels at some level in my junior English classes. While I may agree that reading a novel a second time could be a little boring, think about this.

Even though high school students think they are adult (they really do!!), they are still under 18 and legally they are still children. Most of them are living in their parents' home or with relatives. Most of them spend the bulk of their time during the day going to school. The perspective that juniors bring to a novel is limited, based on their experiences, their travels, and their associations.

When an adult re-reads a novel for a college class, or on his own, new perspectives pop up. Ties can be made between the events of the plot in The Great Gatsby and the Roaring 20s. We can visualize the differences between the social classes because, well, we have been there. War is a much more powerful word when reading Red Badge of Courage now because so many of our family and friends, and maybe some of the students, have been deployed, not just once, but several times.

Adults often tell me that when they re-read a novel from their high school or middle school days, they notice many things that escaped them before. Just like those 8th graders that I accompanied on field trips to Gettysburg and Washington DC, not much is really remembered except the fun on the bus ride and staying in the hotel. My daughter, who is now 29, wants to return to D.C. so that she can really see the city and learn more about it---from an older perspective. So it is with re-reading literature.

Sit back and enjoy reading Huck Finn, The Great Gatsby, and The Red Badge of Courage. If you studied them before, be ready to have your eyes opened wide with new revelations!

Happy Reading!

Mark Twain

I enjoy reading the works of Mark Twain, depending on the time period. Huckleberry Finn and "Jumping Frog" are included in this Pod, and several students are reading those selections and completing the related assignments. Mention The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the idea of censorship pops up.

I have very strong feelings on censorship. While I respect the feelings of parents on what their children are reading and studying in the classroom, I also feel that parents should trust the teachers to select appropriate material to be taught. I would never ask my students to read something that I would not have taught to my own daughters.

Eight or nine years ago one of my students brought in a list she had found of questionable books that were being taught in public schools. I was asked how many of those I had taught at West Central. Many of them I had. In fact, most of the novels that I had taught were on the list. Huckleberry Finn, Of Mice and Me, The Great Gatsby, The Scarlet Letter, A Separate Peace (included in the anthology we were using even!). In that class we discussed censorship, why it happened, their viewpoints, and what we could do about it.

Two weeks ago four of us who are full time English faculty stood in the office area at the Kokomo campus when the title of Huck Finn came up. Cody mentioned that he had read that someone was re-writing the novel and removing all of the objectionable or questionable language and situations and making it more politically correct so that the novel could be taught in the public schools.

Our thoughts on that? Just downright wrong. First, what gives anyone the right to tamper with the original works of a great author like Mark Twain? Next, this novel, and many short stories and other novels written in that time period, are full of local color which is a component of Regionalism. What makes Huck Finn so significant is the language, the reflection of that time period, bringing to the reader a slice of life during Twain's era and every day life on the Mississippi River. Would changing the wording and some of the situations create a better version of a novel that reflects Samual Langhorne Clemens' life as a boy on the river? Who would have the audacity to try to 'improve' a classic by changing the diction in the text?

Any time I taught a novel that was on a 'banned books' list, I seized the opportunity to talk about the reasons for that censorship. Lennie, Curley, George, and Slim were not going to sit in the bunkhouse after bucking barley, drinking tea from china teacups, pinkies extended, discussing the latest fashions or the most recent play opening on Broadway. They were gruff men, and their word choices reflected that. Did I encourage my juniors to imitate them? Of course not. But they had a better understanding of the lifestyle during that time period and Steinbeck's style of writing from reading Of Mice and Men.

Will this be a topic during our Pronto discussion next week? I hope so.

Week 1 of Pod 1

Reading the submissions from the first week was so much fun for me. I really enjoyed the analyses of "Editha" and Huckleberry Finn plus it was was interesting to see just which stories the students selected for the first week.

I haven't had a chance to read the discussion board posts yet, other than the introductions. I am hoping for some lively discussions and sharing of viewpoints when I do.

I know that some are still a little confused about the Pod format. After a disastrous (I felt) semester with ENGL 222 in the fall of 2009, my daughter and I came up with the Pods approach. The students who were in both semesters of American lit last year really liked the changes I made in the format. I enjoyed it as well because there was more flexibility and freedom with the type of assignments and the choice of selections. Not everyone could (or wanted to) participate in the Pronto sessions, so making those an option rather an a requirement was a good move. I hope that after some time, everyone will come to enjoy the Pod format and see the benefits.

Off to a great start! I am excited!!

A New Start!

I am always excited about a new semester. I especially enjoy the spring semester because it is not only the beginning of a new set of courses with new students, but it is also the beginning of a new month--and a new year! With the new class comes a new blog as well. I am not very creative when it comes to titles, so this is Pods of Thought #2...following the first blog for ENGL 223 in the spring 2010 semester, Pods of Thought. One would think an English professor could create something better than just tacking on a #2 at the end of the old title, right?

Here begins the new adventure of blog creations and posts. After I read all of the introductions today, I was very encouraged about the interactions among the class members. It looks like we have new friends who really love to read, enjoy literature, wanted to take the class even though it was a requirement, and are eager to begin the journey through the 19th and 20th centuries.

The topics I bring to this blog are varied. They have no real theme except that they are literature, reading, discussion related. I will post various tidbits or comments, trying to encourage more conversation among our classmates. Feel free to borrow some of the ideas presented here, to comment on the posts, and to share with others.

As always--Happy Reading!