Over the past few weeks, life has taken on that hectic, yet culminating activity known as report cards. Marking has finally been caught up and the world has continued to revolve as it should, well more or less. I'm not sure whether to recommend Death of a Salesman as a really high impact play for grade 12 college. It worked, and the kids did pay attention, but the detached, semi-glazed eyes were not exactly awe inspired. Perhaps it was too much Hallowe'en candy, but I don't think they really wanted to relate to it. In our community's semi-depressed economic market, it did cause some reaction, but let's be honest, it had more of an impact on a 46 year old teacher, than on a 17 year old with a future that might entail leaving Peterborough. So, it could be argued that if the students read, therefore it has been a positive on the male reader. I just don't think it was the positive vehicle that it might have been when I was a kid in high school. Reluctant readers were not jumping at the bit to read another Miller work.
I guess it is sort of like that terrible question our colleagues older than myself used to ask--where were you when Kennedy was assassinated? Being television deprived in the early 1960s, and not yet in school, I had no clue who Kennedy was and could not answer the question. Perhaps if I had been born a year or two earlier, the notion would have registered. Why am I mentioning this? Well, the famous icon of the post-war, Marilyn Monroe did not inspire the kids. A few knew about her, but I guess even famous people can become dated in this post-modern epoc that we now inhabit. So what if Miller was married to her, and by the way, who was that Joe guy who played baseball anyway?
So that brings us up to the notion of ICON. And icons are found in graphic novels. I've begun graphic novels, comic books and anthologies of comic panels and comic strips with these same kids. THEY LOVE IT!!! What is inspiring is their desire to read. They don't want to waste time, they want to get to the books. So far the most popular works have been The Walking Dead Volume One and Maus I, II. I thought perhaps that they would get right into the graphic novels or manga from Japan, but they have so far seemed a bit reluctant.
The boys are particularly interested in the Mad Magazine Anthologies from the 1950s and the 1980s. They love the parody, the satire and the absurdity of wit. They also love some of the single panel cartoons from Far Side, or Herman. They like Calvin and Hobbes and are open to reading or trying to read Batman works with a darker edge. What they are not doing is the Manga, which the comic book store in Toronto, The Beguiling, was convinced would inspire them. The problem seems to be one of FEAR. The boys, in particular, are conservative sorts of thinkers at times. Risk-taking, or trying something radically new does not inspire them with a tremendous sense of self-confidence. So, they are going for the tried and true chestnuts before risking the more out there sorts of things.
Now the library here at the school is now advertising its graphic novel collection with amazing results. But this sort of thing takes time to permeate throughout the school. I am going to get them to read some Manga, but I think what I will try to encourage next semester is for the students at risk in the younger grades to start reading these works. Comfort levels, will guarantee confidence and success. I've also come up with a worksheet for the Graphic Novels, but it is hand-done at the moment, which has a bit of artistic flair to it, now the task is to transfer it over to something that can be put on the web. We're still working on that issue with the stuff I used earlier for the Orca Sounding Values' Unit. Sorry for the delay.
I have also managed to introduce the graphic novel to the grade 12 workplace kids. They have been working through some stuff that I think will become a unit on SCHOOL and how it is seen, before showing them that the next unit should revolve around leaving it for the work force. The role that Death of a Salesman played here was another experiment. It didn't bomb, but the kids did manage to transform some film clips into interesting sheets on character study and the importance of certain character traits for the workforce and survival within our sometimes stressful world. I also have had the pleasure of having a great educational assistant in training from the local college. She has been exceptionally insightful and very supportive. She suggested the old movie Dangerous Minds, and we have used some solid excerpts from it to instill the sorts of things that can make kids, especially boys who hate reading, succeed. We analysed the song Gangsta' Paradise, and have extended the song to find songs that reflect the school they are attending. I think this exercise would work really well with the college kids, but the workplace kids have a harder time retaining the ideas from songs. I think if I use the assignment again, I will give them a series of two or three songs and have them choose the one that is most appropriate for their school. Nevertheless, they did come up with ones by Pink Floyd and that alone caught me off guard. I didn't think anyone would still remember the group. I will let you know how the graphic novel goes with them. They are about four days behind the college class on this unit.
The history class has not really involved any excessive stuff that would help boys at risk. I've covered the Tudors, and the issues of marriage and sexual daliances in history did inspire them. Storytelling has been really what I've been doing, so in that sense it has been great. The old issue from National Geographic in the early 1980s dealing with Spanish Florida is a fantastic chance to show a Hollywood Movie script that has never been created. There is actually a scene waiting for Brad Pitt, the disillusioned Huguenot Captain locked up in the Tower of London, wondering what has happened to his men back in the "New" World, cut off by the Spanish, persecuted by his Catholic colleagues, and distrusted by his English hosts, he suddenly comes face to face with a group of men he'd left boatless back along the costs of America. Guess what? The men built their own boat and managed to get back. There's a story here just waiting for the right script. The guys loved it. Now its English Civil War and then Louis the XIVth, and then the French Revolution. So much to do and so little time to get it done. I guess what I am trying to say is that sometimes the story is better than the CONTENT of the curriculum. If we remember the audience then we guarantee their attention.
So until next time, here's hoping everyone is energized and getting inspired as December fast approaches.
Curtis
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