#MeToo

In English II, we are reading William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and often it might be easy to dismiss some of the misogynistic behavior of some of the play's characters as typical of a time, many years ago, when women were truly oppressed by an unfair, patriarchal society. We can roll our eyes and pat our backs on how far we have come. And, in many ways, things are incredibly better for women in terms of empowerment and agency compared with 16th-century England.

And yet, we are reading the play in the midst of the  #MeToo movement, a tremendously powerful national conversation taking place about sexual harassment and abuse, as well as the power structures that still seem to exist which force women to feel pressured to remain silent in the face of male oppression. Maybe what has been most fascinating about the rise of this movement is that, like a small crack causing a whole dam to burst, once one woman came forward with a story, hundreds, if not thousands of women, echoed her experience with similar stories of their own.

I am sure there is a lot we can say about this very big and very complex conversation, but I think it might be interesting to try and focus it back to Katherine and The Taming of the Shrew. Last week, you looked at production posters for the play and there seemed to be the common theme of the power of a woman's voice as well as man's futile attempts to silence it. And yet, the common theme of the #MeToo movement seems to be that women continue to feel the pressure to remain silent and that men are often successful in doing so. What do you think Katherine (and/or Petruchio, for that matter) would have to say about #MeToo? Are we getting closer to an equilibrium where women's and men's voices are equal in their power and agency? How can your generation improve on the steps previous generations have made in this area? As always, please be respectful and empathetic in your responses.

Production Values

 In English II we are kicking off the second semester with William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. Set in the Italian town of Padua, the play is one of Shakespeare's most produced comedies and centers around a beautiful, yet outspoken, young woman named Katherine whose father cannot find a man to marry her because of her "shrewish" ways. This proves problematic for the many suitors who wish to woo Katherine's younger, and milder, sister Bianca, who cannot be married until her older sister is betrothed.

In our first discussions of this text, I told students that, in a modern context particularly, this is a "problematic" comedy in the sense that the main plot revolves around a woman needing to be tamed in order to find a suitable mate. In a current era that aims for equality amongst the sexes, for many, this is a hard pill to swallow. Thus, I challenge students to always question Shakespeare's intentions in writing this play as we move through it. Should we take the play literally or is he offering some sort of social commentary on the role of women and the way they are viewed by men?

For our first blog post related to this text, I want students to explore the ways that different productions have framed this oft-produced play. Above, you will find six different posters for various recent productions of The Taming of the Shrew. For this blog post, I want students to discuss what thematic commonalities they see shared amongst the various posters. Are there certain themes that seem to be present in each poster? Which poster seems the most intriguing? What about it sparks your interest? Finally, what were your first impressions when you heard about the plot of the play? Do these posters reinforce or challenge those first impressions you had?

Walk a Mile in Dai Sijie's Shoes

In English II, we are now two-thirds of the way through Dai Sijie's novel, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. In many ways, this novel could be considered a work of historical fiction in that while the story may be fiction, it is certainly based off of historical events that our author most certainly encountered.

For this week's blog entry, I want you share how this novel has increased your understanding of what it was like to grow up during the time of Mao's Cultural Revolution. In what ways has Sijie given you a more vivid understanding of re-education? How is learning about a time in history sometimes more intimate when it comes from historical fiction rather than from reading a true historical account?

The Privilege of Reading

Last week in English II we began a new novel, Dai Sijie’s Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress”. Set in Communist China in the early 1970’s, the novel centers around two teenage boys sent to be “re-educated” in a rural Sichuan village. While there they attempt to navigate their new surroundings while still holding onto the values instilled in them by their parents as part of China’s “intelligentsia”.

One of the central themes of the novel is the danger of knowledge, particularly in a society that finds freedom of thought and expression to be an insidious threat to the state. In Communist China, nearly everything “western” is considered subversive and, as such, all forms of western art are banned. Soon the boys surreptitiously gain access to western literature by the likes of Balzac and Voltaire and, while this opens up a whole new world for them, it also puts them in tremendous peril.

Serendipitously, we are starting this novel just a few weeks after National Banned Book Week. This is a week dedicated to celebrating the freedom to read and those behind National Banned Book Week seek to highlight those books most frequently challenged, empowering educators who see the benefit these books could bring to a classroom discussion. It might surprise my students to know that the most recent list of the top 10 most challenged “young adult” books includes I Am Jazz, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Hate U Give, and 13 Reasons Why. Other well-known works that continually are challenged include The House on Mango Street, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and The Giver.

For this week’s blog entry, I want students to familiarize themselves with the list of most banned books. Have you read any of these books? Why do you think they might be challenged? Is there merit to those who say that these books are dangerous? How far would you be willing to go to read something that had been deemed “illegal” by your community?

Grading Yourself

This Friday signifies the end of the first quarter of the year. Since we've reached the halfway point of semester, I thought a little English teacher humor would be appropriate here. This comic appeared in "Pearls Before Swine" a couple of years ago and I figure some of my students might agree with Rat, having spent a couple of months with me already.

Part of the grading process at Sage Hill School includes quarterly comments. In addition to giving students a progress report of their grade in my class up to this point, I'm also asked to write a short comment in which I give them some constructive feedback regarding my experience teaching them so far. While hearing feedback from me is important, I also think this is a great time to do some self-reflection too.

For this week's blog post, I actually want students to reflect on their work in English II so far this year. Write a comment to yourself, critiquing your work so far this year in English II. Where are you succeeding? Where can you stand to improve? Set one or two goals for yourself in second quarter. Be kind but constructive.

Serving to Learn, Learning to Serve

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." ~ Margaret Mead

This week we kick off Tenth Grade Service Learning! Today we had an orientation on Sage Hill's campus, and next week we will welcome 4th grade students from Scholarship Prep, a nearby charter elementary school, where our students will spend the year working with fourth grade partners on writing and literacy. This is a great opportunity for the Sage Hill students to really own their service learning experience as they develop and then execute their own lesson plans for each visit.

During the orientation, we briefly discussed why we call our service component "Service Learning" rather than simply "Community Service". For this week's blog post, I want students to expand on this conversation a bit more by reflecting on what they hope to gain from this year's Service Learning experience. Tell your readers why you think we spend so much time and energy on Service Learning at Sage Hill School. Identify two to three goals you have for this year in relation to service learning and what you hope to improve on from last year.

Worth a Second (or Third, Fourth, Fifth) Look...

Writing is hard. Actually, I take that back. The actual act of writing is not all that hard. Now writing something that you feel accurately demonstrates your abilities and effort, that can be hard. But it can also be extremely rewarding.

Two weeks ago, English II students wrote their first in-class essay. We then spent a day talking about what makes a good thesis statement. Last week, students got the opportunity to revise their original in-class essays or write brand new ones based on what they've learned so far regarding my expectations when it comes to thesis statements and analytical essays.

For this week's blog, I want you to reflect on how this process went from beginning to end. Did you go into the in-class essay confident? How did you feel at the end of the timed essay? Did the thesis statement workshop clarify your understanding of why a solid and specific thesis statement can make or break an essay? How was the revision process? When you re-read your original in-class essay did it live up to what you remembered of it?

Like anything, the best way to get better at writing is to keep doing it. Writing drafts and revising your work can also be a huge asset when it comes to making sure you are clearly executing an argument you are proud of and ready to submit. Let you readers know what you've learned as a writer so far this year!