teaching classic british lit to 9th graders

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Originally Posted by Basil

As one of the most gifted thespians of his generation, Keanu Reeves has had the opportunity to deliver some pretty memorable lines. I have to say, though, for my money, NOTHING tops Keanu's first line as Don John in Much Ado About Nothing: "I am a man of few words." Uttered with such villainous intent, seething with malevolence . . . oh, I get woozy just thinking about it.

Keanu may lack the range of a Duvall or the intensity of a Pacino, but golly, he's just got that certain something, that ineffable quality that separates him from the rest . . .

I'd KILL to see him do Hamlet!

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I smell a new thread!

http://www.online-literature.com/for...0112#post50112

Thanks for your thoughts. Unfortunately, I've little to no room to "sneak in" anything, so I've got to devise creative strategies to reach (and hopefully catch!) as many students as possible. Until I devise such a strategy to teach Ivanhoe, I plan to tach a unit on grammar and composition (something I'm sure the students will enjoy about as much as the literature I've taught so far. My only salvation may be that the curriculum is up for review this year -- perhaps I'll take a few of the wonderful ideas I've received to the first planning meeting!

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Optimism!! Know that even though you cant see the students who love literature they are in the classroom either too embarassed to say that Shakespeare interests them or they just dont know it yet.

True, Jack_Aubrey, optimism seems a key ingredient to reaching other students. For British literature, some students may enjoy Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and the Brontë sisters, while others may enjoy D.H. Lawrence, T.S. Eliot, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf. A teacher, or I highly doubt, could never reach ALL of the students, but only have that hope, and make each piece of literature more of an experience than a responsibility.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Basil

As one of the most gifted thespians of his generation, Keanu Reeves has had the opportunity to deliver some pretty memorable lines. I have to say, though, for my money, NOTHING tops Keanu's first line as Don John in Much Ado About Nothing: "I am a man of few words." Uttered with such villainous intent, seething with malevolence . . . oh, I get woozy just thinking about it.

Keanu may lack the range of a Duvall or the intensity of a Pacino, but golly, he's just got that certain something, that ineffable quality that separates him from the rest . . .

I'd KILL to see him do Hamlet!

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This has to be a joke. The only fascinating aspect of Keanu's Don John is his stunning ineptitude at delivering Shakespeare's lines. You kind of watch transfixed wondering what exactly he thinks he's doing.

Heh... this is the first time I've ever heard his juvenile sneer equated with "villainous intent" and "seething malevolence." He should stick to THE MATRIX films, as they're able to use his painful inadequacies as an actor to his advantage.

He's a good looking dude I suppose, but that's the only reason I can see to explain his popularity, because he certainly can't act.

When I studied english we read Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gary, and some of his fairy tales. I also remember half the class falling in love with the poem " I wandered lonely as a cloud" by Wordsworth. We also read the speech from John Donne where he wrote about "so ask not for whom the bell tolls". Some of his more teasing poems about ladies was also much admired like - "Go and catch a falling star".

Try and find things that Tarantino would quote.

.. edit - I forgot -

Augeries of innocence by Blake - Lara Croft quotes it in Tome rader.
In Steinbeck considered classic literature? We read the Pearl.

i would leave out great expectations. i had to read it in 9th grade I hated and didnt understand it well. as for shakespeare we read aloud in class and if we wanted we acted it out. i really enjoyed it. save austen, dickens, and beowulf until later like senior year when they might actually enjoy it. you might even have them write a journal that goes along with the character of the story. anyway thats my 2 cents :)

my recomendation is to NOT do Bronte...we had to read Jane Eyre in 10th grade, and i swear that there was not a single person who got through the entire book. and we were the honors class. Personally i got about halfway through before i had to go to sparknotes, but i know many others went straight there.

I would suggest The Canterbury Tales. We read a small section of them recently and several students actually went out and read the whole thing on their own (well worth it).

And if you are ever able to get a new cirriculum i would highly suggest including Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. That should keep pretty much everyone's intrest, and it is not to hard to follow. Plus there is alot you could do with it as a teacher essaywise.

Lavendar 1: I haven't taught Ivanhoe or David Copperfield. So I can't give you specific help there. But R & J is a fantastic story for 9th graders. Of course, it's always hard to do stuff the first time, you're just getting started. But you can do it! For next year. . . Try some of the lessons suggested in "Shakespeare Set Free" (available at bookstores). I did not follow exactly, but adapted to taste. Lessons 1-4 were excellent. Also, Lessons 7, 14. This was a great resource in getting me started, and the success of beginning lessons gives you the confidence to go your own way and try out your own, fun stuff. Be confident.

Search for the Folger Library online and you will find all kinds of posters, etc., that you can decorate the room with and go crazy. Get the kids up and acting out scenes, creating masks to wear to the party in Act I, Sc. 5, visualizing and interacting w/ text.

Have them watch excerpts of Baz Luhrmann's "Leo diCaprio" version and compare to same scene in Zeffirelli's version and compare/contrast directorial styles and choices and how they contribute to understanding. (Watch Luhrmann's version yourself, first, it's pretty violent). Just one or two scenes for 15 minutes at a time (this drives them crazy because they want to watch the whole thing at once, but you want them to create their own pics in their head). Have them do a series of love letters between Romeo and Juliet and decorate them, or do a fancy diary as Juliet, w/ Juliet making entries after key scenes. Get plastic swords at the toy store and have them stage the fight scenes. Follow up by having students write their own versions of key scenes in their own vernacular and act them out for the final (w/ music, props, etc).

Suggest they read the YA novel "Julio and Romiette" on their own.

My students are not college prep students by any means , and we do the complete, unabridged version of R&J and they eat it up. Your enthusiasm will be contagious. If you don't like it or are confused, they won't get it either.

Jim Burke's The English Teacher's Companion is a good resource for different ways to teach whatever text you are teaching. Kids won't like things when it's going over their heads and they can't visualize what's really going on, same as us (at least me). Whatever you are doing, look for the key scenes of murder, fights, betrayal, revenge, passionate love, dire images of poverty, pathos, etc. Then figure out ways to get the kids to bring that to life on their own. So with whatever it is, I would get them to make their own cartoon versions and storyboards of texts that you can post all over the classroom. Diorama versions made out of Homies. Have them write scenes and act them out, have them burn their own CDs with "soundtracks" for the most significant parts of the novel (that they then have to explain), draw maps of the characters journey. Whatever you can think of. Have them cut out magazine pictures of who they think characters would look like today. Have them work in groups alot. Play music from the era and compare to today's music. All kinds of little and big activities. Get them excited, so they can really see what's going on. Use those fun activities to scaffold them to the essay or whatever your big serious essay is. And don't worry- you'll be great!

Lavandar1,

You are a teacher and are in a dynamic 9th grade situation. It all starts with you and not the materials you are required to teach. I had to teach "Ethan Frome" to 10th graders and although I think that is a tremendous story, they likewise didn't get it. They did get, and I caught their funny-bone, when we got to "Catcher in the Rye" so, I guess the material is crucial also. But, you have to invest Ivanhoe and Copperfield with such value, shockingness, energy, zeal and freshness, that they get somewhat onboard, else you will experience living hell.

You have to pretend to them that Ivanhoe answers all the questions about life, will turn them into successful romantics, -- to the point that, if they don't get it (Ivanhoe) there is something wrong with them. You have to shock them to get onboard. You have to keep the energy on the nth level of intensity. You basically have to "trick" them into belief in the material.

Also, study how the material relates to their lives. I'd do some studying of chivalry for Ivanhoe; study knives, and armour and horses and swordfighting. There's a great movie of a couple years ago, it's about whatever-you-call-it, when the horses and riders run at each other with the long poles -- jousting. Hopefully, you can be allowed showing that movie so they get into the "history", "historic times" of the story. Forget the name of the movie, some friend of yours will know it.

I've taught not just developmental, but special ed, and these kids (albeit you may have wild ones as I did) are adorable at times. You are practicing the teaching principles you learned in college. Teaching is a process; go to workshops, etc. You are embarked on a great calling. If you pump yourself up to be excited about the nonsense you have to teach, and care about them, they will feel it and you will win. You will go home at the end of the day and feel good, and not cry! Teaching is a tough profession!

Thanks for putting things into perspective for me. I've gotten some valuable information from all who have responded to my 'dilemma.' The fact is, as a first year teacher, I'm juggling many conflicting priorities, and the curriculum is only one of them.

My salvation is that no matter how bad things may go on any given day, there always seems to be one event or dialogue between me and a student that sets things right --like today, for example, when two students sought me out for help in writing an introduction for a paper required as part of a project for another class. After the fact, the students promised to bring me some of the spaghetti they're "serving up" for the same project as a thank-you. I can't wait...

Teaching is a dymanic profession, and I may struggle with Great Expectations when I teach it for the first time beginning next week, but all will be well, I'm sure.

Thanks for the insights.

Brontes...boring? *swoons in shock*

Hi Lavendar---I feel your pain. I also have a very strict British Literature course curriculum that I had to teach for the first time this past year. Although at least I was teaching 11th graders. The works can be very dense and the students have a lot of difficulty relating to it--so as another poster stated you need to find a way to connect this work in some way to their own lives. Bring energy and comedy to the work as much as possible--especially with 9th graders. Now, I taught 9th graders last year and with my low levels I started them off reading the opening act aloud. Then I allowed them to rip it apart. Why is this sooooo boring? Why it is hard to understand? Then I have them the No Fear Shakespeare version of the same scene, which is actually pretty funny. They loved this version and they got a lot of the inappropriate jokes. We then ripped apart this version. Why is it easier to understand? What is contemporary about this scene? How do we visualize it be enacted? Is it really thay different than the original? Then I brought out the props...9th graders love props...and they had to rewrite/enact the scene for different scenarios. This was fun,educational and complety broke the ice for Shakespeare. We did a lot of other great things with this unit including making their own movies. It takes a lot of work...and I have not perfected all of my unit yet-- but making it contemporary works.

So what other works are on your syllabus? Maybe we can brainstorm together?

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Originally Posted by trismegistus

That's a miserable curriculum. Looks like texts that were chosen in 1950 and never reconsidered. You need an overhaul:
1. Beowulf - excellent adventure story that you might even connect to Gardner's Grendel since Gardner was also a Brit. (As an outside reading you can give them Crichton's Eaters of the Dead which is his rendition of Beowulf written on a challenge.
2. A couple of Canterbury Tales (no 9th grade boy could resist the fart and sex jokes in stuff like the Miller's Tale)
3. Lots of the Cavalier poets as Basil suggests. Short, punchy, and generally witty poetry.
4. Paradise Lost (just kidding) You might actually try segments of Pilgrim's Progress. It's not a bad story, and the allegory of it is so obvious that kids can accomplish a lot and feel good about themselves.
5. Dump the Dickens; he's good when you're older. If you've got to do the Victorians or Edwardians, go with Tennyson's poetry and HG Wells. Oh yeah, and Kipling's "The White Man's Burden." The kids will have a great time being outraged and feeling morally superior.
6. Shakespeare is wasted on the great majority of 14 year olds. In fact it's making them slog their way through it that often makes them HATE it when they're old enough to actually begin appreciating it. (Say, junior or senior year.) Still, I doubt you'll be allowed to ditch the Bard. If I had to do one and had a choice, I'd go with a comedy or history over a tragedy.
7. "Ryme of the Ancient Mariner" might hook some. The "ghost story" aspect of the poem can be useful in grabbing attention.
8. Robert Burns's poetry is accessible, funny, and an interesting language study. You can use it to do all kinds of things with dialect and their own speech.
9. Drop some Thomas Gray on them. The Goths among them will love it; the rest will think Gray was stealing from Poe.
10. What about Graham Greene from the 20th century?

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Sorry- John Gardner-author of GRENDEL was not a British author-- He was an American. Just wanted to keep the facts correct.

I find Sherlock Holmes stories, to be honest, best left to Critical Theory courses... They're incredibly applicable.

It's hard to get 14 and 15-year-olds interested in things like "Ivanhoe" and Shakespeare... If they were seniors I'd say teach them Joyce's Portrait, but as it is I'm wondering why so few of the Romantics or the Victorians have sprung to mind? Surely King Solomon's Mines or Alice in Wonderland could hold their interest if not Ryme of the Ancient Mariner!

If you don't want them to think "classic" = "stuff" old people read, throw Ulysses at them and talk about Bloom's obsessions with anal sex. That oughta pop some eyeballs.