{"id":54,"date":"2016-04-24T22:38:58","date_gmt":"2016-04-25T05:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/considered\/?p=54"},"modified":"2016-04-24T22:38:58","modified_gmt":"2016-04-25T05:38:58","slug":"level-crossing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/considered\/2016\/04\/24\/level-crossing\/","title":{"rendered":"Level Crossing"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Photo: By MdE (page at dewiki | page at commons) – own photo, CC BY-SA 3.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=1134659<\/p>\n

This week, I was asked to be more mindful about the level of language in the material I\u2019m using with my learners. Admittedly, this is not the first time I\u2019ve been asked this. I\u2019m getting better, but finding the right level of sophistication for my students is obviously important, and it\u2019s something that I particularly need to focus on as someone who sees complexity everywhere and who likes the full range of texture proffered by the English language. I\u2019ve had to really work to tune my assignments and expectations to the level of the class and really be mindful of my language when I need meaning to be totally clear. I think I\u2019ve been successful in tuning my expectations and language in these contexts, at least for the most part.<\/p>\n

I would never assess students on things that are obviously beyond their level. But the context of this advice was a classroom management technique I\u2019ve been trying out. Instead of asking for attention, I\u2019ve simply been launching into reciting poetry. Within 2-3 lines, they are paying attention to the poetry. I\u2019m not sure if this class is unique, but it works far better than the standard ways of getting attention \u2013 bells, counts, etc. To the point where I\u2019ve been pondering using the approach outside of just poetry classes.<\/p>\n

Through this technique, I\u2019ve been trying to read a wide variety of poetry. My big objective for the unit is to have them come to a really expanded understanding of what the definition of poetry is. I\u2019ve also been playing with ideas of authorship \u2013 who is privileged and who is not as an author. I\u2019ve been diverse in what I read \u2013 everything from Edward Lear to Shel Silverstein to contemporary Canadian poets to student work, to my own poems to, this week, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. I try to balance between accessible and inaccessible with mostly accessible works. There is no test on these poems, and we don\u2019t attempt heavy analysis. In this case, I chose Coleridge\u2019s Kubla Khan because it had a rhyme scheme similar to one I wanted them to use in a quick write. I knew they could hear the rhyme scheme even if the subtlety of the meaning was beyond them.<\/p>\n

But the question is, should I have used something more accessible? Would it have been better to use something written more explicitly for children?<\/p>\n

One question that I\u2019ve thought of is this: Does the beauty and intrigue of the rather foreign language of a great Romantic like Coleridge have the potential to engage in a way that something with easier meaning does not? Is it like listening to a song in a language you haven\u2019t mastered \u2013 you don\u2019t get all the words and that focuses you on other aspects than what the words mean. Aspects like \u2018how do they sound?\u2019 \u2018what\u2019s the rhythm?\u2019 etc. All of these are aspects that can be hard to understand as a learning poet.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, I read a book by Rafe Esquith, a grade 5 teacher who became famous for putting on full productions of Shakespeare in his inner city classes in Los Angeles. They were fearless \u2013 Lear, Hamlet, the whole Shakespearean cannon was open to them. The classes were diverse \u2013 ELLs, kids with parents who have low incomes and little education, etc. If he can do it with those students\u2026<\/p>\n

And so can I stitch in some similarly difficult texts for my grade 5s? Or do I need to always think of the lowest common denominator? In a Montessori school, I will often have 3 grade splits. Just as we need to differentiate for the lowest capacity learners, we also need to differentiate and provide a rich and stimulating environment for the high fliers. This enrichment can come from those bits of lessons that you know are not central to the objective and that you know you won\u2019t evaluate. I spend a lot of my time prioritizing the learners who need a hand up. This is an opportunity to shift the priority for a few minutes to those who enjoy enrichment.<\/p>\n

And so, I would say that yes, it is okay to use high literature in class, but I have the following criteria for when I do it:<\/p>\n

-A students\u2019 ability to understand and dive into the meaning is not being assessed,<\/p>\n

-The meaning of the poem is not the focus or even a major feature of the lesson.<\/p>\n

-It is in a context where a variety of levels can be presented over time.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, I will respond to the students in front of me. At present, the engagement level spikes when I read poetry. I will use that and test where the boundaries of that engagement are. I\u2019m curious to see just what the boundaries are for the learners, but I\u2019ll never find the boundary if I don\u2019t push it. If I see the engagement level deflating when I open a book, then I know its time to adjust and pull out Shel Silverstein and Kenn Nesbitt once more.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo: By MdE (page at dewiki | page at commons) – own photo, CC BY-SA 3.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=1134659 This week, I was asked to be more mindful about the level of language in the material I\u2019m using with my learners. Admittedly, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34642,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93893,286413],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-practice","category-practicum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/considered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/considered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/considered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/considered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34642"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/considered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/considered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/considered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions\/56"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/considered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/considered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/considered\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}