I am biased because it is my favorite novel of all time for many different reasons. My class will read the novel that will be below all of their reading level in order to engage more fully in the humor on its pages and why it is important to society and gender.
Honestly, I was super excited creating this lesson plan. It gave me a change to practice what I will actually be doing within the next two years after graduation. When interests and practice related to your career are directly included in a course, I think that benefits the students so much.
So thank you Dr. H, for giving me that opportunity. It was so fun. And I typically don't consider ending projects fun. Educational and informative, yes. This is a first for fun.
Anyway, did any of you do a lesson plan for the Major Project? If so, what did you choose to focus on and why?
I chose Anne of Green Gables through a humor lens because it will give the students an easy read that can be analyzed further. It was written in an era that will be interesting to make connections to as well in terms of humor and gender today.
It will be a fun ( I hope ) and lighthearted way of getting these seniors ready for what some of them will jump into at college if they chose to attend.
If you didn't choose the lesson plan option, what book would you choose to teach in a class and relate it to humor? Why?
A book that I would teach in a class and relate it to humor is Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows. It is a fun book to read and it has many great characters in it. Mr. Toad is probably one of the most outrageously funny characters I have ever read (although Ignatius Reilly in John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces is also a highly viable contender for this title.)
ReplyDeleteIf I was teaching a class about poetry and humor, I would teach Enough Rope by Dorothy Parker. Aside from being a funny writer, Parker was a talented poet too. Here is a poem from the collection:
“If I didn’t care for fun and such,
I’d probably amount to much.
But I shall stay the way I am,
Because I do not give a damn.”
I have learned through these comments from you Alexandra, and other things that we have studied, that there are so many humorous pieces and texts to explore. It has really made me excited to keep my eyes and mind peeled for more knowledge regarding humor in texts.
DeleteI will have to look into the things you said. While I made my lesson plan about Anne of Green Gables, I also think other may work better for a given class in the future.
Thanks for the awesome ideas and a glimpse into one of them! Have a great summer, and thank you for all of the great comments!
I was curious if any of the students in this course would choose to do a lesson plan. It seemed like such an interesting prompt to include. I know a lot of English majors are interested in teaching, but since it isn't an interest of mine, I'd never considered taking course material in that direction. It's been a long time since I've read the first Anne of Green Gables (fifth grade, I think?), but I remember loving it when I first read it, and the analysis you propose is really interesting. I don't really know of a book I would choose for a class on humor, as I don't really read a lot from the comedy genre, and I think anything I chose wouldn't be classroom-appropriate, anyway. Though Dr. Hanrahan has mentioned having a Joss Whedon centered class, and I think that if I ever was interested in teaching a class on humor, Buffy the Vampire Slayer would be one of my first picks.
ReplyDeleteJoss Whedon's shows and humor=a natural fit!
DeleteI’m not familiar with “Anne of Green Gables” but I will certainly check it out. If I had to teach a book it would probably be “Slaughter House Five” by Kurt Vonnegut. The coolest thing about this novel is its asymmetrical plot arch. It doesn’t follow the traditional pyramid structure that peaks or climaxes 80 percent or 90 percent into a work of typical fiction. Instead it sort of tries to overcome its own linear system of plot arch by trying to draw shapes with the loops of the plot’s “roller coaster linear appearance” to create a third or fourth dimension to the story’s arch. It’s very weird complex and nonsensical but that was Vonnegut and people still seem to love him for it. Something anti-traditional in structure is what I would probably choose if prompted to write up a lesson plan.
ReplyDelete