Thanks, Jade

I was reading my freshmen’s last papers of the course yesterday with some mixed feelings—mixed because it was a gorgeous day outside, my tomatoes are still in pots, and I was grumpy about having to spend so many hours reading about Odysseus, much as I love the man; and also, fleetingly, excited as I thought about next September.  I hope to have many of these same kids in Accelerated II, and it struck me as I was grading that I should do a project which centers on journeys.  Because of my peculiar passion for the work, my students can tell you about Odysseus’ odyssey in nauseating  detail, from each of his dalliances with nymphs to his dissembling in various locales.  The Odyssey is possibly the richest work I know.  I have read it in a tent during a weeklong downpour on the Gaspe Peninsula, while waiting in traffic on the way to the city, on the plane to MT.  I reread it each summer, whether or not I have just taught it.

I have never really thought about the curriculum of English II as being “about” journeys except, naturally, Huck Finn.  But there’s also Catcher in the Rye (while largely in NYC, it’s an odyssey of the mind and soul), The Great Gatsby (Gatsby’s odyssey into the upper class), Of Mice and Men (a failed odyssey), The Crucible (yikes)…and then Macbeth…Hmmm…scotched again, but I can figure that out.  And I am not familiar enough with The House on Mango Street yet to say how/if that could fit.

How cool would it be to create a webquest that somehow linked all these works as journeys?  This occurred to me as I was reading Jade’s paper about how other literature has borrowed, consciously or not, from Homer’s work.  A million things have happened between Jade’s paper and now, but once school is out –Friday is graduation!—I will be able to think more about it.  Should it be summative or should each work be covered as we finish it?  Can I base it on The Odyssey?  (Not all classes read all 462 pages.)  If the latter, I think it would be cool to find parallels to the encounter with the Underworld, e.g., and Odysseus’ meeting with the blind prophet Tereisias. (Mr. Antolini, in Catcher, comes immediately to mind.)  Finding links to contextual/cultural information would also be so cool—the South during slavery, of course, but also the “roaring” ‘20s (Gatsby), NYC in the 40s/50s (Catcher), etc.  

(I note as I type that if this were a student’s paper I would circle the numerous uses of “cool” and write “rep.” in the margin in purple pen.  Oh well.)

Other things I’d like to do?  I feel like I’d like to create a playlist for myself of all of the great tools I’ve been hearing about in class and elsewhere.  (Last week, I heard about thinglink.com, a site which apparently allows you to create narrative time-lines with graphics.)  How many bazillion things do I not yet know about and don’t currently have time to experiment with?  Maybe the summer session can provide some playtime, Lisa?  

And yes, I’d like to have a website for my class…Hard to think about when I have my advanced writing seminar students’ portfolios still to grade, senior grades due Wednesday, and two sets of exams to amend, collate and then grade in the next few days.  I really look forward to thinking about how to do my job better, which isn’t always easy or practical when in the throes, paradoxical as that may sound.