起点传媒

This blog was written by 起点传媒member Trevor Aleo.

 

If I were to tell you that stories are all around us, you probably wouldn鈥檛 find me very original. It鈥檚 one of those clich茅s that has undoubtedly been printed on a poster in a fancy downloadable script font with a magisterial sunset backdrop鈥攊f you鈥檝e spent any time on Etsy, you鈥檒l know what I mean.聽

But despite its clich茅 origins, I believe that if we get intentional about teaching the concepts and structures that define all stories, as opposed to only discussing the ones we read in class, we can truly make literature come alive for our students.

Luckily for us, we teach in the golden age of narrative. Though the media are varied, our students obsessively consume, curate, and create stories. Whenever they sit down to binge watch the latest Netflix series, see a comic book movie in theaters, listen to Drake鈥檚 latest album, play videogames, or even create Snapchat and Instagram stories to share with their friends, they are engaging with the power of storytelling. Only they have absolutely no idea.

As educators, we鈥檙e intimately familiar with the rich architecture of storytelling that informs modern entertainment. Our students, however, are more preoccupied with the media through which their stories are conveyed. Unless given the chance to draw connections, they don鈥檛 realize that their knowledge of Thanos can help them better understand the motivations driving Macbeth. Or that, just like Lord of the Flies,听The Walking Dead explores what happens when the trappings of civilization disappear and we鈥檙e left to contend with our innate savagery. Or that Get Out is born from W. E. B. Dubois鈥檚 writings, that tween dystopian movies pull from 1984, and that Kanye could teach us a thing or two about hubris.

We need to stop treating prior knowledge like a side dish and use it more intentionally.

That鈥檚 why my tenth-grade teammates and I make a point to devote time to drawing connections and consolidating schema, to help our students see that these ideas from English class are, in fact, all around them.

Here are three quick steps to start capitalizing on student鈥檚 prior narrative knowledge:

1. Devote time to exploring 鈥渂ig idea鈥� concepts before starting new units.
   Consider how broader ideas like truth, power, identity, and purpose appear in a wide variety of narratives. Facilitate discussions, complete activities, do experiential games, and so on, to foster a baseline mental model of the concept. The knowledge gained from this step will serve as a conceptual launching pad for when students must grapple with these ideas in more complex texts. Literature is a great tool to convey aspects of the human condition, but if students struggle with the text in which it鈥檚 presented, they have no hope of understanding its deeper ideas. By exploring these concepts up front, in more concrete terms with a scaffolded activity, you鈥檒l lessen the cognitive load required for students to access them when reading.
2. Let students engage with a variety of stories exploring those 鈥渂ig idea鈥� concepts.
   Once students have begun to develop a mental model of the anchor text鈥檚 thematic concepts, afford them some time to explore how that idea looks in other contexts across various periods and genres. This could be as elaborate as a book clubs or as informal as Think/Pair/Shares about relevant pop culture. The important thing is that there is enough variation that they鈥檙e able to see past the superficial elements of the story and begin identifying the emerging patterns underneath. If we fail to supply contextual variance, students may understand how ideas like innocence, humanity, and power look in a single narrative but won鈥檛 be able to transfer and apply that understanding when they encounter them in new contexts.
3. Continually discuss the patterns and similarities that emerge.
   It鈥檚 important to frequently ask students to draw connections throughout the year. Every time they draw a connection, they鈥檙e strengthening their understanding of both the text they鈥檙e reading in class and its corresponding concept. If this only occurs once, at the beginning of a unit, students won鈥檛 be able to carry that understanding all the way through the text. Discussion of these connections must be constant and deliberate. Consider creating physical representations of these schema in your classroom where students can list, record, and draw connections among the stories they encounter throughout the year.

By repeating these steps, my students start recognizing the structural patterns everywhere. Initially, they joke that I have 鈥渞uined everything鈥� by turning their favorite media against them. Eventually, literary analysis escapes the confines of my classroom and infects every narrative they ingest: books, movies, TV, even music. Of course, like all superheroes, they eventually realize this “tragedy” will become their cherished superpower.

By years end, they finally understand that the best stories do more than just entertain, they reveal who we truly are.

 

 

Trevor Aleo is an English teacher in the DC suburbs. He received his MA in teaching from James Madison University in 2014. He has a passion for innovative teaching practices, finding the intersection between pop culture and pedagogy, and incessantly asking his students 聽鈥淲hy?鈥� You can find him pontificating on the state of American culture and education on Twitter @MrAleoSays.