Tag Archives: literary

Mar22

#walkmyworld: Perspective

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Learning Event #9 connects the previous events into a story and a reflection. From the opening of the first door through the connections of high five, the reflections of dreams and totems, and an exploration of heroics, #walkmyworld is a journey of identity, discovery, and connection. The Story of Us is that, underneath the trappings of culture and training, we are all the same, reaching for the bright lights of a future yet unseen, pressing on toward a world that is better and brighter than the one we leave behind.

The Journey

The Journey

“Our story is never written in isolation. We do not act in a one-man play. We can do nothing that does not affect other people, no matter how loudly we say, “It’s my own business.”
— Madeleine L’Engle (Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art)

Jan10

#walkmyworld

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Last year I participated in a really cool event called “Walk My World.” Educators and students shared bits of their lives via Twitter using the hashtag #walkmyworld. The project covered ten weeks, with specific learning events each week. We analyzed the poetry of Robert Hass, wrote poetry, and shared pictures. Of shoes. Lots of shoes. Not exactly sure why.

It was tremendous fun, and I connected with people all over the US. It was during this project that I decided to see just how well Twitter can function as a pedagogical tool. So much class time is taken up with administrative duties and test preparation that there often isn’t time to really delve into the meat of the literature and what makes it relevant to today’s teens/young adults. Using Twitter as a modified discussion board allows students to continue to contemplate the literature: how it affects them and how others are affected by it. Assigning a class hashtag and an “assignment” tag allows Twitter’s filters to organize those discussions so that a teacher can quickly see how students are thinking about the work.

Twitter has its advantages. The 140 character limit forces economy of words. The relative anonymity allows for shy students to speak up and be heard. Reading the tweets of their peers connects students who may not otherwise have something in common. Having to connect literature to life requires introspection and self-evaluation, two key elements in forming a personal identity. To get students considering who they are and who they want to be is a critical thinking skill that cannot be measured in a standardized test. This kind of thinking is real life.

In a broader sense, a project like Walk My World allows people to connect who may never have met in any other way. The commonality of learning events forms a foundation upon which relationships can build. One never knows where those relationships will lead.

Feb21

Named

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“Stories are able to help us to become more whole, to become Named. And Naming is one of the impulses behind all art; to give a name to the cosmos, we see despite all the chaos.”
― Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art

I’ve been participating in a grand experiment on Twitter called #WalkMyWorld. It is part of my English class for graduate school. but my class is a small part of a much larger project. For several weeks, people from all over have posted pictures on Twitter with the hashtag Walk My World. We did this not knowing exactly what we would do with these pictures, but played along because grand experiments can be fun. (And because it is a class requirement, but I think I would have played along anyway.)

The experiment took a poetic turn in the fourth week. Using the poetry of Robert Hass, participants were instructed to consider one poem and describe how Hass uses everyday objects as poetic inspiration. My first thought was of William Carlos Williams and his poems about sweet plums and white chickens. As it turns out, Hass won  the William Carlos Williams award in 1979, so I was accurate in my reaction. Hass considers naming things a way to establish identity through one’s surroundings. Forrest Gander, in his critique of Hass’ Praise (1979) wrote, “Can the act of naming the world separate us from the world?”

Because I am currently reading and re-reading Madeleine L’Engle these days, that question captured me. How does giving something a name separate it from other things? And how does that separation identify us? L’Engle was a strong believer in the idea of Naming. The idea shows up in her work, both fiction and non-fiction. Naming something gives it a self, a life. It is part of what makes us, as humans, both unique and whole.

When we do the naming, then yes, we do separate ourselves from the world. Hass encounters a mockingbird, one distinct from all the others because it has interacted with him in his world by being seen. But it is still one of many mockingbirds.  He describes a family, their activity, their look, and their language. They are distinct from other families by being in his world, but unnamed, they blend in to the general observations of Hass. And then, Hass NAMES someone. John. A friend in crisis whom Hass is helpless to comfort. In naming his friend, Hass separates himself from the world in his immediate vision and transports himself wholly, if not physically, to join his friend in grief.  Relationship is revealed in the Naming.  Naming organizes the chaos of all we see so that we can focus on those things that matter most: the people in our lives with whom we share friendship, affection, sorrow, grief, and joy.

To be Named is a gift.

Resources:

McVerry, Greg. http://jgregorymcverry.com/walkmyworld-update/

Williams, William Carlos http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/119

Hass, Robert. “Letter to a Poet”. http://poetry.rapgenius.com/Robert-hass-letter-to-a-poet-annotated