Alternative Texts
Another way to engage students in higher-level learning, I’ve found, is to integrate “alternative” texts into classroom instruction. Now, I’m not saying that we should abandon the traditional texts that have been staples for decades. Instead, I’m merely advocating for the use of other texts that seemingly possess little academic merit.
For example, to one person, a set of song lyrics is merely music to one’s ears. To me, however, these lyrics represent a unique opportunity to analyze and dissect figurative devices and nuanced language. These lyrics represent a text that is chockfull of subtle and explicit messages waiting to be explored like Columbus’ ocean blue in 1492. For some, a documentary is merely a film. In my eyes, however, it is an expansive text—unconventional as it may be—filled with visual and oral rhetoric waiting to be dissected and analyzed.
Sadly, I admit that I have not always possessed this mentality. When I first started teaching, I had this idea of what highly effective teaching looked like. I had an image of students reading, analyzing, and discussing complex texts—often canonical in nature. I had an image of students discovering their previously dormant interests in these texts. Sadly and quickly, I learned that this was not the case. I heard about and observed teachers doing what I considered less meaningful activities and projects that deviated from my schemata (i.e., art projects, comic strips, etc.). After much internal debate, I made a concerted effort to reconfigure my teaching—and the results were astounding.
For example, to one person, a set of song lyrics is merely music to one’s ears. To me, however, these lyrics represent a unique opportunity to analyze and dissect figurative devices and nuanced language. These lyrics represent a text that is chockfull of subtle and explicit messages waiting to be explored like Columbus’ ocean blue in 1492. For some, a documentary is merely a film. In my eyes, however, it is an expansive text—unconventional as it may be—filled with visual and oral rhetoric waiting to be dissected and analyzed.
Sadly, I admit that I have not always possessed this mentality. When I first started teaching, I had this idea of what highly effective teaching looked like. I had an image of students reading, analyzing, and discussing complex texts—often canonical in nature. I had an image of students discovering their previously dormant interests in these texts. Sadly and quickly, I learned that this was not the case. I heard about and observed teachers doing what I considered less meaningful activities and projects that deviated from my schemata (i.e., art projects, comic strips, etc.). After much internal debate, I made a concerted effort to reconfigure my teaching—and the results were astounding.
Resources Created
|
Student Work
Marginalized Cultures
Multi-genre Research Projects |