Thematic and Experiential

Connectiveness:

Helping students find relevance--regardless of background or text

Tyrell Graham

OCTE Fall Conference 2017

Titles over the Years (excluding short poems, short stories, films, and articles)

The Eagle Has Landed, The Time Machine, The Awakening, Midwives, As I Lay Dying, One Day in the Life of Ivan

Denisovich, All Quiet on the Western Front, Ordinary People, The Joy Luck Club, Winterkill, Esperanza Rising, Fahrenheit

451, Farewell to Manzanar, Foundation, The Great Gatsby, Hedda Gabler, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The

Hobbit, Redwall, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The House on Mango Street, When I Was Puerto Rican, The Adventures

of Huckleberry Finn, Johnny Tremain, Beowulf, Birchbark House, Brave New World, Everyman, Hamlet, Pride and

Prejudice, Present Laughter, The Importance of Being Earnest, Frankenstein, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Jane Eyre, A

Tale of Two Cities, Pygmalion, Call of the Wild, The Chocolate War, The Chosen, The Code, The Color Purple, The Cripple

of Inishmaan, The Crucible, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Diary of Anne Frank (Play), Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol,

Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, The

Tempest, Shizuko’s Daughter, Silas Marner, Silent Spring, Slaughterhouse-Five, Snow Falling on Cedars, Cannery Row,

The Pearl, Treasure Island, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie, Things Fall Apart, The Island of Dr. Moreau,

War of the Worlds, Fences, Piano Lesson, Winterkill, Wuthering Heights, Julie of the Wolves, The Little Prince, The

Maltese Falcon, The Martian Chronicles, Maus I, No-No Boy, The Old Man and the Sea, The Outsiders, Peter Pan (Play),

The Pigman, The Playboy of the Western World, The Quiet American, A Raisin in the Sun, Anthem, The Fountainhead,

Reservation Blues, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Scarlet Letter, A Separate Peace, Twenty Love Poems and

a Song of Despair, Shackleton’s Boat Journey, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Parrot in the Oven

The Point Behind the List

• Covers ~1,000 Years of Literature

• Covers Fiction, Non-Fiction, Thrillers, Young Adult, College Level, Fantasy,

Science Fiction, etc.

• Covers Cultures from Across the Globe & All Seven Continents are

Represented

• Not Every Student Liked Every Story (shocker)

• Every Student Had the Opportunity and Guidance to Be Able to Connect to

the Story.

• There’s Your Objective

What is it?

• Thematic and Experiential Connectiveness is designed to offer students the

ability to connect with literature regardless of time period, cultural

background, beliefs, etc.

• In the classroom, it means 1) having students think about the themes in a text

and their connection to it, and 2) having students sympathise/empathise with

characters through shared experiences.

Why?

1) By helping students make connections it can help strengthen their interest and

understanding (of both the text and world).

2) By not focusing solely on the cultural background of our students, we can make

widespread connections that have a better chance of reaching a majority of our

students.

3) To Help rid ourselves of two problems:

1) Connecting through culture only: If character does not become successful, student of

same background can find himself thinking that the character’s limitations are his lot

in life.

2) Students not of a culture may form unfavourable stereotypes based on what is

depicted within the text.

Experiential Connectiveness

Romeo and Juliet

• Helping students connect to Shakespeare?

• As you begin reading Romeo and Juliet, have them start a list/T-Chart of all the “dumb” decisions Romeo and

Juliet make because of their “love.”

• When you are done with the play, have students create a master list of these decisions.

• Have each student go over the list. Have them keep track of those moments that they have also been guilty of,

and those moments that people they know have been guilty of.

• Lead to discussion: What does that tell you about Shakespeare?

• My own experience: students said Shakespeare really understands today’s teens…

Parrot in the Oven

• Sometimes we don’t need to do anything to students to find an experiential

connection

• When teaching Parrot in the Oven by Victor Martinez, I encountered a student

that made a connection without my guidance.

• Character in the novel has to find dad at the bar and bring him home

• Character is Hispanic and living in the barrios of San Jose, California

• Student in class has to find dad at the bar, most weekends, and bring him home

• Student is Caucasian and lives in a “nice” house in Keizer, Oregon

Time to Make it relevant for your

class

• Activity 1: Experience

• Part I

• You have two (2) minutes for this portion of the activity

• Think of one text you use in class (does not matter the text or class).

• Think of one experience that occurs in the text that students could relate with

• Example:s 1) death of a family member—YES 2) a teenage spy saving the world--NO

• Part II

• Now, take three (3) minutes and think of a way of incorporating this experience into either a writing prompt

or a discussion point.

Thematic Connectiveness

Starting Off By Thinking Theme

• Have you ever tried an Opinionnaire?

• Formulate a set of statements/questions that do not have a right or wrong answer that

are based on themes within an upcoming text.

• These statements/questions should let students answer on the agree----disagree scale.

• Once students have completed the opinionnaire, begin discussion on the themes found

within the questions.

• Eventually, you make the connection to the text.

Opinionnaire Example

• A set of statements used to frontload themes in Hamlet

• Sometimes, murder is an understandable option.

• When you are faced with a big decision, it is better to spend too much time making up your mind than it is to

spend too little.

• Revenge should have no bounds.

• A father should have a great deal of control when it comes to his daughter’s relationships.

• Friends should always be loyal, no matter what.

• Our actions don’t matter; we’re all going to die in the end.

• Often, when people pretend to be a certain kind of person, they will become more like that kind of person.

Literature Circles

• At the Senior Level: Eight different titles (In time, enough titles available to rotate yearly)

• Each novel has a focus on two themes (though discussions have branched into other themes)• The Awakening (1899)—Feminism/Self-Discovery

• Winterkill (1984)—Connecting to Cultural Heritage/Father & Son Relationships

• As I Lay Dying (1930)—Coping with Death/Family Struggles

• Midwives (1997)—Family Struggles/Legal Issues

• All Quiet on the Western Front (1929)—Coping with Realities of War/Death

• The Joy Luck Club (1989)—Mother & Daughter Relationships/Cultural Issues

• Ordinary People (1976)—Depression/Family Struggles

• One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962)—Survival/Unjust Punishment

• Students have multiple opportunities to discuss and write about the themes within their respective stories• Quick Writes, Study Questions, Partnered Discussion, Group Discussion, Class Discussion, Research, Essay, Unit Test

Literature Circles

• Culminating Activity is the Research Paper (Standard #7)

• Each novel has its own prompt in which students needs to conduct research, and write an informative essay.

• Examples of the Prompts:

All Quiet on the Western Front: It seems that war never goes away. Nor does the mental anguish soldiers suffer during and after their time on the battlefield. Research and discuss what post traumatic stress disorder is, how it is acquired, and what support is available for its sufferers and their families.

The Joy Luck Club: Growing up, the children of immigrants are influenced both by the culture of their parents and by American culture. Second-generation children are pressured to represent the culture of their parents at home while assimilating into American culture at school. Research and discuss the various issues that second-generation children face in forming their own identity.

The Awakening: Throughout the novel, Edna Pontellier shows signs of depression. Unfortunately, no one is sure how to handle this onset of depression. Also unfortunate, is how realistic this is in our world today. Research and discuss typical causes of depression (all ages), and what can occur if left untreated. Make sure to also discuss what support (medical and otherwise) is available for those who are depressed and for their families.

Literature Circles

• Final Activity: The Group Exam

• Groups contain one member of each of the literature circle groups

• Everyone is responsible for the overall grade

• Exam contains 25 short answer questions.

• Three questions per novel

• Three areas of focus: Theme, Plot, Character

• One question that covers all novels:

• One theme that crosses over all of the novels.

The 2017 Adjustment

• Anomaly: extreme absences made the creation of exam groups impossible.

• Solution: Turned it into a class wide exam—all students had to work together.

• Question #25: All eight novels share a common theme. Explain what that theme is, and why so many authors use it as a driving force for their stories. In doing so, your response should touch on why people tend to read stories with this theme.

• Class Generated Responses:• The common theme in these eight novels is tragedy. Readers read these books because they are intense, emotional, and

relatable. Authors use the theme because they aim to get a reaction out of the readers—due to the connections and emotions.

• The overall theme would be introspection while facing societal problems. Authors use this theme because a lot of people are affected by similar things and can relate to them. It is also helpful to read about people struggling, because people can relate and not feel alone.

• The common theme that all these books share is that of struggle. We tend to read books about struggling in life to convince ourselves we are not suffering alone, and to find reassurance. Authors write books like these to possibly share their own storyor feelings. By doing this, they are able to captivate their audience.

Time to Make it relevant for your

class

• Activity 1I: Theme

• Part I

• You have three (3) minutes for this portion of the activity

• Think of one text you use in class (does not matter the text or class).

• Make a list of 2-3 themes that appear in that text.

• Choose one of those themes, think of one activity or writing assignment that could help students relate to

the theme.

• Part II

• At your table (or with a close neighbour), take turns sharing the text, theme, and activity/assignment you

came up with in Part I.

• Looking for the PowerPoint?

• www.highlandermckay.com