16.8 From The Great Gatsby to The Game of Thrones: Relevant Themes to Explore in a Global Era
Learning Objectives:
To explore creating teaching and learning strategies in English language arts and to recognize the value interdisciplinary and multimodal possibilities for literacy learning.
- Throughout this book, there are multiple examples of the way in which English Language Arts can be explored through a social justice angle and through an angle that highlight artistic, emotional, environmental, cultural, and social literacies.You can integrate photography, painting, sculpture, and other artistic media to develop enriched literacy learning experiences for your students. You can consider some of the following questions as you develop creative and imaginative lesson and unit plans with your students.
“The world of literature is a world where there is no reality except that of the human imagination.”- Northrop Frye
How do we encourage literacies of hope, compassion, and empathy in a complex world?
“As educators and citizens, we need to be concerned about the effects of persistent poverty, cultural imperialism, racism, ageism, and the list goes on. Teachers alone cannot solve these injustices and inequities. But teaching is an inherently moral and political enterprise, and teachers’ daily actions do matter in an effort to build a more just, caring, and democratic society.” –Deirdre Kelly, University of British Columbia.
How has the teaching of English language arts and related subjects changed based upon the following events/movements?
-9/11
-Immigration and global movement
-Digital technologies
-Global tensions and inequalities
-War and conflict
-Indigenous rights
-Truth and Reconciliation
-Inclusivity and the quest for social justice
-Climate change and planetary fragility
-Greater awareness of: Mental health, social and emotional intelligence
-Global Citizenship Education (GCE)
-The fragility of democratic societies
-Times up and #Me Too movements
Which literary, non-fiction, and visual texts could you use for the following themes? How can you encourage greater awareness and empathy?
Themes
Are there particular art images and related texts that you might use to develop some of the following themes:
-Wishes, Hopes, and Dreams
-Enchantment and Disillusionment
-Family
-Identity and Belonging
-Memories
-The Future
-Loss
-Our Planet
-Forgiveness and Redemption
-Redemption –
Exiles
-Home and Belonging –
Transformations
-Love
-Values
-Challenges, Crises, and Opportunities
-Journeys
-Life Styles
-New Beginnings
-Heroes and Villains
-Relationships
-Experiences
-Resilience and Courage
How can we enrich teaching through:
-Art
-Cultural Studies
-New Technologies
-A Social Justice/UNESCO lens
-Global Citizenship
Teaching ethnography: Reading the world and developing student agency. J. Arias (2008) framework, The English Journal, 97 (6), p.95)
Questions to Consider:
- Why are there insiders and outsiders in any society/ and/or social group?
- Who or what qualifies an individual as an insider or outsider?
- What are the advantages and the disadvantages of being an insider or an outsider?
- Under what circumstances might the roles of the insider and/or outsider be reversed or changed?
- What is the effect of a change from one to the other?
Inter-textual Connections
- Does this text remind you of any book, short story, play, poem, or film you have ever read or seen? If so, how?
2. Consider: the plot, characters, conflicts, setting, narration, style, themes, etc. Which other text is similar? How are the texts different? Is there anything about the plot of the text that reminds you of another text? What is it about the plot that reminds you of the other text?
3. Can you think of another text that addresses the same major problem as the one presented in the text you read? How are the problems the same? How is the solution to the problem the same/different? - Have you seen the story of this work presented in another medium such as film or print art?
- Have you seen a theme from this work presented in another genre?
From: King-Shaver, B. (2005). When text meets text. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Examples of Genres and Forms: Picture Books, Stories, Fairy Tales, Myths, Rhyme, Verse Plays, Reports Articles, Tragedy, Irony, Biography, Mystery Historical Fiction, Science Fiction Autobiography Poetry, Journals, Prose, Letters, Journalism, Songs, etc. (Also consider Myriad Texts)
What are your preferred texts to teach?
Diverse Heroes: Examples of Texts to Consider: Myths and Folklore from Many Lands, Oedipus Rex, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Gilgamesh, The Great Gatsby, The Scarlet Letter, The Road, The Giver, 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451,The Handmaid’s Tale, Indian Horse, A Long Walk to Freedom, One Story, One Song, Becoming, Dreaming of Elsewhere, The Breadwinner Trilogy, I am Malala, Becoming,The House on Mango Street, The Yellow Wallpaper and other stories, Night, Unbowed,The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, The Marrow Thieves, They Called Me Number One, Fatty Legs, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Solider; Shake Hands with the Devil; Rabbit Proof Fence, Doll’s House, A Raisin in the Sun, Their Eyes were Watching God, Frankenstein, Cry the Beloved Country, 12 Years a Slave, The Hobbit, The Alchemist, Siddhartha, Jane Eyre, The Giver, Educated and many others… (please see attached bibliography for more details).
Searching for Heroes: Common Threads (There are exceptions):
- Heroes are often of obscure or mysterious origin
- Heroes are neither fools nor invincible
- The hero’s way is not always direct or clear for him/her/they.
- The hero’s way is best with dangers, loneliness, and temptation.
- Frequently, friends, servants, or disciples accompany the hero
- The hero has guides or a guide.
- The hero may descend into darkness
- The hero is not the same after emerging from the darkness of his/her/their descent.
- What the hero seeks is usually no more than a symbol of what he or she really finds.
- The hero suffers a wound
- Frequently, the hero returns to the everyday world to share his/her/their knowledge with others or to bring consciousness new and better ways of living.
(From: Barbara King-Shaver, 2005, When Text Meets Text, pp.88-89. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann).
-Encourage your students to explore diverse texts from a mythological/hero journey. What contemporary heroes are there?
-How can these texts be taught from a creative and critical lens so that personal, philosophical, social, cultural, and historical links could be made?
Essential Questions can be explored in different ways.
- Social and Psychological Questions: Examine race, class, and gender inequalities. Examine personality and motivational trajectories.
- CHAT: Cultural, Historical, Activity Theme: Imagine the characters in a setting today. How would they come across? Would their values be shared today? Why of Why not? (Smith and Wilhelm, 2010).
- Great writing: Look for a line, a phrase, a paragraph that you think is great writing. How might you integrate the style in your own writing?
- Visualize the scene: Create an artistic vision of a memorable passage or scene. What works of art might be used to complement the literary or non-fiction scene?
- Questions: It could be that you don’t understand something that is going on in the novel or in the passage. These questions usually can lead to rich classroom discussions.
- Memories: Every text changes somewhat depending on the read and his/her/their experiences. Re-read a text that you tried to read when you were younger but could not fully understand it. How have your experiences in life enabled you to view the text in a new way?
- Journal and Diary Entries-Compose diary entries and letters based on
- Postcards-Write postcards based on the characters in a particular literary or visual text.
(Resource: Michael W. Smith and Jeffrey D. Wilhelm) (2010). Fresh takes on literary elements. Appendix).
For teaching resources compiled by Jeffrey Wilhelm please open the link here.
Key Takeaways
The sections of Book One highlight the way diverse forms of art can be used to enrich English language arts literacy learning experiences.
Important “takeaways” include the following:
- Focus on responding Personally, Critically, and Creatively to texts in multimodal ways
- Theme based lesson and unit planning
- Authentic learning and inquiry projects in self-directed and collaborative modes.
- Multimodal literacy development through rich texts that encourage creative and critical thinking.
- Place based learning initiatives to explore nature poetry and related art images
- Self-directed and collaborative learning
- Community building in the class and in alternative learning contexts (visits to local art galleries, self-directed art gallery and museum tours, etc.)
- Creative self-expression through art, music, drama, storytelling, poetry, and other texts
- Portfolio Development
- Visual Essays that integrate art and writing.
- The value of different forms of art as an expression of creativity
