[Teacher-talknovel] Workshop #7: Who am I in this Story?

 This workshop primarily showed students expressing how they connect to
themes and characters within the movie. There are brief discussions by
teachers around why they chose certain books (i.e. I chose Things Fall
Apart because I teach African American students…”).

“Scripting the other” is an activity I have never heard of, but which
intrigues me for a number of reasons. As an approach to understanding
literature or literary characters, it appeared powerful and the accounts of
the participating students certainly supported it as such. As a form of
“spying” on others, it reminds me of the many reality shows which inundate
us on daily television. Those who know me would say that I wear the words,
“I have never seen a single episode of “Survivor” nor of “American Idol,”
like a badge. I have argued with disdain about the damage of encouraging
others to perpetuate the idea that we have a right to see everything
happening in others’ lives. My first response to this activity was, “Hey,
this is another venue for ‘reality t.v.’” I had to work to look past that
and into the value of it as an exercise in empathy. For the students with
whom I work, that could be a very powerful approach to developing
observational skills, empathy for others, descriptive abilities, and
creating original work around the things (and people) in everyday life.

-- 
Life is as dear to a mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants
happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not die, so do
other creatures.
                                                                *---The
Dalai Lama*

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Received on Tue Mar 20 2012 - 08:36:57 EDT