In my sophomore class we've been using literature circles as a means of responding to The Poisonwood Bible. In the debrief of our first literature cirlce discussion, the students made note of three recurring motifs, "light" and "garden" and "heaven," the last of which we connected to the motif of "home" from their reading during freshman year of The Odyssey. As I followup I asked to find and place in their commonplace books a picture that illustrated at least one of these concepts in a way that interested them.
On Friday after school I was in the Writing Center for a small reception we were having for Fern Davye, a woman who travels all around the country doing dramatic interpretations of poetry. She had just spent three days visiting classes at Punahou, and during this last hour or two she was spending with a small group of teachers. We were talking, and then she presented some poems to us. She likes to turn the lights down when she presents, so it was darkish in the writing center.
A little after 5:00, just as the afternoon was coming to a close and evening was starting to descend, I happened to look away from the presenter and over to the side, toward the window beyond the teacher's desk. What I saw was a poetry presentation of a different kind: a silent poem made up entirely of light and shadow. It struck me as I was looking at it that it seemed to connect in subtle ways to all three themes we had talked about in class: light and garden and home. I had my camera with me, so I took the picture:
3 comments:
Bruce, if you have not already done so, you should frame that gorgeous photo. It's a gem!
Thanks. I do have plans to frame it, perhaps in a panel with a couple of other photos. I really like that pool of light under the lamp, and the geometrical patterns of the stained glass and bottles and plants in the window.
- B
Wonderful picture! I was interested in how you are bringing visuals into the classroom. I'm working on incorporating many different literacies into my classroom, and I wanted to thank you for a great idea! We're doing lit circles right now, and I think I'll have my students try to find pics that work with thematic ideas in their readings.
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