Given that most things feel extremely arduous this year, I am embracing the fact that I need to think way out of the box just to meet my students where they are at.
So, in creating classroom content – I often ask myself this question first …
“Will this lesson engage my students and spark some much needed joy?”
If your kids are anything like mine, they are so self-engrossed … so BORED by the things that lay outside their self-interests … so much glued to their cellphones and social media apps.
And here we are … it’s test-prep season … spring is in the air … the world is influx …
But the bulk of our students are disengaged and not producing.
We’re pulling our hair out and cursing the gods because the show must go on.
Last week, I was fighting the good fight trying to get my juniors to tear apart a speech by Sojourner Truth.
But all they wanted to talk about was the fact that Kanye West got banned from Instagram.
I’m not too savvy of the comings and goings of the Kardashian’s … but I asked the right question …
“What did Kanye say to get banned?”
Holy fantastic fodder to practice rhetorical analysis!
And get this … Kanye posted two poems – one entitled “Divorce” and the other “Dead.”
Bingo … ready-made lesson plans for Lang., Lit., and everything in between!
Kanye is the Bard of Covid and Heartache and Rancor and Bruised Ego!
For real … there’s so much going on in these pieces that can help our students improve their close reading skills for both rhetorical and literary analysis.
We had a blast with this and some real deep learning occurred.
What I have done is record our writing workshop that features Kanye’s poem “Divorce.”
For my Lang. kids … we performed rhetorical analysis.
For my Lit. crew … literary analysis.
It’s a good text that can go both ways.
Per usual, in the video I “Bob Ross” my instruction so that teachers and students have a clear understanding of how to construct the essay while incorporating my templates.
You’ll notice that even though we aren’t analyzing a canonical text, there’s a TON of “stuff” going on here.
Our Plato’s Play-Doh Discussion was probably the best of the year.
So, I hope you enjoy this one!
Here’s the link to the video which is posted in my YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SigdvhHEB_Y
And please subscribe if you haven’t already.
If you’d like the accompanying materials, such as the poem and the PowerPoint featured in the writing workshop, just let me know and I’ll send everything your way.
Happy teaching and happy writing!
0 comments