Teaching Critical Analysis

I know I am biased, but I believe that English is one of the most challenging subjects to teach.  To operationally define my terms, let me explain that by "English" I don't mean the objective tests of grammatical identification or vocabulary definition.  I am far more interested in whether or not my students can truly think.  And, I don't mean, that they think like me.  I've awarded As to students who wrote passionate defenses of causes I oppose.  I want my students to be armed with the skills necessary to be critical consumers of information and effective communicators of their ideas.

Recently, I gave an essay a test to my Honors English 11 classes on Truman Capote's In Cold Blood.  On the exam, students had to analyze the significance of given passages.  This test question alone is evidence of how difficult my subject is to teach.  Where is the answer key for this kind of test?  I use a rubric, which demands students to "support claims with appropriate evidence"  and to "identify the context of the quote and accurately describe its significance to the book as a whole,"  but it's up to my judgment whether a student effectively masters the test. 

One of the passages I assigned came from a scene in which the townspeople of Holcomb, Kansas turned out to witness the police escorting the suspected murderers of the Clutter family to jail.  Before the police arrived, the crowd was nearly convivial -- they were serving hot dogs and shouting about what they'd do to the punks who murdered their beloved neighbors.  The reader expects a riot, "but when the crowd caught sight of the murders, with their escort of blue-coated highway  patrol-men, it fell silent, as though amazed to find them humanly shaped" (Capote 248).   Prior to the police aprehending the killers, the townspeople suspected each other -- it was impossible that complete strangers would invade their Eden -- and the crime truly changed the dynamics of their community. 

Most students who wrote about this passage (I gave 5 options; they had to select 2) talked, as we had in class, about the townspeople being utterly shocked by the murderers not looking like three-headed monsters.  A few exceptional students stretched beyond putting facts together to true critical analysis.  One said, "When people saw these humans they most likely questioned their neighbors and friends even more knowing now that even the most heinous of criminals can look just like a normal person."    This kind of thinking can't be packaged in a matching test or reduced to a multiple choice option, despite how much faster my grading would go (I have 55 Honors students and 35 AP students, plus 70 students in electives). 

And this is the challenge of teaching English, and in my opinion, doing it right.  I could have students go on a scavenger hunt for nouns and prepositions, and I could test quite easily if they "comprehended" what they read.  But, would I be authentically assessing their abilities?  Decidedly not.   I do not ignore the essential tools of vocabulary and grammar, but I value much more what can be done with the toolbox.  I consistently struggle with how to get kids to think, and I could probably write an entire book about the forces outside of B206 that work against me, but as the year progresses and, with it my students, I am encouraged.  

And while my subject is challenging to teach, I love that we discuss big ideas like the nature of the criminal mind.  I'll take that over "Find the Adverb" any day. 

 

Comments

[Algy]

I miss your class soooo much! It's still my favorite class I've ever taken... I have a feeling it always will be.

[Jack]

Awww Algy beat me to saying something about your class...I will always remember the amazing experience I had in B206. I never thought I could learn so much, not just about English but life. Thank you.