English and Existentialism: responding to my own blog prompt

I think Applebee is on to something when he writes, ”The English classroom should be what it has always sought to become: the place where students learn to master the power of words and symbols–theirs and others” (73).   The key here is the word symbols, because in essence, words are symbols.  I think that Applebee gets the essence of what we should be focusing on; the platonic ideal of the English classroom– communication, in whatever form it comes in.   This leaves a lot of room for interpretation, as it should.  There are so many ways that human beings convey meaning it boggles the mind.  As Amanda said in her blog, the whole world is a text.  So what part of human existence, past present and future do we focus on in our classrooms?  That indeed is the question.  Answer?  Well, whatever interests both teacher and student.  A workshop approach is probably in order here.  There needs to be room for students to explore, question, create, and design–but not necessarily about the same things.  There needs to be opportunity to embrace “all of the tools and media available” (73) as Applebee says; opportunity to use the power of technology in order to transform both the individual and the community.  

Descartes once said, Cogito Ergo Sum: “I think, therefore I am.”  In whatever medium that we engage students, the act of thinking is primary.  And with the act of thinking is a validation of existence itself.  I am here, alive.  I am the eyes of the world.  Or invoking a Whitmanesque idea, everything that happens is filtered through me.  That’s what I want my students to get.  Here is the world ladies and gentlemen, now go ahead and start reading!  It’s a fascinating place, there’s a helluva lot to learn- there’s a lot to choose from.   What do you want to know? What are you curious about?  What means something to you?  Here’s what I’m into; let me share it with you.  Oh, you think Bob Dylan’s corny?  You like Eminem?  Have you written any lyrics?  Do you want to?  Did you know you could get yourself some exposure on myspace and youtube?  Oh, of course you already knew that.   Do you read Rolling Stone?  Go to their website and check it out; what did you think?  You like reading about musicians? that’s great!  How about writing about musicians? awesome! If you want to create your own music magazine as a project, I’d let you work on it everyday.   We could even publish it online.  Maybe some other students want to get involved.

Perhaps a classroom where students are in the forefront of creating the curriculum may seem potentially chaotic, but if the entire world is a text to be read and added to, our decisions about what part of this world students should engage in are just as arbitrary as theirs; perhaps even more arbitrary considering that we often times have no idea where our students are coming from, on many different levels.  We can decide what part of the world we want to explore, but we should never assume that our students have the same interests.  If we’re lucky, we can inspire them to love some of the same things we love, or at least understand why we might love them.  But really, we should respect the fact that their existence is just as valid as ours, young though they may be.  They furnish their part toward future.  They furnish their part toward the soul.  

~ by scrollman on November 15, 2007.