Sometimes, lesson-plans turn out much better than one
could ever have imagined. I had my AP students read Catherynne M. Valente's "A
Monstrous Manifesto" in class the other day as part of our Frankenstein unit.
I thought we'd have maybe a 15-20 minute discussion of the poem and how
it connects to the novel. I also thought that maybe I'd ask the kids to
write a manifesto from the Creature's point-of-view, but we never got that far
(perhaps we will still do that).
Almost immediately after reading the poem, someone (was
it Erin P?) said it would be cool to perform the poem at an assembly, and
things quickly moved on from there.
Everyone was full of ideas about how to do it:
Maddie S wanted to do it flash-mob style, with people popping up out
of the audience as they spoke their lines, and Jake K wanted to start with
one speaker up front who would then be joined gradually by more and more
speakers, for a cumulative effect, in keeping with the poem's refrain: "Come stand by me." Without any help from me, the students
found a way to combine both ideas, as you'll see in the film.
At the end of that class period, we went into the
auditorium to practice, and the staging developed even further. People
decided where to sit and who would say each line or phrase. This is
obviously a poem people connect to immediately and deeply: students
eagerly claimed their favorite line (I was just hoping squabbles wouldn't
develop over who got to say what!). The kids made the connection with the
school's Bullying Awareness initiative. (To tell the truth, I hadn't made
the connection myself until the kids realized how perfectly the poem would
drive home that point. Call it synchronicity--sometimes, the Universe
works with you!)
We practiced over and over, and I urged folks to enunciate
and project ("Natasha! I still can't hear you!").
Catherine offered to write up a statement to read after the performance,
and I've included that below (I didn't help her with it at all--when kids have
something REAL and really important to say, they don't need any help).
Everyone agreed to memorize their lines, and I offered
to give them a half hour of the next class period (which turned into 45
minutes) for another practice session. I arranged with Mr Neblett for
some time at the assembly, and we were good to go.
In the second practice session, the students had their
lines memorized, and we must have run through the poem at least a dozen times.
The students decided to wear black tops and blue jeans, blue being
the designated color for "Stomp Out Bullying" and National Bullying
Prevention Awareness Month. One of the students provided blue ribbons for
the rest to wear in their hair or tie around their wrists.
And the only glitch this morning was a last-minute panic
about whether Asher would show up, but he did, and it went off without a hitch.
Here's the video.
The students, in order of performance, are Cat
M, Natasha K, Meggan G, Maddie S, Asher N,
Calvin K, Gunnar R, Jake K, Cara H, Ian P, Mary
B, and Erin P.
Here's Catherine M's statement:
This is Dr. Nygaard’s AP English class. The other
day, we read this poem by Catherynne M. Valente called “A Monstrous Manifesto”
and I think it really spoke to a lot of us, especially during anti-bullying
week. Someone came up with the idea of presenting, and from there, the
next class periods were spent putting this together.
We’ve all experienced bullying. We’ve all seen
bullying, been bullied, or even been the bully ourselves. This poem
captures the basic idea that we are all flawed. We are all monsters, but
we have also all been broken. This fact is what connects us to everyone
in this room, yet too often it is what divides us because we refuse to
understand each other’s pain, even when it’s so familiar to us. We
pretend we don’t see; we pretend we don’t understand.
As anti-bullying week comes to a close, remember this
idea and carry it with you throughout the rest of the year. Take a stand;
don’t stand by. Thank you.
(I think they deserve a chocolate pie, don't you?)
This is why we are a Marshall family.
ReplyDeleteI heard Natasha in this recording! Everyone spoke clearly and loudly (this time) I think. I'm proud of us all.
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