My husband and I rented the movie Dead Poets Society last night, which he had never seen and I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seen since it first came out in 1989.<\/p>\n
Now that I have a certain amount of knowledge about literary theory (which I did not have in 1989), I had a small revelation that this movie is in part about the conflict between traditional New Critical teaching methods and the more modern and flexible Reader Response teaching methods.\u00c2\u00a0 Granted, there probably weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t too many teachers in 1959 who would have been aware of Reader Response theory, but since Louise Rosenblatt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Literature as Exploration was published in 1938, the chance is there that Mr. Keating could have known of her work and of this theory.<\/p>\n
Having spent my last semester at Simmons doing an independent study on Reader Response theory (and having spent three and a half years teaching reading at the elementary level), the benefits and drawbacks of RR have been a preoccupation of mine for several years.\u00c2\u00a0 On the one hand, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an enormously empowering way for a reader to read a book.\u00c2\u00a0 When I was in high school in the early to mid 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, the prevailing theory was still New Critical, and we students had to search to find the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153one true meaning\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of the text; our own personal opinions were valueless.\u00c2\u00a0 Class discussions were limited to theme, plot, etc, and to trying to read the teacher\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mind and say what the teacher wanted us to say.<\/p>\n
But my first experience with Reader Response theory (in my first class at Simmons) also demonstrated how dangerous it can be from a teaching standpoint.\u00c2\u00a0 This particular professor of mine, who shall remain nameless, tried to run a RR style class focused on Tim Wynne-Jones\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s The Maestro.\u00c2\u00a0 Though she ostensibly wanted us to explore the text in a RR way \u00e2\u20ac\u201d with value given to our thoughts and opinions \u00e2\u20ac\u201d in truth she had a distinct teaching agenda and a definite direction that she wanted the discussion to take.\u00c2\u00a0 When the class did not go in the direction that she was aiming for, she definitively and clumsily tried to force us back; though we the class had been thinking that we had some power, in truth all power still belonged to the teacher.\u00c2\u00a0 Since this was a class full of empowered graduate students, not cowed high school students, we rebelled and called her out; the next full class was devoted to a discussion of how the previous class\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s discussion had gone wrong.<\/p>\n
As a result of that experience, I have never been fully sold on RR theory.\u00c2\u00a0 In my opinion, it takes a truly exceptional teacher to successfully run a RR centered class.\u00c2\u00a0 A teacher who is open-minded, flexible, and not ego-centered.\u00c2\u00a0 A teacher who is willing to consider alternative directions of class discussion.\u00c2\u00a0 I was lucky enough to have such a teacher at Simmons, Cathy Mercier, but I often wonder how many such teachers exist.\u00c2\u00a0 RR in the wrong hands is really New Critical theory with a nice coating of sugary frosting that makes students think their opinions matter as much as the teacher\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s opinions.\u00c2\u00a0 (At heart, though I know it labels me as a bit passe, I think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll always be a deconstructor myself, though I am very intrigued by childist theory.)<\/p>\n
But to get back to the movie.\u00c2\u00a0 Robin Williams as Mr. Keating plays a flawed teacher.\u00c2\u00a0 Inspirational, but still flawed.\u00c2\u00a0 He was a pioneer in the world of stodgy good-ol\u00e2\u20ac\u2122-boy New Critical teaching, but his execution of the new type of teaching was still driven by a distinct agenda.\u00c2\u00a0 Granted, his agenda was far more palatable than that of his collegues, but he wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t perfect.\u00c2\u00a0 Did his imperfections drive Neil to suicide, as the administration and Neil\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s parents wanted to think?\u00c2\u00a0 Probably not, but that perception definitely set back the cause of RR teaching at that fictional school.<\/p>\n
So in the end, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still left with the same questions that have haunted me for a long time:
\nHow many teachers exist who truly listen to and interact with their students, assimilating the thoughts of their students and then taking discussions to a newer, higher level?\u00c2\u00a0 (A note here: though I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never sat in one of my sister\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s classes, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing that she is one of these rare teachers.<\/p>\n
How problematic is the age disconnect between adult teachers and child learners?\u00c2\u00a0 And what of the difficulties of adults trying to imagine what their child selves would have thought about a certain text?\u00c2\u00a0 Once we are grown, can we ever truly recapture the thought processes of our youth?\u00c2\u00a0 And, if the answer to the last question is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153no,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d how does that affect the ability of the adult to teach the child?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My husband and I rented the movie Dead Poets Society last night, which he had never seen and I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seen since it first came out in 1989. Now that I have a certain amount of knowledge about literary theory (which I did not have in 1989), I had a small revelation that this movie … Continue reading Small revelation<\/span>