Getting Students to Participate in Class Discussion

by Rachel Carey

Participating in class discussion has never been the easiest thing for me. The ideas are normally there, but sharing them in front of a class full of my peers sometimes proves to be too daunting. I know I’m not the only student like this — the only student that would rather write her thoughts in a research paper than say them aloud to an entire classroom — and I’ve gotten better, which is good because I’ve come to realize how valuable openly discussing literature is, especially in the English classroom. Here are a few notable practices my teachers throughout the years have used that have helped me become more comfortable speaking up:

1. Icebreakers: I know I am more likely to talk when surrounded by people that I feel comfortable around. Even the corniest of icebreakers (as long as they’re not done too repetitively) can help create an environment that better fosters solidarity and individual student participation.

2. Circling up: Really, any redistribution of the desks so that the teacher is no longer in front of the students but among the students makes the setting less intimidating. I like putting the desks in a circle best because then not only is the teacher sitting down but the students are able to look directly at each other too. It makes the discussion feel less like a lecture and more like a casual conversation between friends.

3. Question and Comment Write-Ups before Class: This is a practice that most of the teachers and professors I’ve had have utilized. Instead of relying on a student’s (sometimes) faulty memory, have each student bring a list of questions and comments to class every day about the reading the night before. This worked for me for two reasons: it ensured that I read the material and it made sure I had something to contribute without having to come up with it on the spot (which was always a little nerve-wracking).

4. Group Presentations: Group presentations can be really really good or really really bad — the main reason for the bad being because they can be really distracting. But, putting the negatives aside, dividing a class up into four or five decently-sized groups is a good way in which to take the pressure to talk off of the individual. This practice can familiarize students with each other, and it’s also helpful because the students can discuss the literature and get feedback about their opinions from their peers before presenting their ideas to the class.

5. Unassigned Seats: I know this goes against the grain of a very common and understandable teaching practice — the reason assigning seats is necessary is because it helps decrease how much students talk to each other while the teacher is trying to talk … which makes sense. Take the following with a grain of salt, but I’ve found that I’m more likely to speak up in class discussion when I’m surrounded by the people I know best.

In the best-case scenario (and in the one in my head), every single student in an English class would be best friends and it wouldn’t matter where any of them sat … but in high school, especially for the quieter students among us, assigned seats can feel kind of awkward sometimes; and there is nothing worse than being stuck between a group of people that won’t stop talking when all you’re trying to do is listen.

Hopefully, I’ve been able to shed some light on the student’s side of things for all the readers out there. If you have anything else you’d like to add (or disagree with), feel free to leave your thoughts in a comment!

Thanks for reading!

Rachel Carey is a summer intern at Prestwick House. She is also a senior at the University of Delaware, where she studies English with a concentration in Creative Writing. During the school year, she is an active editor and writer for Caesura and The Main Street Journal, both of which are prominent literary magazines on campus, as well as Vice President of The Blue Pen Society writing club.

Why Read the Classics?

by Rachel Carey

Robinson Crusoe and Shakespeare and Beowulf … cue the groans. Getting high school students excited to read the Classics has to be one of the biggest problems facing teachers today. As students, it’s easy to forget — or just ignore — the fact that the Classics actually are important — because, well, often times we feel that these works don’t have anything to do with our lives. But I am here to admit that they do, of course, have much to do with our lives (especially as informed readers) — here’s how:

1. The Classics = The Originals
Most of today’s popular literature deals with the use of themes, devices, and genres that were created by one of the medieval genius authors whose works we all love … or love to hate. Thus, these works should be read and respected for the roads they helped pave for modern literature. Think about where we would be right now if Daniel Defoe never wrote the first realistic fiction novel, Robinson Crusoe, in 1719 or how the modern love story would look if Romeo and Juliet had never graced the Elizabethan stage.

2. The Allusions!
In the same vein as my point above, a lot of really popular pieces of modern literature — even films (think the modern Taming of the Shrew adaptation, 10 Things I Hate About You) — allude back to Classics. In order to fully understand the meaning of these modern pieces, the Classics also need to be understood (and read). Even the title of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is taken from Miranda’s speech in Shakespeare’s The Tempest: “How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world! That has such people in’t!” (Act V, Scene 1), proving that the ideas first seen in classic literature are still viable today.

3. Universal Truths Don’t Have a Historical Time Limit
Art and literature have always been mediums through which humanity expresses their deepest desires and needs. And, while a lot of time has passed since the Classics have been written, the nature of humanity has not really changed much. In fact, connecting with these past characters helps ground the modern reader — recognizing that, while these characters lead lives vastly different from what we’re used to, their struggles come from an inner self that is not much different from their modern counterpart.

A lot has changed, but a lot has also stayed the same, and humanity’s nature — as seen through the character and conflict types we create — is pretty constant. It doesn’t matter whether we are looking at Hamlet or Harry Potter — both characters react to the death of one or both of their parents in very human, very relatable ways, and the works were published nearly 400 years apart.

These are just a few of many reasons why the Classics are so important. Perhaps Italo Calvino voiced the need to read Classics best in his book entitled “Why Read the Classics?” when he said: “A Classic does not necessarily teach us anything we did not know before. In a Classic, we sometimes discover something we have always known (or thought we knew), but without knowing that this author said it first, or at least is associated with it in a special way. And this, too, is a surprise that gives such pleasure, such as we always gain from the discovery of an origin, a relationship, an affinity.” He also said that “a Classic is a term for a book that represents the whole universe,” and I agree.

Thanks for reading!

Rachel Carey is a summer intern at Prestwick House. She is also a senior at the University of Delaware, where she studies English with a concentration in Creative Writing. During the school year, she is an active editor and writer for Caesura and The Main Street Journal, both of which are prominent literary magazines on campus, as well as Vice President of The Blue Pen Society writing club.

Top 5 Life Lessons from "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass"

by Rachel Carey

I know what a lot of students probably think when Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is assigned in class: What are we doing reading a book published in 1845? It is true that Douglass’s narrative was written during a time when American life was very different from what it is today — the ramifications from slavery and tragedy consumed much of Douglass’s life.

However, my argument is this: just because Frederick Douglass lived a long time ago, during a time in American history that is hard to imagine, does not mean that his narrative has any shortage of lessons to teach the modern student. The reality of it is that most of Douglass’s story is centered around his difficult adolescence, being moved from plantation to plantation and master to master as he tried to learn the basic lessons about and for a successful life.

Frederick Douglass’s autobiographical account clearly illustrates the plight of a man who never lost sight of what he wanted in life. Even though students might find it hard to relate to what he went through, there is something universally meaningful about his mindset through it all. I’ve gathered five lessons I learned as I read his narrative, in the hopes that sharing them might spark more interest in your students to read his account and take it to heart:

My Argument *for* the Thesis Burger

by Rachel Carey

I will never forget the day during eighth grade when my English teacher brought a grill to class. She was going to cook us burgers, she said, but not just any kind of burgers. We’d just begun to learn the process of writing research papers that year, and she’d cemented the construct of the five-paragraph essay into our brains by likening them to burgers (triple-stacked, huge burgers).

Here’s how that worked: the two buns were the introduction (including the thesis) and conclusion paragraphs, then there were three burgers between the two buns which served as the topic sentences (or the three components of the thesis), and the condiments (lettuce, tomato and cheese between each of the patties) served as the respective three supporting sentences for each of the topic sentences —together the patties and the condiments created the greatest of body paragraphs. That was the way to perfectly craft the burger — that was the way to perfectly craft a five-paragraph essay — but she didn’t stop at the perfectly crafted.

The Most Useful Criticism I Ever Received

by Rachel Carey

Criticism.

The mention of the word makes all of us shiver with fear (you don’t have to deny it) as waves of low self-esteem crash and leave us breathless. Since I am a student and writer desperately trying to impress my superiors as well as keep what I know is right for me in mind, criticism is not a friend that I enjoy meeting up with often. But I wouldn’t consider it an enemy, either.

Not any more, that is.

Yes, there was a time when the mention of a meeting after class caused me to go into a cold sweat while my heart rate rose to somewhere in the realm of dangerous, but I’ve slowly learned that taking others’ opinions into account when it comes to my work isn’t so bad after all. Especially when they have what’s best for me in mind.

Below, I will recount the tale of the most useful criticism I ever received, in the hopes that it will help you help those students who are still deathly afraid of criticism come to terms with it …

The 5 Best (and Sometimes Hard to Pronounce) Rhetorical Devices for Winning Arguments

by Rachel Carey

Who here can say that they don’t enjoy (probably a little too much) winning an argument? It doesn’t matter what the argument is about — although I will say that one of my shining argumentative moments occurred when I successfully convinced a classmate that all of Holden Caulfield’s bad attributes are washed away at the end of Catcher in the Rye. You know the part when he tells us about how his only aspiration in life is to save all the kids that are playing in the rye field of his imagination? For me, that was a moment of, “Oh, well Holden might actually be an okay person … maybe,” after a whole novel of, “Jeeze, Holden needs to get a grip.”

Random side stories aside, it really does feel great to win an argument. Through the usage of rhetorical devices, students can learn how to (cue dramatic music) stand by their viewpoints and make rational and intellectual arguments that have the ability to sway and convince others. The following are just a few useful, fun-to-use rhetorical devices (some of which are included in Prestwick House’s Rhetorical Devices: A Handbook and Activities for Student Writers) that teachers can introduce (or reemphasize) to students when they want to put a fresh spin on persuasive writing:

10 Things I Wish My High School English Teachers had Taught Me

by Rachel Carey

Hey, everyone. My name is Rachel. I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to intern at Prestwick House this summer, so it looks like you’ll be hearing a lot from me in the next few months! Currently, I am a rising senior at University of Delaware, studying English, with a concentration in Creative Writing and Sociology. I’m twenty and, like every other person my age, trying to figure out how to get where I want to be (which is hopefully amongst award-winning authors on the New York Times Best Seller List). But I digress …

There comes a time in all of our lives — excuse me for becoming a little clichéd here — when we look back and think about how naïve we once were. Most of us wish, at one time or another, that our current selves could go back to our awkward, confused high school selves to tell him or her that our lives are going to turn out just fine, regardless of the fact that we wore the same shirt two days in a row and got called out for it by fellow classmates.

For me, in high school, because I was obsessed with everything having to do with English, reading, writing, and books (this shouldn’t surprise you), the English classroom was my haven. My English teacher was kind of like a guardian angel — he didn’t really care about my outfit, and didn’t even know that I dropped my lunch tray on another girl’s head in the cafeteria; all he cared about was that I understood the thematic importance of Chief Bromden’s character in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest and could write a paper on it.

(For all of you wondering, my argument was that the Chief stood as a silent bystander while McMurphy did all of the dirty work in the beginning (e.g., his attempts to dethrone Nurse Ratched). Chief may be silent, but he saves McMurphy’s dignity by suffocating him after his lobotomy at the novel’s end. Loss of dignity through oppression seems to be a major theme in Kesey’s novel, and the Chief saves McMurphy and himself from having to deal with Nurse Ratched’s villainous ways any longer. He’s a hero, just like McMurphy).

Anyway …

My High School English teacher taught me a lot about books and a lot about myself. But there are a few things I wish that I had learned earlier in the English classroom than I did …

1. Organization is key.
First things first, I have to confess something: I was probably one of the most organizationally challenged high schoolers ever. Sadly, it took me a while to realize that it takes more than colorful sticky notes and labeled folders to automatically become organized (I’ve adjusted since high school and have started keeping extra copies of assignments on about fifteen easily accessible “clouds” on the internet). But it’s true — if students are organized on the outside, it is easier for them to succeed in the classroom. Akin to procrastination, the need to be organized often is not fully understood until a disaster happens or something is lost. However, fostering good organizational habits when the opportunities present themselves is never a bad idea.

2. Learning is more important than grades.
This is a difficult lesson to grasp. For students, the pressure to get perfect scores often makes it hard to come to terms with the fact that the value of the literature and the lessons learned are more important than the grades that come with them. Creativity (where appropriate), understanding, and learning should go hand in hand. Every once in a while a student misses the mark, and the surprise of getting a C when they were expecting an A can be frustrating. Most of the time, however, a good understanding of material will yield good results.

3. For some, Shakespeare’s language will never be easy to understand.
My High School English Teacher constantly reassured us that Shakespeare would (eventually) get easier to understand; as if one day we’d wake up enlightened and able to read Richard III in one sitting, understanding every word. But the truth is that some students have more trouble than others (I know I did). Of course, the fact that it is difficult doesn’t mean readers should just give up. There is a reason why Shakespeare is taught in essentially every High School English classroom. For students who are finding Shakespeare especially difficult, it could be helpful to point them in the direction of a book (like Prestwick House's "Side-by-Side" editions) that has Shakespeare’s English alongside Modern English. Of course, Shakespeare’s version should be the one that is mostly focused on, since that is where the literal meaning of his language is found. But, perhaps after studying the two versions side by side, students might actually grow to love Shakespeare’s phrasing, without that moment of panicked misunderstanding.

4. Some books are meant to be read out loud.
I learned this very important lesson in one of my first college classes. We had to read the Charles Dickens’ novel, Our Mutual Friend (aka, 854 pages of dense, beautiful, terrible sentences that were very easy to get mindlessly lost in), and I couldn’t understand a single page without having to go back and reread it. My teacher insisted that reading Dickens out loud would help, and it did. Often times, the beauty and meaning of a writer’s work doesn’t fully sink in until it’s being read out loud. Now, in the perfect world, every one of Shakespeare’s plays would be acted out in the classroom, and it would be acceptable to read books and poetry out loud in public places. Of course, this is not the perfect world. However, introducing student readers to the idea of reading difficult literature out loud may be helpful in fostering a deeper understanding.

5. Procrastination should be punishable by law.
All students have heard this before. But, procrastination is a hard temptation to overcome because it taunts students with the possibility of activities that are more exciting than staring at blank space on a computer screen. Deep within their hearts, students know that one paragraph a day is a much easier road to success than fourteen paragraphs in one night. But, let’s face it, voluntarily structuring life around a paper is not enjoyable for most. Often times, assigning specific due dates to individual pieces of the project can help students learn time management and complete work with time left over. They might groan when they realize that they can’t push it off ‘til the last minute, but they’ll be thankful when they sleep for more than twenty-five minutes the night before the whole project is due.

6. Needing help is not a sign of weakness.
For many high schoolers (including the one I was), the idea of asking for help on papers and test preparation seems more daunting than it’s worth, simply because criticism is hard to welcome. But needing assistance is nothing to be ashamed of. A student’s goal should be to reach a better understanding of the material (books, literature, thematic questions that teachers probably geek out about outside of the classroom anyway), and students are more likely to achieve this goal if they allow you to help.

7. There is never one clear answer.
This is what is so cool about studying and teaching English: there are infinite ways to interpret literature, endless possible topics to write about, and there is never just one right answer for any of it. Unlike Math, where the pressure lies in answering equations successfully in order to come up with the singular end product that every other person in the universe also should have gotten, English is a subject that fosters individualism and creativity. Basically, logical arguments are all that’s needed in order to prove that a point is correct.

8. Anthology angst.
Let me be more specific: I find that I am much more likely to read assigned material if I have the story or novel in actual book form rather than in textbook form. Large anthologies can be hard to read anywhere but at a desk. In school, they work great. But for homework? Anthologies are heavy. Trying to read an anthology while lying down, holding said anthology overhead, can often result in a black eye. Urging students to use smaller versions (especially of longer selections) for take home reading might increase the number of students who read … especially if they have suffered from such anthology-related injuries as I have.

9. English Majors aren’t always unemployed.
When I tell people I’m an English Major, the disappointment and worry in their eyes is evident. They worry for me, which is nice (I guess it shows that they care), but it’s not needed. The sad truth is that modern students are put under a lot of pressure to be successful in school (this is measured by grades), as well as beyond school (this is often measured by money acquisition). Often times, this means that the road a student is passionate about is not always the road they are most likely to travel by. What I’ve learned recently is this: Success comes to those who work hard, no matter the field. Passion gives students the fuel to work hard, and there is no reason why passion cannot be the driving force behind success in the career world.

10. Dislikable characters do not automatically create a worthless book.
A lot of times, as readers, we zero in on characters — sometimes we love them, sometimes we hate them — and make them into either our imaginary best friends or absolute monsters. Either way, as I said before (see point 7), there is never a singular right interpretation. But, too often, this fictional relationship between reader and character causes us to construct an overarching opinion of the book as a whole. It is essential to remind students that the character isn’t the only influential aspect of a book — plot, thematic elements, dialogue, as well as the rest of the characters, all influence the book and make it what it is. There is a reason the author made the character dislikable. Basically, there is nothing wrong with disliking characters and their motives, but the importance of them in the novel should be taken into account before labeling the book as “not worth finishing” two chapters in.

Rachel Carey is a summer intern at Prestwick House. She is also a senior at the University of Delaware, where she studies English with a concentration in Creative Writing. During the school year, she is an active editor and writer for Caesura and The Main Street Journal, both of which are prominent literary magazines on campus, as well as Vice President of The Blue Pen Society writing club.