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poetreeSince I have posted two rather long posts this week and don't want to overwhelm folks with reading at this point, I thought I would end this week with post encouraging discussion of an issue I came across in the news this week.
On Wednesday (March 28, 2012) the New York Times published this article on Young Adult fiction. The article focuses on the draws of Young Adult fiction for all ages. What caught my attention most was the comments, particularly this comment that specifically references poetry and concerns that the commenter had regarding youth and their ability to fully read poetry.
One of the draws of Young Adult literature is its pacing. As Lev Grossman, the author of the article, points out, Young Adult literature is designed "to grab your attention and hold it." Vera, a commenter from Montreal and a university professor, expressed the following concerns:
Is it true that students no longer have the patience to tease out the nuances of poetry and narrative? If this is true, are there ways we can address this issue?
I am not a professor or teacher and so my experience with high school and university aged youth is limited. I am familiar only with those teens who I know personally, and they are not a representative sample. I've been out of college nearly ten years now, and high school nearly fifteen. While I believe that current media styles and general culture (Americans in particular seem to have a desire for instant gratification and quick answers) do indicate that we tend to process information in shorter clips, does this truly mean that we've lost the ability to tease out details and nuances from what we read or watch? My gut instinct is actually to say no, that we haven't lost that ability entirely, but rather changed the way we process information. If you talk with younger folks about pop culture stuff, they can share nuanced understandings of things that I would have missed.
Is it the case of a generational gap, or just a culture gap (what's important to me might not be important to a younger person)? Is there a way to bridge this gap? Would shifting our approaches in teaching complex narrative and literature help?
For instance,jjhunter pointed out this article on using a fan friendly approach in teaching Introduction to Poetry in this last weekend's Sunday Picnic post. Would integrating broader media literacy and understanding skills help people understand poetry and other denser literary forms? I like to think that it would.
What do you think? How do you effectively teach poetry? This is a topic we can take up in even greater depth when we do our multi-hosted themed poetry week focusing on teaching poetry, but this is a great way to open the discussion and get people thinking about things they might want to post on that week.
On Wednesday (March 28, 2012) the New York Times published this article on Young Adult fiction. The article focuses on the draws of Young Adult fiction for all ages. What caught my attention most was the comments, particularly this comment that specifically references poetry and concerns that the commenter had regarding youth and their ability to fully read poetry.
One of the draws of Young Adult literature is its pacing. As Lev Grossman, the author of the article, points out, Young Adult literature is designed "to grab your attention and hold it." Vera, a commenter from Montreal and a university professor, expressed the following concerns:
The great American poet, Adrienne Rich, died on Tuesday. Although I consider her poetic language very accessible, few of my university students have the patience to tease out the nuances of poetry. It seems that we no longer expect anyone to grapple with the complexities of the written word. Reading nothing but fast-paced, plot-driven fiction may be fine for the well-read adult, but do we really want teachers who cannot teach students to slow down and read for how an author moves us through a narrative?
Is it true that students no longer have the patience to tease out the nuances of poetry and narrative? If this is true, are there ways we can address this issue?
I am not a professor or teacher and so my experience with high school and university aged youth is limited. I am familiar only with those teens who I know personally, and they are not a representative sample. I've been out of college nearly ten years now, and high school nearly fifteen. While I believe that current media styles and general culture (Americans in particular seem to have a desire for instant gratification and quick answers) do indicate that we tend to process information in shorter clips, does this truly mean that we've lost the ability to tease out details and nuances from what we read or watch? My gut instinct is actually to say no, that we haven't lost that ability entirely, but rather changed the way we process information. If you talk with younger folks about pop culture stuff, they can share nuanced understandings of things that I would have missed.
Is it the case of a generational gap, or just a culture gap (what's important to me might not be important to a younger person)? Is there a way to bridge this gap? Would shifting our approaches in teaching complex narrative and literature help?
For instance,
jjhunter pointed out this article on using a fan friendly approach in teaching Introduction to Poetry in this last weekend's Sunday Picnic post. Would integrating broader media literacy and understanding skills help people understand poetry and other denser literary forms? I like to think that it would. What do you think? How do you effectively teach poetry? This is a topic we can take up in even greater depth when we do our multi-hosted themed poetry week focusing on teaching poetry, but this is a great way to open the discussion and get people thinking about things they might want to post on that week.
