With the year coming to an end, I thought it would be interesting to post a favorite lesson taught during our time in class.
I will begin by saying that my favorite lesson involved poetry. Out of my many years of school, this is the first time I have enjoyed a poetry unit. Prior to beginning the unit senior year, I was dreading reading poetry because I felt it was difficult as well as boring. I found each poetry lesson in years past to be the same; the teacher would read several poems involving nature and then each student was required to write his own piece. However, the first poem, a Taylor Mali piece, read senior year caught my attention. I was able to understand Mali’s work. The unit also allowed me to reflect on the attributes of my life. Furthermore, my favorite poem of the unit was Robert Frost’s, Mending Wall. I loved the lesson taught in this work. One should ask the question, “Why?” and not rely on received wisdom. Throughout our time in Advanced Placement English I felt I was able to apply the lessons of poetry most to my own life.
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I can't really bring to mind a specific favorite lesson, but I have to strongly agree with Heather. I was NOT looking forward to the poetry unit at all, I've always been against poetry. I'll confess. I thought it was just a useless way to try to make something more complicated than to just write it out. But, thank goodness, I have a greater appreciation for poetry now...though that really wasn't a stretch since I basically had no respect for it earlier. I would treat poems like song lyrics, look for what I liked best and forget the rest. But that's not how poetry works really, is it. It's sound and rhythm, content, emotion, experience, senses, description...poetry packs a punch.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Usually poetry units seem very narrow minded to me. But this year was different as we were taught that poetry represents deeper meanings. I found that usually I do not fully understand the poem and all its contents until I read it more than once and start to disect it after the first go at reading it. I did like how we were able to choose which poems we wanted to pick for our essay, that way our growth in poetry was self-motivated. I thought it was interesting that a lot of us picked similar poems, but the way we applied it to our experiences was completely different even if what we thought the poem meant was the same. By sharing a visual and one of our poems, the assignment did not only call for a deeper understanding of poetry itself, but our classmates and the perceptions of how others view the world. Overall it was a great learning experience and although I dreaded the assignment at first, to be honest, as I was working on it I found it compelling how a simple poem can produce such a wide variety of experiences and emotions.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite lessons were in the short stories section of the class. Becuase I'm a huge fan of writing and I've always enjoyed reading short stories, this was the secition that interested me the most. Besides, I read more of the short stories than the actual book assignments (I'm just being honest). I felt that the short stories we read were very different from each other and I liked how we got different understandings and interpretations of the overall stories depending on the person speaking from the classroom. I think students will enjoy this a lot next year so please don't consider replacing it with something new.
ReplyDeleteI have never been one to like poetry...at all. but this year i loved that section. Mr. Bruno made me cry with Taylor Mali's poem and through the course i discovered that there is actually poetry that i enjoy. i liked doing the project too because it made me look for poetry that i can relate to. i learned that poems can teach you life lessons and not all of them are just words that were put together because it sounded pretty.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I enjoyed the short story unit most. I know it was a, 'scuse me, Mr. Bruno, buttload of reading, but I liked it most out of the whole year. I love shorts, and it was nice to analyze them so much. And not to mention most of the selections were nice reads, while, granted, some were confusing as all get out. My favorite short story was "The Lottery". It was effing amazing. Though the ending was nothing I expected, I loved it. And what better thing to get out of a story than a result you were never expecting, kind of like the AP Class. Hmmm... "Is it? Is it REALLY?!?!?!
ReplyDeleteYeah, the poetry unit was amazing. I can read poetry on my own now and actually understand it. And not just the "story" the poem tells, but the actual *meaning*. I liked the ethics and morality unit, and the identity/community unit from TFA and C&P. Actually i think the identity thing was my favorite. Oh wait, no, I /REALLY/ liked the semantics unit. I think that's my favorite. NOTHING MEANS ANYTHING BECAUSE THE WORLD IS A TURTLE! yes, that is definitely my favorite unit.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite lesson was the poetry lesson. Trust me; I hated it at first "15-20 pages! What is this guy’s problem" yeah, that was my reaction. Then I noticed that this assignment (instead on being a punishment on all seniors who dared to cross paths with Mr. Bruno and AP classes) this was a great learning experience and also a great accomplishment. I felt extremely accomplished and confident after I finished doing that paper, not just because I knew what I was writing but because I wrote a REAL paper. (I should have asked those DE students to grade it). The other thing that I liked about this assignment was that after all that hard work we got to share our papers to the class. Sharing helped me know more about the people in the class. This paper also helped me identify with and learn about the poems that I thought were too confusing to pick or that I felt that not to pick because I thought it would be “stupid”. That assignment permanently changed me (In a good way.) This assignment also change my trust in the class because now that I know more that I did earlier in the year about everyone It makes it easier to answer questions and talk in class.
ReplyDeleteSo thank you Mr. Bruno
I agree with Heather. The research paper was my least favorite lesson. It was a lengthy assignment and I do not feel that the length added to my knowledge of the book.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite lesson was definitely on ethics and our personal philosophy. It gave me a chance to actually slow down and pinpoint what I believed in, and what I could dismiss after all these years of observation.
ReplyDeleteOther than that, I would have loved to hear more people talk about this subject. As in to present. I find it as one of the many joys about learning about someone else's view on the same subject, such as religion and whatnot.
Not to jump on the bandwagon, but I really was surprised to love the poetry unit. I especially loved the freedom we had in the project. I loved picking our own poems to analyze and then relating their attraction to our lives. The introspection helped me understand myself better, so not only did I learn a great deal about poetry, but about myself as well. A pretty nifty deal if you ask me. Also, it was really fun to see the creative projects people presented!
ReplyDeleteI am going to jump the bandwagon because it's true, I loved the poetry unit. It not only opened my eyes to what poetry is, and what it could or could not mean, but it made me want to write poetry! It may be generic in saying that it helped me express myself, but it did and helped me paint a picture of experience without a paint brush.
ReplyDeleteI also believe the poetry unit was the most impacting. It vindicated every life experience, allowing me to feel what I feel without feeling inadequate. I know that sometimes we overreact and get upset over the tinest things, but everything holds an important stake in our lives. The poetry unit also made it clear that poetry is much more complex than write ryhmes and doesn't have to be the most complex realism; but it does take thought, and practice and understanding.
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