Do More of That

 

 

Oh, we stepped into it yesterday with the turning of the page of Of Mice and Men and the word in the first sentence at the top of page 20. And that "stepping," as I so delicately call it, was no accident. We've taught this book many times. We think we know this book. We did that. No accident.

Full stop.

Learning stopped. Talking went on, class went on, the audio tape kept playing, but the white women and the black kids (so Braveanna told us) stopped thinking about anything else but the word on the page and the sound of it still hanging in the air.

"I understand," I said to B. when she waited after class to tell us The Truth We White Women Teachers Are Late To Learn. 

"No, you don't," she replied.

And I was schooled. Ashamed. Stricken. Enlightened. Energized. Curious. Ready to go at it again.

 

Hey Teachers, Hey, Ms. Fey! You all believe that there are a million ways to teach and a million ways to learn, right? That we are all sponges, some of us less absorbent than others, but still? 

Okay, with that in mind, you know the activities in class that your white kids excel at? And the black kids not so much? Don't do that.

You know the lessons and activities and discussions where your black kids thrive? THAT. Do more of that.

 

And I have ideas. I have so many ideas. That class was the Archetype in Action. Chapter One was our Honeymoon, with the kids laughing and responding and "getting it" when Lennie and George are in the Paradise by the River, the characters reminiscing about their escape from society, planning for their re-entry (money makes the world go around and so they can't stay by the river forever) and ruminating on Their Dream. 

Chapter Two is their re-entry, led by the Charon called Candy, into the Hades of Civilization. The rude awakening. The end of childhood. The instruction and incorporation into the fold and the fold's ideology. Notice that George, the more saavy white guy, repeats the slur, to ingratiate himself with Candy/Charon. Notice that Lennie, the innocent, does not. Notice the casual cruelty that Charon normalizes and naturalizes.

"He seems like a nice guy," said two of our non-black students.





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