Interpreting Texts, Making Meaning: Starting Small

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 13.02.06

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Teaching and Learning Objectives
  2. Introduction
  3. Rationale
  4. Text Selection, Unit Objectives and Anticipated Outcomes
  5. Interpreting The Urban Landscape
  6. Teaching Methods
  7. Activities
  8. Bibliography
  9. Appendix 1
  10. Appendix 2
  11. Notes

Interpreting the Urban Landscape

Elizabeth M. Miller

Published September 2013

Tools for this Unit:

Teaching and Learning Objectives

The narrative and subsequent lesson plans provide teachers with: 1) an understanding of what one might mean when she says "interpretation", 2) a guide for teaching students to interpret texts, even complex ones, 3) culturally-relevant content focused on location and identity rather than on arbitrary anthologized text choices. By the end of the unit, students will become adept at literary criticism in two modes (verbally and in writing) and will have tried their own hands at interpreting the world around them via poetry.

Carl Sandburg, author of the iconic poem "Chicago," described the place where I now live and teach as the "City of the Big Shoulders."(1) This description—especially the nickname—is both a part of the way Chicagoans see Chicago and has become a part of the way others view the city: it is capable of holding up an incredibly diverse and massive population. Sandburg's depiction of the city throughout the rest of the poem is fairly objective (highlighting both positive and negative aspects of the city), but others—such as Chicago rapper King Louie—refer to it in largely negative terms, using the moniker "Chiraq,"(2) which is a portmanteau that compares violence-stricken Chicago to the war-torn nation of Iraq. These images are a part of a local dialogue of how people interpret the city in which they live. They tap into a larger experience of urban life, which ranges from the sophisticated to the gritty.

I would be remiss if I did not mention that I am writing this unit just days after the verdict in a now-infamous court case has been released: George Zimmerman of Sanford, Florida (a small city in the Orlando metropolitan area), has been found not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the fatal shooting of seventeen year-old Trayvon Martin. Yale National Seminar Leader Professor Joseph Roach said in a lecture on July 16, 2013 that Martin represented a threatened population(3)—that is, urban youth (especially youth of color) threaten the larger social order and are often relegated to a separate space. That separate space is one I hope to illuminate in this unit and discuss its position in relation to other elements of what Roach referred to as the "human landscape of the city."(4) I want my students—many of whom are youth of color—to feel as if their voices and experiences are valued. I want their cities to—borrowing the language of another YNI National Seminar—become visible.

Adolescence is a time of wonder, and in that stage of perpetual questioning and inquiry, students often ponder some of the same questions: Who am I and what is this world around me? It's developmentally appropriate for students to begin with the self and work out to make meaning out of the world. Hermeneutics—that is, the art and science of interpretation—is not necessarily something a high school teacher might want to offer up as an introductory vocabulary word, but it does make for an interesting jumping off point in designing lessons geared toward guiding students to more sophisticated, college-ready thinking.

This unit integrates Common Core-aligned reading, writing, and discussion skills. Students will explore the idea of what it means to be a part of an urban landscape vis-à-vis others' depictions of cities and urban life. They will also become experienced practitioners of hermeneutics as they interrogate others' depictions of urban life and, in turn, offer up their own; they will become literary critics and poets at the same time.

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