Last week I had the privilege of observing a wonderful teacher
who was teaching her 9th grade English class. Her class consisted of nine students whose
goal is to enter the general education English class next semester. According to the seasoned teacher, who has unending
patience and a Masters degree in Special Education, about half of these
students are expected to advance and the rest will stay in her class for the
remainder of the school year.
The class has been reading the novel The Lord of the Flies. Surveying
the room at the start of class, I noticed that all but two of the
students were daydreaming and looking around the room sleepily. As soon as the teacher asked her students to
get their books out however, the mood in the room changed instantly. There was an excitement in the student’s
faces, as they sat up straighter and gave their teacher their full and
undivided attention. The teacher then
facilitated a group discussion which focused on clarifying some of the more
difficult details in the story.
One such detail was the concept of a “dark heart.” In the novel, one of the characters has a
dark heart which affects the characters actions and motivations. The students seemed to struggle with this
concept, thinking that perhaps the dark heart meant a physically darker or “sicker”
heart than normal. After a lengthy
discussion on the topic produced only more confusion for the students and a bit
of noticeable frustration from the teacher, to my surprise, the teacher went to
her computer and pulled up a Star Wars clip.
The clip was short and featured Yoda talking about this exact concept. The students instantly reacted to the movie
in a positive way. I was stunned. I grew up on Star Wars movies and I never
would have thought to use them to allow students to make deeper connections in their
learning. The students watched the short
video clip while their teacher and myself watched them with anxious hope. When the clip was over, the teacher asked
again about the meaning of a “dark heart.”
This time around, all nine of the students raised their hands to share
their own interpretation. This lead to a
very moving whole class discussion, in which students opened up and shared
personal experiences of people in their lives (and sometimes themselves) who
have exhibited a dark heart at one time or another.
It was clear to me from their whole class discussion
regarding this topic and several of the main themes of the book, that these students
were highly engrossed in this story and have found ways to personally connect
to the strong emotions that run like a current throughout the text. The class session ended with the students
still wanting to share more of their ideas and feelings about fear, hope, and
having a dark heart. The teacher told me
after they were dismissed that she hadn’t anticipated that they would struggle
with that concept. She said the Star
Wars clip was a last second idea. Last
second idea or not, it was a great way for her students to understand a
challenging concept by relating it to images and ideas that students are
already familiar with. I think it was genius.
~ Christy
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