I finally began the Invisible Man unit last Tuesday, on February 4th. Because I wanted to explore the idea of transparency for my inquiry project, I was very conscious about how I wanted to convey the rationale behind this unit and the big ideas that would become the essential questions for the unit. Before beginning the novel, my CM wanted me to focus on a series of short stories and poems to introduce the students to the social and literary environment that preceded Ellison’s Invisible Man. The first day of the unit was centered in Paul Laurence Dunbar and two of his poems, “We Wear the Mask” and “When Malindy Sings.” I think “We Wear the Mask” was an important starting point, because every text we would read after, including the novel, would address similar themes of hiding one’s true self or masking one’s true emotions. While discussing both poems, I wanted to make sure that I kept returning to the unit’s overarching idea of how an individual’s identity is influenced by the society they live in.
Over the next few days we read Charles Chestnutt’s “The Doll” and Dorothy Parker’s “Big Blonde.” These discussions did not go as well as I’d hope because it was difficult to get the students to think deeply and critically about the stories and I think the engagement was low because many of them expressed that they just wanted to get to the novel. However, in my lesson plans, I tried to always circle back to the central idea of society’s influence on a person’s identity. The discussions on “Big Blonde” did begin to touch on how the main character’s physical appearance and gender contributed to her identity and how she acted. In the first period class, I asked if the main character’s need to hide her true self was related to any of the other texts we’ve read, hoping that someone would mention Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask,” however, one girl did say that it reminded her of Hamlet, and another student added 1984. Though they did not make the connections that I had in mind, I was excited that they were able to see the thematic relationships.
The next week, we discussed William Faulkner’s “Dry September” and Ted Poston’s “The Revolt of the Evil Fairies.” I also struggled with these discussions because, again, each story is dense and complex and the students only seemed to see what was on the surface. It was clear the a few students understood the deeper meanings of the texts, but were not making the connections. “The Revolt of the Evil Fairies” was the last short story we read before beginning the novel, and now over the weekend, the students will begin to read the first chapter.
With my first few lesson plans for this unit, I tried to at least plan for increased transparency. While the intention was there, I definitely struggled with the execution, though I think that was largely due to the complexity of the texts and not being able to fully discuss them within one class period. I also had difficulty pushing the students to think more critically about what was going on in each story. I do hope though, that as we begin to read Invisible Man, the conversations we’ve had will have provided an introduction to the level of depth of analysis that is important for discussing the novel.
Over the next few days we read Charles Chestnutt’s “The Doll” and Dorothy Parker’s “Big Blonde.” These discussions did not go as well as I’d hope because it was difficult to get the students to think deeply and critically about the stories and I think the engagement was low because many of them expressed that they just wanted to get to the novel. However, in my lesson plans, I tried to always circle back to the central idea of society’s influence on a person’s identity. The discussions on “Big Blonde” did begin to touch on how the main character’s physical appearance and gender contributed to her identity and how she acted. In the first period class, I asked if the main character’s need to hide her true self was related to any of the other texts we’ve read, hoping that someone would mention Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask,” however, one girl did say that it reminded her of Hamlet, and another student added 1984. Though they did not make the connections that I had in mind, I was excited that they were able to see the thematic relationships.
The next week, we discussed William Faulkner’s “Dry September” and Ted Poston’s “The Revolt of the Evil Fairies.” I also struggled with these discussions because, again, each story is dense and complex and the students only seemed to see what was on the surface. It was clear the a few students understood the deeper meanings of the texts, but were not making the connections. “The Revolt of the Evil Fairies” was the last short story we read before beginning the novel, and now over the weekend, the students will begin to read the first chapter.
With my first few lesson plans for this unit, I tried to at least plan for increased transparency. While the intention was there, I definitely struggled with the execution, though I think that was largely due to the complexity of the texts and not being able to fully discuss them within one class period. I also had difficulty pushing the students to think more critically about what was going on in each story. I do hope though, that as we begin to read Invisible Man, the conversations we’ve had will have provided an introduction to the level of depth of analysis that is important for discussing the novel.