Friday, November 2, 2007

Thinking Inside a Pumpkin



As you can see, the Mapping the Territory of Your Text Project was a success!

OK, maybe the picture of a funky looking pumpkin with random objects attached isn't obvious proof at first glance, but trust me it was a success. (I still have a few presentations to go on Monday, but the early results are exciting--as my bold claim indicates.) While this picture doesn't do their work justice, it does give you an indication of the complexity of their thinking. These students explored the issues raised by their text, Feed, in discussing how to create this "map" and also discussed what symbols to use in heated brainstorming/debate sessions. Several of the members of this group tend to be quite and reserved in class, but were animated and forceful during their planning discussions. The creativity they displayed, as well as the investment in this project, was impressive and almost unparalleled in my history of conducting book clubs.

It may appear that the pumpkin was convenient simply because it is Halloween season (other students raised this challenge during the presentation), yet these students used the pumpkin for a specific reason. It was meant to represent the world of and the heads of the characters in the book. The world of the novel is polluted to the point of having orange oceans, so the flesh of the pumpkin and the nuclear waste symbol carved in the pumpkin are both significant. Inside the pumpkin is a remote control to signify that both individuals and the world of the novel are controlled by the outside influence of the "feed." I could go on and on explaining the symbols they used on their map (most symbols are layered in their meaning and they went well beyond the suggested 8-10 icons on the assignment sheet), but I won't...

I will say that I am excited by this project for several reasons:

1. The pumpkin group clearly was able to think "outside the box," but other groups were also able to expand/stretch their thinking through this process. Previous assignments did not seem to allow this to happen quite so easily or so consistently.

2. Students for the first time have been able to articulate more about how and why they made a connection or didn't make a connection with a text. (Interesting note: at times groups claim they didn't connect, but their statements indicate that they did have a link. Yet another idea to explore!)

3. The presentations on this project seemed to be more of an invitation to the audience to consider exploring the other texts because the groups gave a much more thorough overview of not only the events of the novel, but also the issues raised by the novel than they have with previous assignments.

I am looking forward to digesting more about this process and seeing what other insights spring from the pumpkin.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Spectacular! What I love most about this is the confirmation that creating art really IS a higher level cognitive function. And I use the term "art" carefully. Not all images are art, but this piece in particular is absolutely art because of the focused intent behind every aspect of the work.

How wonderful that these students were able to embrace the idea of a "map" without being locked into the literal interpretation. This really IS a true example of integrating art into Language Arts!

Bravo!

Cindy O-A said...

Wow. I mean, WOW. When you asked if I'd read your blog, I had no idea the pumpkin in the corner of your classroom was an actual map! This should definitely be part of our NCTE presentation....I'm guessing that these kids way above and beyond other Feed presenters we've seen recently?

As usual, some book clubs outshone others in their final presentations, but overall, I thought the map project was a success, though I think we'll need to streamline it somewhat for next semester. I always find it interesting that students seem to still be interpreting/learning about the text as they are presenting and answering questions posed by us and other students, but for the first time I've starting to think about this process as indirect scaffolding.

What do you think?