Letting Go
Today students came to class having read an essay called “The Box Man” by Barbara Lazear Ascher. Ascher explores concepts of loneliness and solitude through anecdotes about a homeless man who sets up boxes like furniture and two women whose habits reveal a certain emptiness. Ascher theorizes that the homeless man has a better handle on the human condition than the two women, who have homes.
I asked students to do three fast freewrites exploring definitions of loneliness, solitude, and homelessness. Then I asked students to take some time finding passages in the essay that revealed Ascher’s particular slant on these concepts.
Finally, I had one half of the students form a smaller circle within the larger circle. I told that small circle of students to discuss what Ascher was trying to get readers to see, feel, and think. I wanted them to decipher the essay without my input. I sat and took notes.
My second class has only 11 students, so I had them do the same thing, only as one group.
It took everything I had to keep my mouth shut and let them muddle through. I am glad I did. They succeeded in deciphering the essay. There were silences. When some of them tried to make eye contact with me, I said, “Talk to each other, not to me.”
I realized that I like to control discussions, and when students go off on what seems like “the wrong track,” I try to bring them back. Today, I just watched and listened. They did not derail. And I think they learned something.
I certainly did.
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I’ve done this exercise with students, too, Jan. The beauty of it is that it works whether you’re a teacher who likes “to control discussions” or one, like me, who’s tentative about guiding too much so often doesn’t say enough. No matter what kind of teacher, this gives students more agency. And they always rise to the occasion.
Jane Kokernak Feb 2, 07:50