Prose and Context

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Kate Chopin’s The Awakening—“Dangerously Immersed in Ourselves” By Karen E.B. Elliott   I remember the first time I read this book.  It was back in college was I was earning my B.A. at a liberal arts, secular school.  I loved the novel.  It intrigued me.  Perhaps it was because I identified with the main character as much as I could at the time; however, I certainly wasn’t married yet.  I had not been pregnant nor had children to care for.  As a woman I was allowed to vote and express basically any opinion I had as a woman. But exactly like the main character, I was white;  I was raised with privilege in zipcodes my parents chose carefully in which to live in order to guarantee me of sustaining that privilege.  So in that case, I complete “got” Kate Chopin’s main character. I can recall my male professor’s interpretation of the ending (which I quickly came to learn is mostly everyone’s interpretation), and it just didn’t sit well with me. Even though I really liked him, I felt he was trying too hard—to please the women in the room—as if to say, “Hey ladies, I’m with you on this one.”  He, like many of my professors, whether male or female, were self-proclaimed feminists.  I, too, was a self-proclaimed feminist, but as a Christian.  And that’s a hard one to explain or justify to the secular cynic or faithful Christ-follower.   The interpretation of Edna’s apparent suicide (spoiler alert!) at the novel’s end appears to be read out of context in a frightening post-modern analysis of literature—where our feelings about the text (or any text) determine its meaning. This approach raises serious questions, and any self-proclaimed intellectual would raise his or her eyebrows when anyone looks at a text in this manner.  Interestingly enough, however, this is exactly what Edna does with her own life.  Although Chopin wrote this at the turn of the 20th century, her main character is incredibly post-modern, and more accurately, Edna is the post-modern middle to upper class American.  Whether Christian or secular, Edna represents the typical American who already has it all—everything’s going for her—but she wants more. Despite her education and wealth, she is trapped, but not by the very oppressive, anti-woman Louisiana society in which she lives—she is trapped by her inability to bow down to anyone or anything larger than herself.  It is evident as the reader travels through her consciousness that she has an acute sense of God and His presence; in fact, she admits that “the Holy Ghost [has] vouchsafed wisdom” within her youthful mind and soul, but she is seduced by her own desires to do whatever she wants, no matter who it hurts (13). Kate Chopin’s craft and technique is nothing short of inspiring. On the surface she appears to be a transcendentalist as Edna goes to the water and within nature to find herself—to find the answers of life—but she does no transcending of any kind; in fact, Chopin turns on her reader in not-so-subtle ways.  Although at first, nature seems to “speak to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace,” and yet, when Edna enters the ocean with the intent to transcend, Chopin reminds the reader that the sea is not Edna’s native element; she had “attempted all summer to learn to swim. She had received instructions from both the men and women; in some instances even the children…A certain ungovernable dread hung about her when in the water, unless there was a hand nearby that might reach out and reassure her” (13; 27).   Chopin furthers the futility of Edna’s efforts with her strong description of the ocean, and she intentionally recycles phrases—reuses them—particularly at the novel’s end so that her reader will be reminded of what’s really happening to her character.  Like the natural elements, Chopin seduces her reader and invites them to look at nature’s veneer.  She describes the sea as swelling “lazily in broad billows,

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Transcript unavailable for this episode. Danah Hashem's Edutopia article on the single point rubric can be accessed here.

Cultivating Character in the Classroom. My name is Renée LaRoche.  I am currently teaching Academic English at Lexington Christian Academy.  I graduated from LCA in 1992 and it’s wonderful to be back home. For the past fifteen years, I’ve taught in public charter, traditional public, and private schools.  I’ve had 3rd, 4th, 7th, and 8th grade classrooms independently, and when my children were young, I substituted for students in Pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade. Regardless of what grade, setting, or role I have found myself, I’ve noticed how important it is for me to cultivate character in my classroom.  It is with that energy and passion that I find myself sharing with you today. Wherever you are, it is my hope that you’ll be able to take whatever works for you and leave the rest. Whether you’re a teacher, a colleague,  friend, family member, or if somehow you just happened to find this podcast.. I hope that it speaks to you in some way. Before I begin, so that you have some background understanding, I am currently teaching seven students who are enrolled in our Academic English and Cultural Immersion Program here at LCA,  Each of them are in eighth grade and are in their first or second year here in The States. A main focus of our program is to “develop fluency in English before moving on to Upper School.” My students take Academic English, American Studies, STEM, Arts, Music, and Physical Education.  The goal is to prepare them for success in an English-speaking college preparatory school. LCA is focused on cultivating one’s heart, mind, body, and soul.  The first unit of each school-year for me, in my classroom, concentrates on identifying, supporting, and communicating just that. I begin my year by ensuring that my classroom is designed for an optimal learning environment  I know that this might mean different things to each person who hears this… For some, it might mean that a classroom library includes all genres. To others, it might mean that flexible seating is available. Whatever systems or physical environments feel right to you, I support that.  I, personally, love color, comfort, and order. Therefore, my classrooms have always included brightness, organization, and flexible seating options. A tool that I’ve used to create sacred learning spaces for me is the book, “Creating the Peaceable Classroom” by Sandy Bothmer. Even if you’re not into Feng Shui or don’t find value in integrating music or movement into your daily routine, as a teacher. I think that we can all agree upon  the importance of setting a serene environment. I perceive that it’s a goal for all educators! :) I feel confident that you might find some strategies or advice that could yield amazing results, wherever you find yourself. After initial icebreaker activities are over, my students’ first academic creation is to write I AM poems in where they share who they are and who they wish to be with their class.  The website, “Read/Write/Think” has fantastic exemplars, which I’ve used over the years. That being said, being that this type of activity is so common for “back to school” or “get to know you” activities, a simple Google search would yield similar templates.   In the first week of school, after the routines are reviewed, I find that the most impactful area of focus is on character.  Having that as a baseline is truly foundational. Within a week of getting to know my students, I give them a list of 143 Character Trait Vocabulary Words.  If you teach, you might revise this list, according to your students. Being that my students are English Language Learners, when they receive this list, it’s overwhelming as their vocabulary is several grade levels behind native English Language students’.  I use Marzano’s six-step process to learn vocabulary as I have found that it promotes better retention and application. Therefore, I provide a description, explanation, or example for each of the words,

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Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind—“A Good Woman is Hard to Find” By Karen E. B. Elliott, English Department Faculty February 26, 2019   Margaret Mitchell was once quoted as saying that “in a time of weakness, I wrote a novel.” Well, if writing one of the most read, translated, and published novels in the world was a weakness, I am sorry that she died so young that we’d never get to see her strengths. I decided to teach this novel a few years ago, and without a doubt, for most of my students, whether male or female, black or white, it’s their favorite. There are few novels whose characterization is so rich, even for the minor characters. At first, however, many of my students struggle—the novel is distinctly Southern—and for most of my beloved Northern, New England, so-called Progressive Massachusetts types, Mitchell dispels a lot of myths. She openly condemns Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and she attacks a couple of women from Maine in one particular scene (where they make racist remarks to Uncle Peter) that will make you want to change those coastal vacation plans. Mitchell shows that racism is not just a Southern problem, nor is it still. It’s a Northern one.  And according to Mitchell, what makes the Northerners far worse than the Southerners is that behind their supposed intellect, their apparent logic, and progressive politics, you’ve got a region of hypocrites who wear anti-slavery superhero capes, but what they’re really after is money, profit, political support, and all for the building of a new economy based on the rise of industrialization. The heart of the matter is accurately expressed by the famous Rhett Butler who not only predicts the war’s outcome, but also accurately pegs (and despises) the root of most issues—it’s hypocrisy.  He says to Scarlett, “It’s only hypocrites like you, my dear lady, just as black at heart but trying to hide it, who become enraged when called by their right names” (Mitchell 223).  This definitely applies to all of us, as the American way is to wear your best façade to church, work, school, or on your college application. As Christians, then, it is easy to identify with Scarlett, despite what we feel for or about her. She does not stand for any cause which will actually cost her anything.  She is truly ambivalent—we are attracted to her because we support her ability to survive and beat the odds, to play the world at their own game and seemingly win, but we are repulsed by some of her choices and what drives her to make them.  I have found that characters my students struggle with the most are the ones we can most identify with. She is, as Rhett declared, a hypocrite.  She feigns righteousness when she needs to get something, and her true nature arises when she is cornered like a cat.  She can be vicious.  And at the heart of it all, she doesn’t really care that much about what other people think—only if it means that it exempts her from the best parties.  She covets another woman’s husband; she marries her sister’s fiancé, but she loves her home and will do anything to save it, even if it means offering herself physically.  “I won’t let the Yankees [the world] lick [or take advantage of] me” she continually says, and don’t we all feel this way? She lives in a world that clearly doesn’t respect women—certainly does not acknowledge their intellect—and she knows that the world revolves around money, so she will do anything to get it, and all the time she rationalizes this acquisition.  She does believe in God, but she does not trust that He has her best interests in mind; in fact, she doesn’t believe that anyone does.  In many ways, she is the quintessential American woman, which is not flattering. Mitchell, however, does not allow her reader to laud her main character or rationalize her choices, much like we Christians like to do.  Scarlett is contrasted by Melanie Hamilton Wilkes, who Rhett claims (and makes no other claim like it about any other woman i...

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