Not groovin'

Techno Teaching: What Educators Can Learn from DJs at MACUL 2015 was an interesting presentation. And thought provoking.

Presenter Gary Abud described the work of the DJ as someone with a number of complex skills managing many different things at once, responding successful in the moment to contingencies. A DJ creates a compelling environment for clubbers. The DJ can get clubber to dance, put their hands up... you name it. The analogy with teachers is obvious, and a very good one.

While compelling, however, it also has a less attractive side.

The subtext, as I see it, is about creating the “wow” lesson: a flashy, hypnotic, and mesmerizing performance. In this scenario the DJ-teacher alone has agency. The clubbers-students can only respond, only go where they are led. There is only one response.

I think I'd rather have some co-creation. Some back and forth. This DJ stuff shuts down all spontaneity and responsiveness.

And then there's the beat, the DJ beat Abud said was so great... that it's all about how a DJ appropriates another DJ's beat, modifying it... (way too PoMo for me!) Don't tell me there's a person behind it--a machine is the soul of that "beat." In other words, no soul. Why do you Gen Y people and millennials think there's a grove there? There ain't no groove there. This is a groove: Bernard Purdie putsdown a groove on “Home at Last.” 

Or this groove? Nuff said.

The Audacity of Holden

I plan to use Audacity for a unit centered on Catcher in the Rye for sophomore English. My essential questions probe the sympathy/antipathy dichotomy in human interactions. Why do we like some people and dislike others? I came to this after hearing from my mentor that students of late do not identify with Holden, but rather see him as a spoiled rich kid. (He is, but that's not the point.) By having students examine their reactions to Holden and to people in their own lives, I hope to encourage reflection on what sort of things make us like or dislike someone else.

The unit is still a work in progress, but poetry will be a substantial component. Many of the secondary texts will be poems that address the themes and ideas of the unit. I would also like to have a component involving written self-expression, preferably poetry. This may be nothing much beyond a biopoem. I will try, however, to give students the chance to refine and shape their poem—and their understanding of themselves—over the course of the unit, as their (self) understanding progresses. The specific role for Audacity is also a little vague at this time. One possible application could be an audio log or diary recording changes in their poems read aloud over the course of the unit. It could also include commentary or reflections. It might also be a way for students to develop themselves as readers aloud with the added attraction of being able to spice up their readings of the poems they choose with music and commentary.

If you have any ideas about Catcher in the Rye, teaching poetry, what poems might fit with the themes of Catcher, or using Audacity in this context, please share them!