Presentation-Article

Geometric Literature from Ester La Torre

--------------------------------------------------------

 Article published on HLT magazine Year 12; Issue 6; December 2010, ISSN 1755-9715
http://www.hltmag.co.uk/dec10/sart08.htm

Geometrical Literature
Esterina La Torre, Italy

 Introduction

As teachers, when teaching literature, we often complain about state standards content that needs to be mastered. In Italian secondary state schools, for example, students should know a certain amount of literary and historical periods, a number of authors, certain critical concepts or texts, not forgetting the skills to analyze a text and comment on it.  Anyway, these content-based standards give the teachers various troubles, first they limit teachers’ autonomy and second they tend to standardize the curriculum using an old transmission model of instruction in which teachers explain and impart lessons and then test for content knowledge. What can we change? So far we have tried to modify our approach in many ways, from the old traditional literary-historical-social transmission of content we moved to the textual  approach, from literary units we shifted to modular themes but, as teachers, we all know we need to do more and different things to attract and interest students especially when we teach literature.

Background

 Teaching literature can be really challenging, through literature you can teach everything: grammar, listening, comprehension, writing, figurative language, literary theory but, in devising tasks, we need to recognize differences in the kind of “intelligences” (Gardner, 1993- 2000) students bring to our class.   English lessons, especially those connected to literature may focus primarily on linguistic intelligences and sometimes on logical intelligence, how can we engage students who have different styles? If it is important to consider more kinds of “intelligences”, in planning tasks we need to organize activities involving all types of “intelligences.”   An intriguing teaching approach to a foreign language literature could be the one that takes into consideration not only Linguistic Intelligence, or the ability to manipulate language to express oneself and the ability to use language as a mean to remember information, but also Visual/Spatial Intelligence, that gives students the ability to create mental images and Logical-Mathematical Intelligence, i.e. the ability to detect patterns, reason deductively and think logically.

We could try to use a new approach to literature that could be defined “geometrical”. When we talk, we normally use shapes, with idioms or describing things, places and also people, take for example faces or parts of the body. In a simple activity, often unconscious, like doodling, we make use of shapes, while waiting or listening, when our minds are not too concentrate we draw small circles, triangles, squares and, if analyzed, all of them mean something, the regular repetition of the same shape means an organized and efficient mind;

They all have a specificity: a circle means infinite, the eternal whole, the sun,  but also connection, community, wholeness, endurance, movement, safety, perfection, if referred to the feminine: warmth, comfort, sensuality, and love. A rectangle or a square symbolize the earth or ground but also order, logic, containment, security. A triangle means energy, power, balance, law, science, religion, if referred to the masculine: strength, aggression, and dynamic movement.

Authors often use shapes: the triangle, the line, the angle, the circle, they can all become metaphors to develop their descriptions of characters and events.  A straight line is usually the symbol of something positive, acceptable: a right way, a right life or goodness and rectitude, while a crooked line symbolizes a deviation or, anyway, something negative. A circle means the perfection, the cycle, the passage of time, the voyage, the leaving and the returning in a same place the repetition of actions. We all know they are metaphors but we can recognize their value and interpret them quite easily because they are universal metaphors, shapes can be interpreted by readers from all cultures and times, and are not limited to specific peoples and regions thanks to their universality.

Examples

When shapes and literature meet, the result can be really interesting and motivating. Let's see some examples in the use of circular metaphors: William Wordsworth used the circle metaphor in his ode: “Intimations of Mortality.”

“Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting
The soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar”

According to Wordsworth, the human soul rises and sets like the sun: it comes from God, and returns at the end of its earthly “life.” Then, it is born once again, in a continuous circular cycle of rising and setting from life to death to life again.

Coleridge used the same circular metaphorical route for his ballad “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” where we find the leaving from a harbor, the voyage and the return in a circular sense, as Michael Burke notes, the poem reveals "the Romantic myth of circular transcending journey”. 

It is an interesting  vision of this wonderful ballad  but how can we help our students “to see” shapes in literature? The answer is simple, you need to use shapes in your explanations and demonstrations, you can draw them on the board you can give handouts, you can start with online activities such as a plot diagram to be completed  just to lead students toward the idea and relation between a story and a geometric shape http://readwritethink.org/materials/circle-plot/

The same thing can be obtained  with a readymade Graphic Organizer

http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson827/Circle-blank.pdf

But apart from these concepts we can deduce from the study of texts and poems, which ones are the activities we can use to develop a literary geometrical curriculum?

We can create poems such as Diamond poems, we present an example and after a first reading we observe the title and the grammatical parts of the composition:

War
by Saud

War
Sad, destructive
Killing, injuring, destroying
A thing that kills life.
Terminator

Line 1: War = 1 NOUN-A
Line 2: Sad, destructive = 2 related ADJECTIVES
Line 3: Killing, injuring, destroying = 3 descriptive GERUNDS (verb + -ing)
Line 4: A thing that kills life. = 1 complete, related SENTENCE
Line 5: Terminator = 1 NOUN-B (a synonym of NOUN-A)

Then we give the task:

After the identification of the structure and form of the poem, establish the relationship between the first and last line then create a Diamond poem (some titles could be: Love-Life-Youth-School-Friendship).

Title of Poem
Author's Name

_________________
_____________, ___________
_______________, ______________, _______________
____________________________________________________.
__________________

Of course, lots of these activities can be made online, for the lucky teachers who have an online access this is the site where to find the Diamond poem:

http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/diamante/l

Another activity  is “Dancing On A Pyramid” (The original title of this activity was “ Story Pyramid“ created by Donna Calder, Bullhead City Intermediate School, Bullhead City, AZ.)

I adapted it for the study of Ballads in English literature; the pyramid helps students to understand characters and situations by organizing the whole story on different levels.  Students will be able: to read and understand a ballad and to state the story problem.     

The main task for the students is to develop these points:

1.    Write the name of the main character of the ballad

2.    Two adjectives describing the main character

3.    Three words describing the setting

4.    Four words stating the story problem

5.    Five words describing the development of the story

6.    Six words describing other characters (or) events

7.    Seven words describing the ending

1. ____

2. ____ ____

3. ___ ____ ____

4. ___ ___ ____ ____

5. ____ ____ ____ ____ ____

6. ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____

7. ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____

A similar activity, always geometrical style, could be “Five elements of a story” to be found on http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/FiveElements.pdf

Using templates and G.O.

Templates and Graphic Organizers are also great tools to help us to develop a “geometrical” approach; on the net you find a great variety of them, they can be used when presenting a poem, a text, an extract, when introducing a new author or a literary period.  They create a different atmosphere in class, first because students seem really keen on using them, second the task appears lighter and third all types of intelligences can be satisfied, moreover they help students to move towards a certain verbal autonomy, I have always found negative the tendency my students had to learn content by heart and the use of key-words in Graphic Organizers, instead of old style summaries, has helped the students to overcome this bad habit. But where can you find G.Os? Apart the amount of G.Os you can find on internet, there is the possibility to create your own on line or on your PC, I created very simple ones using Word to help students to study using only key words and developing a spoken autonomy when they needed to be orally tested or to revise topics for their exams. One of my first organizers was prepared for the study of the essential elements in the life and works of an author: http://wwwnew.splinder.com/mediablog/estest/media/21853281

We can use shapes to introduce a poem and analyze it, an excellent  resource on internet, presenting all the elements of a poem, divided in small rectangles, each containing questions to be answered ( a complete guided analysis) is on the site of the Department of Education of Georgia USA, this is the link:  http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/DMGetDocument.aspx/Grade%209%20-%20Poetry%20Unit%20-%20Poetry%20Analysis%20Graphic%20Organizer%20Task.pdf?p=6CC6799F8C1371F6C8F6D3B2C917CE78B237D1F66FB5CD14B59DCD1C61437825&Type=D

When explaining a literary period we often struggle to let students understand the interrelations among history, society and literature, it can be helpful to use this G.O. divided in three different parts (Historical- Social-Literary) so that students can have a clear vision of the events and  the features connected to the literary production of the time.

http://wwwnew.splinder.com/mediablog/estest/media/21868883

For the analysis of stories/tales there is a rich choice of G.O.s starting from very simple ones like the ones with the 5 Wh questions, to organizers like this:

http://www.aisr.cistron.nl/online_curriculum/holland_online/resources/story_map.jpg

or more complex like this:  http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/graphic-organizers/story-harder.pdf .

Anyway when you need a G.O. and you don’t want to lose precious time, the best place to go and find a readymade one, with a range to select, is:

http://www.educationoasis.com/curriculum/graphic_organizers.htm on this site you’ll get 17 G.O.s related to “Character and Story” but also “Compare and Contrast” (6 organizers),” Sequence, Cycle, Timeline, and Chain of Events” (7 organizers) and “Cause and Effect” (11 organizers). Another interesting site where there is a rich choice of G.O.s is http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/

Internet offers a great variety of readymade G.O.s but we can also work directly online creating and shaping knowledge, a useful site where to use shapes saving them end embedding them on blogs or sites is http://classtools.net/  on this site you can create a Diamond  http://classtools.net/education-games-php/diamond9/  a Venn diagram with two or three circles http://classtools.net/education-games-php/venn_intro/ a Target, an oval shape to be filled http://classtools.net/education-games-php/target/ an accelerated learning cycle   http://classtools.net/education-games-php/cycle/

a timeline http://classtools.net/education-games-php/timeline/  (here are some examples created by my students http://5liceo.splinder.com/tag/maps)

Conclusions 

Using geometry while teaching literature is, perhaps, not a new concept, anyway shapes and G.O.s are always useful when used as a review or follow up exercise. Geometry can help “to shape” our teaching to meet the needs of students that thanks to a simple organizer made up of squares, triangles, circles, learn how to identify important elements of an idea, clarify their thoughts and identify the various parts of a concept, moreover, they learn to know how to outline a sequence of events in chronological order or succeed in the identification of the main elements of a story. A dedicated teacher tries to find useful strategies based on students’ interests, by using shapes he/she makes literature new and challenging, a boring task can be easily transformed in a sort of game; using shapes is also a way to organize minds and work, very often they are so simple and linear one can easily draw them on the board avoiding photocopies. In this way it is also possible to adapt and personalize them. Every teacher can create his/her own G.O. to enhance students’ interest and participation; very often students like to work on  their own G.O.s and by letting them doing it we are able to discover they have got a creativity without limits.

 References / Webliography

Gardner, Howard, 1983, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York

Liungman, Carl G., 1991, Dictionary of Symbols (New York: W.W. Norton & Company,)

Paran, Amos, 2008. The role of literature in instructed foreign language learning and teaching: An evidence-based survey.

Paxton Hood, Edwin,1856,  William Wordsworth a biography. Dublin, Hodges and Smith.

Coleridge, S.T., 1992 The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and other poems. Dover Publications.

Basic Symbology: Geometric Shapes http://www.suestudios.com/geometricshapes.htm

Georgia Department of Education: http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/sup.aspx

Diamante poem:  http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/student_material.asp?id=53

Story map:  http://www.aisr.cistron.nl/online_curriculum/holland_online/resources/story_map.jpg 
http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/graphic-organizers/story-harder.pdf

Online tools:  http://classtools.net/

Esterina La Torre is an EFL in a secondary school in Italy and member of the national committee of TESOL Italy. Current interests are: NLP and teaching, learning objects, online learning, and research, creation of online environments. She has written some  articles on Tesol  Italy Newsletter and online magazines, enjoys experimenting and working with new technologies and online tools for educators. E-mail: estest7@gmail.com