I love big questions, Dana! Those are the ones worth pondering, sometimes for years even.
Right now I'm still running through my head how much readers (or viewers or listeners) get to make up the meaning. I've been listening to my local NPR station this morning, and there has been lots of discussion of satire in relation to the New Yorker cover. If the artist meant for the cover to be satire, what happens when the viewer does not understand that? I think many books have been banned when readers did not understand the satire. I am more familiar with history than art. I think about how the interpretation of events in history has changed over time. The majority view of what's right and what's wrong has changed over time. You don't even need someone else's artistic creation to be open to interpretation! Is there even such a thing as truth? Jan ----------- Original message from Dana Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: --------- What have you all done to help students learn to look deeply and work to > understand what interests them? This is a BIG question, Jan. It is, after all, the very essence of Ellin's book, right? I only began reading To Understand at the end of last school year, so I hadn't totally had a chance to apply all that I've learned. But I'll share > with you 3 concepts that I did apply in my classroom last year. _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
