Week 3 - Appleman Ch. 2

Chapter Two - Through the Looking Glass: Introducing Multiple Perspectives.

This chapter delves into multiple perspectives and offers four ways in which they can be examined in the classroom.

"My Papa's Waltz" is an interesting example as shown through the emphasis put on specific words. One student focused on words such as papa, waltz, cling, etc. Another's interpretation focused on beat, death, battered, missed, dirt, whiskey, etc. This just goes to show that meaning is taken from how you read it. Both got a different meaning from the same piece, which I believe will be very common within a classroom.

The idea that there is more than one opionion is further brought up in the discussion of Rachel's classroom, where the students are reluctant to offer opinions on "The Scarlet Letter". She employs a number of activities including reading new texts and watching movies to get students to share new perspectives.

I thought she presented some good ideas, but I feel that watching an entire "Star Wars" movie is wasting time. I can see how short clips could be useful, but if you use an entire movie you're using a class and 1/2 - two classes, and that's just lazy.

I felt this chapter dragged on a bit, I understood what Appleman was trying to get across within the first few pages. She made her point well, but I believe she overextended it a bit.