I think that English is "slawesome."

Dusty Neibauer's Golden Circle

My golden circle:

What can I learn from the world from literature / writing?
How can I prove what I think I know is in the literature / topic at hand?
Why does it matter (how does it affect the literature? my own views? effectiveness?)?

I try to teach from the inside out because students need to know what it is they’re trying to accomplish or do with their coursework. So in essence, I’ve realized that I’ve sort of inverted the circle into a target, with the middle being the end result or goal that I want them to be able to “hit.”This is with regard to literature analysis, but can be applied to writing, analytical thinking, thesis statements, etc. While this is sort of going against the speaker’s model, I like this better, as the outside of my target contains the widest margin to hit - the broad concepts of “what are we doing in the class.”

Then, a tougher ring to hit, the “How can I prove what I see / how I interpret the literature” ring, students are now applying skills to the task, and trying to work with the literature using evidence - that’s a tougher skill to hit, so the scope is narrowed.

Lastly comes the middle of the target, the “bullseye” of what I want them to be able to do. A bullseye is tough to achieve, and takes skill, and is not something that many are capable of without practice, and I find that to be true with regard to literature analysis as well. My “Why,” then, is “Why does it matter?” This is the key to a thesis statement, and a key to understanding literature as well, and if students are able to answer that question ( not only the classic “Reader Response Critical Literary Theory” method of asking why something can be related to one’s own experiences, but also, and in my opinion more importantly,  to larger society, or literature, or cross-cultural understanding)  it seems as if they’re now capable of more high-level thinking. And, as a bonus, I can stop writing “Why does this matter” or “Why should I care” or “be more specific!” on their thesis statements!

The final part, the “why does it matter?” part, is also what I believe, and that informs my teaching significantly. I try and communicate this to students through a couple of different ways, but the most significant is through literature analysis. We have discussions about what the author is trying to show us or reveal to us through the literature, and that lends itself to discussions about whether they think that is relevant to themselves, or of equal importance, to contemporary society. Shifting the scope of students’ views of the world from squarely on themselves (which is enhanced by the messages received through modern social media, as well as the popular art / media they generally consume) outward to the world and others’ experiences is an important step to make in creating the future’s citizens and thinkers, and that is something that I’m always trying to do. It’s also useful when talking about thesis statements in writing, because the “why does this matter” portion of a thesis is sometimes the hardest portion for them to write, and that can be reflected in those kinds of outward-gazing conversations.

As far as conveying such views to my colleagues, I’d say that I generally do so through conversation. For the parents, though, I’m not really sure if any parent has asked me my philosophy through conversation, conferences, or otherwise, which I haven’t really considered until now. It’s kind of concerning, to be honest, that the level of discourse regarding their child’s education is relegated to the standard “What’s his/her grade and are they respectful in class?” formula in our district. I can do more to convey it through initiating said conversation in the appropriate forums, through syllabi posted to my personal webpage / schoology page, and other such things, but it still feels more passive than it deserves to be.