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Collaboration Inspires Teacher—and Leads to Great Classroom Project
By Tonya Luster AP Literature Teacher, Edmondson-Westside High School
After weeks of thinking about and planning the assignment, the day came to introduce the assignment to my students. We were reading a scene in Hamlet (Act II sc ii, to be exact) filled with allusions to the Biblical story of Jephthah and the mythological story of Pyrrhus, Priam and Hecuba. After we read the scene (with much use of footnotes) and discussed the meaning of those specific allusions to the plot of Hamlet, I dropped the bomb: Me: “Ok, guys. I have a surprise for you.” [student groans] “Oh, it’s not that bad.” Student: “Ms. Luster, whenever you give us a surprise, it’s never good. We usually have to do some kind of project.” Me: “Ok, good point, but pick a number out of this hat anyway.” Students then picked a number that corresponded with a list of 20 people, ideas or concepts from the history of Western civilization, primarily from Greek and Roman mythology and the Bible (e.g., Zeus, Achilles, the Trojan War, Solomon, Mary Magdalene, “an eye for an eye,” etc.). For the assignment:
2) Using the class encyclopedia, each student hosted a dinner party with 48 “guests” from our list—and created a seating chart placing people according to shared qualities and interests. Completing the assignment was a challenge, especially with the weather-related schedule changes and holiday break in the middle. We used the school’s computer lab to research our terms, consulting sites on Greco-Roman and Biblical history. Even though we faced challenges, we achieved a number of goals; most importantly, we gained practical knowledge of the myths and symbols of Western culture by thinking critically and creatively. My experience helping students complete this assignment was positive—and is perhaps best conveyed by letting my students’ work speak for itself. Here are some of my favorite groupings and explanations: Guest Names: Hector, Achilles, Aeneas, Agamemnon, Laocoon and Iphigenia What do they have in common? They took part in the Trojan War. What might they talk about? That guy who never came back; how Agamemnon’s death was predicted before it happened.
Guest Names: Cerberus, Chimera, Scylla, Charybdis, Leviathan and Fauns What do they have in common? They are mystical creatures. What might they talk about? Setting up an account on Monster.com for jobs [because they are all monsters]. (This group had a good sense of humor.)
Guest Names: Medea, Medusa, Cassandra, Nemesis, Rachel and Leah What do they have in common? They were beautiful women with unkind hearts. What might they talk about? The saying “beauty is only skin deep.”
Guest Names: Atlas, Melanion, Atalanta, Prometheus, Sisyphus and Tantalus What do they have in common? They were killed or punished by Zeus. What might they talk about? How to get back at or kill Zeus.
Since my students and I completed this assignment, I’ve already been thinking about how to improve the logistics and make it better next year. Exposing my students to the underpinnings of the culture and society we live in is a vital part of my teaching. My students have come to me time and again to talk about brand names and slogans they recognize from our classroom cultural encyclopedia. And it excites me to see them gaining perspective on the layers of mythical and Biblical allusions that abound in our everyday world.
I would like to thank Camille Basoco (Teaching Fellow, Office of Teaching and Learning) and Sean Martin (Heritage High School) for organizing the AP Works group, plus the many members committed to enriching the lives of students in Baltimore City Public Schools. This group reinforced the idea that collaboration and reflection make teachers better at what they do.
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Sitting in a classroom isn’t any teacher’s ideal way of spending a Saturday morning. That said, attending the weekend English AP Works sessions offered by the Office of Teaching and Learning contributed a great deal to my classroom, not just for me but also for my students. It was through these sessions with fellow English teachers that one of my favorite assignments was born: the cultural research dinner party.
1) Each student independently researched their terms, wrote a five-line “blurb” about each term and combined their work to create a classroom “encyclopedia.”
