Lesson Seven: “Goldengrove”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What's on for today and why?
For today, the students have read Chapters Five and Six, both of which are extremely important. Chapter Five begins with the mental absence of Nico's mother, which has been occurring since Margaret's untimely death. The reader also finally gets to see the actual Goldengrove, and is able to make observations about the bookstore, and what it means to the family. Goldengrove becomes the connection between Nico, her father, and Margaret, and serves as a reminder that their lives must go on, however painfully that may happen. Chapter Six deals with Nico's personal connection to Goldengrove, and how it has been helping her cope with Margaret's loss. In addition, it shows Nico's curiosity towards sex, which shows that she is starting to follow in her sister's footsteps. At the end of the chapter, Nico stumbles upon the poem that Margaret was named after. This is a pivotal point in the novel, as it marks the point in which Nico decides to try and take her fate into her own hands, rather than simply letting things happen around her. Today, the class will be focusing on this poem as a team, in order to understand its content the best that they possibly can. This will aid them in their voice assignment, which they will be completing for homework.
It is very important that the class go over these two chapters together with the teacher, as both chapters contain many of the underlying themes present in the novel. By going over these chapters together, the students will be able to identify these themes, and will be able to recognize them, both within these two chapters, and throughout the rest of their assigned reading. Poetry is often hard for students to understand as well; by analyzing the poem as a class, the students will be able to gain a better understanding of its meaning, and will be able to identify with it more than they may have been able to had they tried to interpret it themselves. In addition, this heightened understanding of the poem will also help them complete their homework assignments more efficiently; rather than spending time trying to identify the themes in the poem, they will simply be able to complete their assignment with the knowledge of those themes.
What To Do:
1. Discussion of Homework:
As a group, the class will discuss the reading assignment from the previous night. The class will tackle the prompt questions as a class, and will generate a class discussion of Chapter Five based on the answers people wrote down. The class will discuss the deterioration of Nico's mother, specifically the example on page 69. At this point in the novel, it is obvious that Nico's mother is self-medicating; but how addicted do you think she is to the pills? Why did she start taking them, and is her reasoning the same for taking them now? From there, the class will discuss the environment that Goldengrove provides. Does Nico feel safe here? If so, why? Nico also gets a visit from her fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Akins. How does Nico feel about this visit? Who does she think Mrs. Akins is representing and why?
From this point, the class will move on to Chapter Six, discussing the bookstore in more detail. How does Nico's “daily routine” make her feel? Does she use the books at Goldengrove as a type of therapy? Or, similar to her mother, are the books her form of self-medication? The class will touch briefly on “The Great Disappointment”, and what it represents to both Nico and her father. After discussing that, the class will get to the poem, located on page 90.
2. Goldengrove Unleaving:
Each member of the class will be given a handout, containing the poem from Chapter Six, and a set of instructions. The first reading of this poem will be as a class; then, the students will read the poem on their own. They will be encouraged to use the dictionaries within the classroom in order to look up any words they may not know. Then, they will have to follow the instructions on the sheet, in order to try and decipher the poem. The teacher will be available to answer questions, and listen to any comments the students may have. The handout will appear as follows:
Margaret's Poem
Margaret, are you grieving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leaves, like the things of man, you
with your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Ah! as the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you will weep and know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sorrow's springs are the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
what heart heard of, ghost guessed
It is the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.
Some steps to approaching this poem:
1. Read the poem in accordance with punctuation. Don't simply stop at the end of a line unless punctuation dictates!
2. Paraphrase the poem in its entirety to be sure you understand what happens in it.
3. Assess the speaker. Ask yourself who, what, when, where, why, how? Don't assume the speaker is the author; often it is a created character.
4. Assume that each element of the poem has a purpose. Identify them, and then try to discern how they work together.
5. Be generous. Be willing to entertain perspectives, values, experiences and subjects that you may not agree with or approve of.
6. Don't expect to produce a definitive reading. Many poems do not resolve all ideas, issues, or tensions in them, and so it is not always possible to drive their meaning into an absolute corner. Your reading should explore rather than define the poem. A good poem is not a trophy to be stuffed and mounted. They're usually more elusive, so read with sensitivity and an open mind.
After giving the students ample time to complete this, the class will reconvene and discuss what they think the poem may be about. Students will share their opinions and insights, and will talk about how the poem ties in to Margaret's character, and the novel as a whole.
3. Voice Assignments:
After discussing the poem, the students will be told that they will be doing a voice journal assignment, in addition to their normal journal entries. LiveJournal has an option to create a voice entry, as well as creating a written entry. The students will be told that they will be clicking on the “create voice entry” button, and will be leaving a voice entry of about one minute on the chapter of their choice. This will introduce the students to the act of speaking up, and using voice technology in order to complete an assignment. In addition, it will give the students who are uncomfortable speaking in class a chance to have their voice and opinion be heard. This voice assignment will help the students in creating their own version of the poem, which will be the assignment for the following day.
4. Homework:
For homework, the students will be reading Chapters Seven and Eight, and completing journal entry 6. The students should keep the following questions in mind while reading these chapters:
1. In the beginning of the chapter, Nico seems to want a sign from her sister. Does she actually get it, or does she force it to happen? Why do you feel this way?
2. On page 97, Nico talks about the book of paintings that she finds in the bookstore. Which painting strikes her the most? What do you think the book really represents?
3. Not long after, the doorbell to the bookstore rings and Nico gets a visitor. How does this person's visit affect her? How does she act?
4. What is this person's suggestion to Nico? How does she react?
5. In the beginning of Chapter Six, what is Nico considering doing for this person? How would her parents react?
6. Think about Nico's talk with Elaine. What does she do that she's never really done before? How is her personality changing, and how does it make her feel?
In addition, the students will be completing their first voice assignment through their LiveJournals. They will be reacting to one of the chapters they have read, be it five or six, and will be posting a voice message of at least one minute, sharing their insights and predictions of how they think the novel may progress from this point on.
How Did it Go?
Today, the students had the opportunity to explore some of the main themes in the novel, as well as practice their poetic interpretation skills. The class discussed Chapters Five and Six in detail, and started to delve into the importance that the bookstore has within both the novel, and in Nico's life. In addition the class was able to read, understand, and analyze a rather difficult poem; they were able to decipher its meaning through a careful analysis of the language, stanzas, and punctuation. The “poetic guidelines” provided for the students upon being asked to analyze the poem are extremely useful because they break the poem into pieces, rather than forcing the student to try and decipher it flat out. Instead of being overwhelmed by the poem, the students have the ability to see it as a puzzle, and break the poem down piece by piece in order to gain its true meaning. By modeling the process for the students, the teacher is giving them the tools they will need in order to analyze more poems in the future.
In addition, the students will be creating voice messages as part of their journal entries; this will give the students who don't normally speak in class the chance to be heard by both their teacher and their fellow classmates. Voice messages also help the students with their oral communication skills, which will be beneficial to them for future speeches or presentations. The journal entries, as well as the voice messages, will be receiving either a check plus, a check, a check minus, or a zero, based on the amount of effort put in to the assignments.
