Pure Manaʻo

  Source:  Worlds, M. & Miller, H. (2019). Miles Morales: Spider-Man  and reimagining the canon for racial justice. English Journal, 108 (4), 43-50.  Gist: The authors argue that racial hierarchies and oppression in the English classroom will continue as long as teachers continue to hold the literary canon as the standard for what must be taught. They conclude that "reimagining the canon with books like Miles Morales: Spider-Man can begin to splinter the racial hierarchy that reigns over English curricula.  What is sacred: When left unchallenged, the canon is a weapon of the colonial project, which perpetuates Eurocentrism and violence against people of color (Durand and Jimenez-Garcia) English language arts classrooms must be sites to name, challenge, and ultimately dismantle oppressive systems.   Connection to current/future work: The EDSE 428, which is my secondary English/language arts methods course, was able to have conversations around ...

I spent so much time trying to find the right mentor text to bring to students when we talked about irony. I used to use "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant but the language was difficult even for my 10th graders. I could have used the adolescent irony which is just dripping with sarcasm, but I didn't want that either. If I were in the classroom again, however, these two videos are what I would use. The first is Clive James reading his poem "Japanese Maple" about his soon demise and the metaphor of living to see the maple unfurl before he dies. Well on his "death bed," he ended his very long marriage because of a long affair by him, and then he did not die. This is the 5 years later interview where he has outlasted that maple tree that his daughter gave him. Irony with joy. Living the best life posthumously. This is the kind of irony I want them to get.