I can’t talk.
Somewhere at the end of last week, after the fifth Bikram yoga class in seven days, and increasing difficulty breathing, I lost my voice.
This is a huge liability for a high school teacher. I could do my job in a wheelchair–but without a voice?
When things are really bad, people say: “There are no words.”
As both a writer and an English teacher, I’ve taken issue with this sentiment: of course there are words, I just haven’t found them yet!
There is so much symbolism behind the idea of having a voice.
Speaking up. Being heard. Giving someone a piece of your mind.
Having a voice suggests the hope of being known, considered, counted.
In my job, people (yeah, okay, teenagers, but they’re people, too!) listen to me all day. I have a built in audience. And yet, even though my school’s religious affiliation allows me to speak about issues of God and spirituality, I am still called to hold my tongue about how I feel about political issues.
The beauty of literature–of story–is that it can speak for us. Speak through the ages and across demographics. And in many ways, the distance created by fictional characters and their stories can allow us to see ourselves and each other more clearly.
As fate would have it I am currently teaching TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD to sophomore girls. This week we are looking at the quotes in Part One that address the “Big Five” thematic ideas we will examine throughout the book.
PREJUDICE ~ HYPOCRISY ~ COURAGE ~ EMPATHY ~ RESPECT
Last week one of my sophomores stopped me in the hall to ask if I knew that President Obama had referenced Atticus Finch in his farewell speech. (A real life literary ALLUSION–yeah!)
Today, with no voice and a deepening sadness about having to say goodbye to the Obamas as the first family and face our the country tomorrow, I showed my sophomores fifteen minutes of that speech (9:20 – 25:40). I prefaced the viewing with how exciting it is that on the very same night they were reading TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, the President alluded (ALLUSION–one of our literary devices, people!) to one of the main characters in the book. See how much fun it is to know stuff?
I spoke, too, (okay, I had a little bit of a voice) about the peaceful transfer of power, and how President Obama’s speech–designed to be unifying for the country–touches upon not only our five big themes, but on the two essential questions I asked them to keep in mind while reading this book:
How do we treat people who are different from us?
What kind of a person do we want to be?
Sure, there are always words, but maybe you’re just too exhausted, stunned, saddened, horrified, or laryngitic to utter them. Or maybe you’ve used those words before to describe something far less awful, and now they don’t seem quite good (or bad) enough.
Maybe sometimes it’s okay to stay quiet, and let the scripture, or the text, or someone far smarter and more articulate than you speak instead.
#teaching #teachingtokillamockingbird #tokillamockingbird #atticusfinch #voice #thanksobamas #presidentialrhetoric #literaryallusions #howcaniteachtoday @teachinghamlet