A Possible Reading Assignment with Glogster

Normally when I think of reading assignments, I imagine the student sitting with a book or an article; that's it. With glogster, however, we can easily assign multiple forms of text to supplement the reading -- pictures, sound clips, videos, manuscripts. I think this addition could really help students understand poetry since they are often intimidated by it. To show them that poetry doesn't have to be scary or difficult, I would start with a glog.

As we have discussed in class, listening or seeing poetry being performed changes the way a person understands the poem, so I made a glog that could introduce students to this difference. I would ask students to start on the left side of the glog, reading part one of "Howl" first; then, they would listen to Ginsberg performing "Howl." To simplify the assignment, I tried to include the instructions on the actual glog rather than on a separate blog or in class. This is my "rough draft" of my glog; if I had more time, I would come up with some intermediary questions to ask the students while they listen to Ginsberg. The goal would be to have the students come to class prepared to discuss the first part of "Howl," both the performance and the content of the poem.

For another possible assignment (I still have to flesh this idea out), I might ask students to free-write about the significance of the words on the glog's wall. I found my glog's background online, so if I were actually going to do this, I would select each word to make my own background. Or, students could even make their own wall with what they think are the most substantial words and phrases and then write in their blogs about why they chose a few of their words. By selecting content directly from the poem and analyzing it in their blogs, students demonstrate their understanding of the text, making their glogs easier to assess. They could still add images or videos to personalize their glogs, but the core of the assignment would be to closely examine the language in "Howl."

For whatever reason, I've been having complications embedding my glog, so I'll also include the link to my original glog.

Harlem Renaissance Assignment

Now that we have read Nella Larson’s Quicksand, let’s examine the historical and social context that surrounds Larson's work. For this assignment, we will be exploring Helga’s attitude toward rural life in Alabama. First, take a look at the class glog and consider the following questions:

• Why would the images on the left fall under the category "black skin, white mask?"
  
• Looking at facial expressions, clothing, and body language, how do the portraits on the left compare to the portraits on the right?

Next, click on the image of Langston Hughes and read his essay, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain.”

• What kinds of attitudes do the essay and images imply about African American identity during the Harlem renaissance?

You may also want to look at this separate glog to see more representations of the group on the right.

• Do the paintings portray the people in a positive or negative light?
  
• What formal qualities within the paintings support this depiction?

Drawing on your answers to the previous questions, post a short response (four or five paragraphs) to your blog which answers the following prompt:

As the Harlem Renaissance redefined the African American experience, many writers like Hughes began to question more conventional representations of blackness, embracing new identities. Hughes's essay and the glogs address these conflicting attitudes about blackness during the Harlem Renaissance: whether "the folk" should be celebrated or denigrated. Your assignment is to situate Helga Crane within this context. Using textual evidence from Quicksand, "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain," and video and images the class glog, explain how Helga’s ambivalence toward her own identity and her attitude towards the folk reveal some of the assumptions many other middle-class African Americans held. How do you think Langston Hughes would react to Helga's outlook? What is the significance of his reaction?

Exploring Glogster

I've never really enjoyed scrapbooking, mostly because I spend too much time looking for images, and I make too much of a mess. Surprisingly, despite my usual aversion to technology, I enjoyed using glogster much more. Compared to some other programs we have used (TokenX for example), glogger's interface is straight-forward. My group and I first made a glog on Alabama/"The Folk."



Because I often struggle with technology, though, I decided to make my own glog, focusing on the artistic representations of rural life and everyday people:




I prefer using glogster to posting a slideshow on youtube because I've encountered fewer difficulties, but I think the site still has its constraints -- especially with regards to the layout. I wanted to post more paintings, but I quickly ran out of room; I tried stacking the images, but I felt the wall looked too crowded. The decorations were sometimes limiting and seemed to target a certain population: angsty teens. While I'm not sure how I would use glogster as an assignment, I can see how glogs are useful for presenting information to students before they start a new unit.

My Cultural Object Assignment: Whitman and Broadway Part Three

So here is a quick summary of what we would have discussed before the assignment:

1. Students should come to class having read the poem and highlighted any confusing parts.
   
2. Start the class by answering any questions. Proceed to an American history review, asking them what they know about the United States in 1850 and filling in any relevant gaps.
3. Introduce the cultural object, a painted lithograph, and Sanford Robinson Gifford's A Gorge in the Mountains (Kauterskill Clove). Then ask the students to work on a free-write focusing on how these images could relate to the landscape of Whitman's poem.
4. Break the class into groups and have them use their free-write and excerpts from the poem to try to guess what the painted lithograph is about. The following questions might help:
• How does this environment differ from A Gorge in the Mountains (Kauterskill Clove)?
• Looking at the rows of buildings and horse-drawn carriages, what kind of impression do you get?
  
• How does that compare to the representation of the gorge?
• What different types of people do you see? How do their actions make them stand out?
  
• What makes this space seem democratic?
5. After some time, the groups would give their best guess. I would explain that the picture is of Broadway in 1888, and provide some more context based on my previous blog. Then, as a class, we would discuss bigger themes such as democracy, the individual as part of a whole, and the urbanization of America, relating the painting to the poem. This would probably take up the most time and be the most important part of the class.
   

Based on your free-write, your group's analysis of the paintings, and our in-class discussion, choose one of two options to post to your blog (about three to five paragraphs):

1. Examine this print of a parade in Broadway from 1855. Employing the same techniques we used in class today, "read" the print. How does this image compare to the speaker's notion of urbanity in Leaves of Grass? Be sure to support your assertion with evidence from the poem.
2. Choose at least one passage from Leaves of Grass that depicts an urban landscape and analyze it. What is the significance of this description? How does it contribute to our understanding of the poem as a whole?
   

Evidence of learning: A blog post that suggests an understanding of at least one major theme, free-writes, class participation.

A successful post relates one small bit of "Song of Myself" to an overarching theme in the poem and supports it by both analyzing the formal qualities within the text and considering any historical and cultural context.

My Cultural Object Assignment: Whitman and Broadway Part 2

So here is a quick summary of what we would have discussed before the assignment:

1. Students should come to class having read the poem and hilighted any confusing parts.
   
2. Start the class by answering any questions. Proceed to an American history review, asking them what they know about the United States in 1850 and filling in any relevant gaps.
3. Introduce the cultural object, a painted lithograph, and ask the students to work on a free-write focusing on how the painting could relate to the poem.
4. Break the class into groups and have them use their free-write and excerpts from the poem to try to guess what the painting is about. The following questions might help:
• Does the painting look like it occurs in a quiet or a chaotic area?
• What kinds of people do you see in the painting?
• Does the environment seem to invite all kinds of people, or is it exclusive?
• What parts of the poem seem to refer to a similar type of environment?
5. After some time, the groups would give their best guess. I would explain that the picture is of Broadway in 1888, and provide some more context based on my previous blog. Then, as a class, we would discuss bigger themes such as democracy, the individual as part of a whole, and the urbanization of America, relating the painting to the poem. This would probably take up the most time and be the most important part of the class.
   

Based on this, choose one of three options to post to your blog (about three to four paragraphs):

1. Pick an excerpt from "Song of Myself" that describes an urban environment and analyze it according to one of the themes discussed in class. How is it similar to the painted lithograph? How is it different? How do historical context, cultural objects, imagery, metaphors, and other tropes influence the representation of this theme?
2. Create a short poem describing an urban setting in 1855 (it does not have to be New York, but it can be) and explain how it addresses one of the major themes in "Song of Myself," supporting your assertion with textual evidence. Some questions you might want to consider:
   
• How does your cityscape promote or undermine the notion of the collective whole?
  
• If you choose to focus on urbanization, what message does your poem send about industrialization, and how does it compare to Whitman's?
  
• Is Whitman's depiction of urbanity elitist or egalitarian? Explain your reasoning.
3. Examine this print of a parade in Broadway from 1855. Using evidence from the poem, answer the following questions:
   
• How does this picture compare to the speaker's notion of democracy?
  
• How is the imagery in the picture similar to/different from Whitman's description of the city?
  
• How does the crowd in this picture compare to one of Whitman's collective groups? Is the message similar or different? Why or why not?
• What other themes does the image evoke?
  

Evidence of learning: A blog post that suggests an understanding of at least one major theme, free-writes, class participation.

A successful post relates one small bit of "Song of Myself" to an overarching theme in the poem and supports it by both analyzing the formal qualities within the text and considering any historical and cultural context.

Whitman's Broadway

When I was reading Leaves of Grass, I was struck by Whitman's reference to Broadway in the following lines:

"Looking in at the shop-windows in Broadway the whole forenoon . . . . pressing the flesh of my nose to the thick plate-glass."

It seemed to me that Broadway's cityscape, even back in 1855, would directly contrast the numerous references to nature in "Leaves of Grass." I also was fairly certain that Broadway had not yet been established as the symbol of theater, but I wanted to check.

As it turns out, Broadway was not yet the theater district we think of -- but it was certainly busy. According to the New York Public Library's site, Broadway started as a residential neighborhood but quickly expanded to into a long street of endless stores and hotels. In 1853, two years before Whitman published "Leaves of Grass," there were 37 different construction or demolition sites on Broadway, many of which resulted in hotels. One person even predicted that Broadway would eventually "'present three miles of unbroken shop front'" (NYPL) Titled Winter Scene in Broadway, this painted lithograph (Girardet, Hippolyte) encapsulates the street's environment:



I know the image is still a little small, but it's easy to see that the environment is crowded and chaotic. In fact, the same site provided some context for the picture, explaining that "in the daytime, . . . the greatest danger was the risk of being run over while crossing the street. A fire truck and firemen add to the traffic confusion in this lithograph." The combination of carriages, the firefighters, rows of horses, and the spectators emphasizes the disarray that made up Broadway.

However, Broadway was not only a chaotic but a democratic street. In 1854, Putnam's Monthly described Broadway as "'altogether the most showy, the most crowded, and the richest thoroughfare in America,' but 'the peculiarity of Broadway consists in its being not only the main artery of the city, not only the focus [but also] the agglomeration of trade and fashion, business and amusement, public and private abodes, churches and theaters, barrooms and exhibitions, all collected into one promiscuous channel of activity and dissipation.'" The wealth associated with Broadway existed alongside brothels and prostitution, similar to the opposing classes that are often juxtaposed in "Leaves of Grass."

I also found actual photographs of Broadway in 1855. Here is one of them:


It may not have the same exaggerated features as the aquatint, but the street still seems congested and crowded, lined with cars and cement rather than trees and grass. The opposition between nature and city is clear.

Whitman later wrote a poem titled "Broadway," which reflects the atmosphere of the street.


Published in The Herald in 1888, "Broadway appeared long after the 1855 edition of "Leaves of Grass," but I think the vivid descriptions are consistent with representations of Broadway from decades earlier.

Overall, I think it's helpful to contextualize Broadway because I can relate the reference to bigger themes such as democracy, nature, class, the collective whole.

Exploring Electronic Textuality

Since one of our big questions involved the theme of American identity, I decided to isolate the word "American" to see what kind of context I would find if I were to read those lines together. It was fairly easy to do; I just clicked "keyword in context" and typed in "American." The new version of the poem looks something like this:

LEAVES OF GRASS [1855]

... The	American	poets are to enclose ...
... and of all free	American	workmen and workwomen . . . . ...
... the expression of the	American	poet is to be ...
... The	American	bards shall be marked ...
... of himself. The	American	bard shall delineate no ...
... shall learn the faithful	American	lesson. Liberty is ...
... easier realize the true	American	character but do not ...
... unmatched beauty . . . . the	American	circles and large harmonies ...
... and large. . . . . . . . . These	American	states strong and healthy ...
... on a lot of	American	soil owned, and ...
... language befriends the grand	American	expression . . . . it is ...
... and passionate instinct of	American	standards. Whether or ...
... answers for me an	American	must answer for any ...
... Walt Whitman, an	American	, one of the ...
... not nothing . . . . the	American	aborigines are not nothing ...
... . . . . the European and	American	are hand in hand ...

It seems like this tool would be especially helpful for students who are having a difficult time with some of Whitman's themes and the length of the poem.


I also tried to play with the electronic text as I thought about Whitman's preservation of the individual in the context of recognizing the community. I wanted to remove the individual as completely as possible, changing Whitman's "I" to "we," "my" to "our," "me" to "us," and "myself" to "ourselves." As a result, the first few lines of the poem look like this:

Leaves of Grass.

we CELEBRATE ourselves,
And what we assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to us
as good belongs to you.
we loafe and invite our soul,
we lean and loafe at our ease . . . . observing a spear of summer grass.
Houses and rooms are full of perfumes . . . . the shelves are crowded with perfumes,
we breathe the fragrance ourselves, and know it and like it,
The distillation would intoxicate us also, but we shall not let it.
The atmosphere is not a perfume . . . . it has no taste of the distillation . . . . it is odorless,

Personally, I think this version of the poem is a little frightening -- especially the line that starts "And what we assume, you shall assume." For some reason it reminds me of brainwashing. Either way, the collective group seems to be more authoritative, more imposing than the original speaker.

Exploring the archive helped me realize that online texts are more manipulable than I thought, so I'm now more aware of some of the advantages to reading or researching an electronic text:

Linguistically, TokenX is helpful because it counts the number of times a word is used and sorts its occurrences by edition. Rather than spending days flipping through different editions, we can find the number of instances immediately (provided that TokenX isn't lagging too much).

Even if we had the time to flip through different editions, we probably wouldn't have the resources; with digitalized archives, this problem vanishes. One of the greatest advantages to using new media over the traditional text is the accessibility. When I buy an anthology for a class, I'm stuck with the one version of a text; if I'm lucky, I'll get a picture of the original manuscript next to the one to two pages of biographical information. Even if an archive's page is a little sparse, I can easily google the author and be directed to an entire site that specializes in the author's biographical information.

Biography aside, the online archives expose us to more context than books often do, providing us with manuscripts, well-preserved letters, and other information usually excluded in traditional print. Even if an anthology contains a copy of the original manuscript, the digital text still presents us with more information because of its manipulability, often allowing us to enlarge the text, exposing every minute detail in ways that paper and a magnifying glass simply can't.

I think digital textuality also encourages collaboration in ways that printed text simply can't. From commenting on a literary critic's blog to reading fanfiction, new media allows us to get in contact and collaborate with complete strangers. In its perfect form, diigo also allows us to share out interpretations and annotations with other people. We can even show exact images, giving our audience a clear visual representation of what we're working with, by capturing a screen shot of the text and annotations or our reworking of the text. In fact, I think I'll end the blog here with a picture of the nifty block version of the poem: