October 11 - Schaberg - Using Poetry

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Hello everyone,

Please share your thoughts about our October 11 afternoon session - Using Poetry by David Schaberg - by replying to this post.

-Miranda

[Anonymous]

I very much enjoyed Professor Schaberg's introduction to classical Chinese poetry. I will definitely be able to use several of these poems with my class. In particular, I think the "Song of an Arrowhead" will be an interesting document to look at with my students.

[Anonymous]

Okay, I'm an English teacher, so no surprise that this is my favorite session so far. However, I also learned quite a bit about Japanese poetry myself, and now feel confident about using more than haiku in my poetry units. I was writing notes furiously (!...okay, maybe not furiously) on many of the selections we discussed because I found connections to other poems in thematic context. War poems, curse poems, love poems...this will be effective in both my AP and World Lit classes.

[Anonymous]

I really enjoyed this seminar. I too am an English teacher, so clearly this is ne of my favorites. I especially liked the range of poems and the inclusion of classic Greek and Roman poetry to the selections. I can confidently include anyof these selections into my curriculum, along with poems from other countries and time periods. My handout is covered with blue post-its with my notes and observations as I didn't want to write on the originals so I can perhaps reproduce them for my students. This session, along with the debate on Chinese Philosophy, was the most interactive and interesting. I appreciate Dr. Shaberg allowing the deconstruction of the poems and allowing for all points of view.

[Anonymous]

I enjoyed the session with Professor Schaberg, and it was interesting to see the English words next to the Chinese characters and to be able to recognize a few characters. I really like when we learn about what the Chinese characters mean. We were told by both speakers that Chinese is easier to learn than Japanese. Professor Schaberg also told me after class about a podcast for learning Chinese, and I look forward to the opportunity to learn the language.

[Anonymous]

Ms. "K" and Classmates:
Mr. Schaberg's style of teaching and the information that developed during our reading/discussion session worked to my advantage.
Style-wise, instead of providing information and then showing how the poetry represented/illustrated the information, Mr. "S" started with the poetry and then determined the information that it provided/represented/illustrated. I'm not sure if this would be inductive or deductive style/reasoning.
One thing that I found interesting(and possibly useful) was the idea that the poem might be sung "with a certain intent"; however, the topic might have to be adapted to suit the circumstances at the time it was being sung. Perhaps this speaks to the universal nature of poetry, regardless of language, culture or origin.
Another thing I found noteworthy was that the ability to read/generate/understand poetry and literature was an aspect of social distinguishment. This ability placed one on a higher level, "then" - and I wonder if this could be used as leverage for reluctant students that see their own social distinguishment as the ability to "rap".
Lastly, Mr. "S" reinforced the idea that poetry generates cultural acceptance, mood elevation, meditation(?), and culture making, and that it can be used for wooing, and mourning.
Will the poetry Mr. Schaberg provided work to advantage in class? Pehaps the best answer would be that it will depend upon the "intent" of the(any) poem and how well I might be able to adapt the poem to the circumstances of the class. Perhaps if the poem(s) is/are well chosen, the students can make the adaption/connection.
Walt Banta

[Anonymous]

I also like the sessions when we have a chance to go over the characters for writing, unlike my fellow English teachers, I do not always put Poetry at the top of my list. Like I said, I do like studying characters. I appreciated this session because we were able to look at the sentence structure so as an English and Social Studies teacher, I can blend all three topics together - Sentence Structure, Character Formation (writing) and Poetry. That way it is more pallatable for me.

[Anonymous]

I loved this lecture. I think that the discussion that we had in class was wonderful! What I love about poetry is the variety of responses it elicits. This class was no exception. I also appreciated that we read the poetry without ignoring the historical circumstances of its inception. I think that was really valuable. Prof. Schaberg's knowledge was really invaluable. Also his demeanor was wonderful and inviting!

[Anonymous]

I was not able to attend this session due to ill health

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, I was too engaged by the "Using Poetry" portion of the October 11 class. That's mostly because I'm generally not enthusiastic about poetry and other forms of literature (I'm more interested in historical events).

However, I did take some useful notes during the poetry portion of this day's class. I learned that poetry is a valuable form of communication because (for some people) it's easier to remember than other forms of literature, perhaps due to it brevity in comparison to other forms of literature, which is useful for passing information from one generation to another.

Also, learned that poetry is a way of passing coded communications. I was able to identify with this point because African Americans used songs in a similar fashion during the slavery period of U.S. history. Many of the "slave songs" (with which I am intimately familiar because I've sung them many times) consist of verses that are poetic in addition to be functional.

Similarly, because poetry can be used to communicate in coded ways, Prof. Schaberg reminded me that poetry is good for exercising one's intellect.

Finally, Prof. Schaberg reminded me that poetry speaks to the soul. It tends to be less effective in this manner for me (as is the case with men in general in comparison to women), but I do not question the truth of this point.[Edit by="cmayfield on Jan 2, 3:36:31 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

"Okay, I'm an English teacher, so no surprise that this is my favorite session so far. However, I also learned quite a bit about Japanese poetry myself, and now feel confident about using more than haiku in my poetry units. I was writing notes furiously (!...okay, maybe not furiously) on many of the selections we discussed because I found connections to other poems in thematic context. War poems, curse poems, love poems...this will be effective in both my AP and World Lit classes. "

I'm actually replying to myself here because I wanted to update on the success of this unit in both my World Lit and 10th grade classes. As stated in a previous post, my World Lit students created their own pillow books (I brought a couple to the last seminar), and as Clay asked, I will scan a few of the best and attach at a later date (I'm not in my classroom).

Even more impressive, I must say, was how my 10th graders, both regular and honors, enjoyed doing the haiku and tanka poems. They like the play with structure and having to move words around, or think about the syllables and accents, and even double meanings. The fires in Sylmar and other places were fairly recent, and when I told them about the importance of nature in Japanese poetry, many wrote on the devastation of the fires to both nature and people. It was quite moving. Not every student liked every kind of poetry we did, of course, but the majority chose the haiku and tanka poems as their favorite, and when asked to read aloud from their poetry books (they just finished the unit before Christmas break), many chose to read those...of course, that may have been because of length, too! 😉

[Anonymous]

This particular lectures was the most helpful in trying to figure out how to incorporate East Asia into my classroom. As an English teacher and a special education teacher- i have seen my students respond very well to poetry. I am excited to bring what I have learned into my classroom!

[Anonymous]

I will say one thing, Prof. Schaberg made studying poetry truly enjoyable. I, for one, am not very appreciative of this literary art form. I feel that this is largely due to the fact that most of the time I just don't get it. I don't know why, but it is very difficult for me to decipher or find meaning in poems. Anyway, I applaud Prof. Schaberg's efforts in engaging us with his soft-spoken manner. He didn't have to scream or yell to show his passion, it was simply displayed in his reading of the poems and explanation of them. Also, of all the professors that we had, I must say that he was one of the most inviting in asking us our opinions and in using our feedback to enhance what was being covered. I left with a greater appreciation of understanding the importance of poetry during this time period, and for that I am very thankful.

Manuel 😀

[Anonymous]

Sadly, I was unable to attend due to back injury

[Anonymous]

I found that Professor Schaberg's seminar on Chinese Poetry was very stimulating and interesting. The Requitals in Chinese Poetry were very deep and proved to be classical literature in its own right, even in its translation. Although some of it may be lost in translation, Schaberg was able to make up for that by giving more in depth and thorough translations of certain Chinese characters and phrases. This was very helpful in giving me good resources that I would have otherwise not have found so easily on my own.

Go Bruins!

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