In my class we worship at the altar of literature

In the last week, in my AP Lit class, where we have been enjoying rich conversations inspired by Hesse's novel Siddhartha, we have discussed and read from the Bhagavad Gita (Hindu), Four Noble Truths (Buddhist), Maimonides (Jewish philosopher), Koran (Islam), Gospel of Mark (Christian), and Ecclesiastes (Hebrew Bible/Old Testament), a grace-filled poem by Mary Oliver (which I will include below), and a wonderful poem by Derek Walcott, which I discovered through the poet David Whyte. Oh, I almost forgot: They also had to go online (for homework) and watch a brief talk (two minutes?) by the Dalai Lama on the subject of happiness, a core subject in Siddhartha.

All faiths were present, all enriched the discussion, none being used to convert, coerce, or otherwise corrupt kids. I would have been comfortable with any parent of any faith sitting in my room listening in if they wanted.

Running through it all, though, was the literature, the story of a young man trying to find himself, to discover who he is and why he is here. It's the oldest story around and can be found in the sacred literature of any tradition.

Some days I can't believe I get paid to do what I would want to do anyway: read great literature and talk about it with kids I enjoy.

Here's the Oliver poem: Enjoy!

The Journey

 

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice --

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do --

determined to save

the only life you could save.

 

––By Mary Oliver

Comments

[Erin]

Hey Jim, could you post the link to the Dalai Lama talk? I'm going to start a unit on The Alchemist in my Contemporary Lit class in January, and it sounds like a great resource!
thanks,
Erin

[sfauthor]

Nice posting. Do you know about this edition of the Gita?

http://www.YogaVidya.com/gita.html

[luke]

Where's my Mary Oliver fix? :)

[Jenny Wood]

I love this post. I think that we are so lucky...even luckier than teachers of other disciplines. In English class you get to work on understanding the world in such a wonderful way. There's beauty, of course, in math, science, social studies, and other subjects...but we have such wonderful freedom in our area to bring in words from every place and every time and help students make sense of them all.

[Amanda]

I quit teaching at a school that only cared about the students reading the text out loud in class, then answering open response questions in the style of the benchmark exam. I got questioned every time I wanted to bring in supplemental material. It was so frustrating that I didn't seek out a teaching job when I sought new employment in a different state. I'm glad to know that the type of school I came from isn't prevalent everywhere. Also, reading your posts only solidifies how much I miss teaching and am considering returning.

[Jennifer Ansbach]

Wow. I often wonder if your students know what an amazing opportunity they have when they spend time in your classroom each day. I know many teachers who teach "the literature" but forget to teach the students about the world through the literature.

Amazing, as always.