My adoration for Alice Walker began in high school. By college, she was an obsession. I studied multiple pieces, wrote my first fifteen page paper about her, and presented on my research at a national conference in Baton Rouge.
This year, I got to teach it to AP Literature.
It's my first time teaching it, and of course, I love it - their conversation, excitement and emotions about it excite and inspire me. I have taught advanced classes for a few years, but this is different. These kids have a passion for reading that is unmatched. The entire feel and tone of the class. They WANT to discuss this love of literature. Many times, I don't get to say much in discussions. And that is the beauty of it.
Our focus with this book is literary theory. We discussed feminism, cultural, and race theories and their impact on the text. As an end of the book activity, I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but no idea how it would turn out in actual practice. If I could get them to do it, I knew it would be a great way to start this conversation. This class could accept the challenge.
This was their assigned task:
Trace the journey of Shug, Celie, or Sofia from a feminist and/or womanist perspective. Track the major events in each character's story. Include prominent interactions with other characters, both male and female, who have contributed to or hinder her journey. Create some graph or chart to give a visual representation of her progress of feminist and/or womanist perspective in a measure of your choice.
I love how they turned out.
I so wanted more time to discuss, argue, defend, and compare these. The visual representation of their ideas fascinated me. I was so proud.
Each day, they give me so much to consider. I love learning from them.