The
Great Gatsby
and Community Research
Teacher:
Judy Bebelaar
Overview
As
a language arts teacher, I must cover required texts. I also
want student learning to be connected to the world outside the
school doors. That connection seemed even more important after
September 11.
I
listened to KCAC teachers describe their students’ community
research projects at the American Studies conference in Washington,
DC in November 2001. I began to think about ways I could connect
the reading of a novel with a student community research project.
Since my school, International Studies Academy, requires a senior
project and a research paper on an international topic for graduation,
I also hoped the lesson I designed would help students succeed
at that task.
An
interview is one of the possible sources for senior project
research material. Most students, I learned after scoring the
projects, did not know how to conduct a meaningful interview.
Nor did they know how to incorporate such material into their
papers.
Even
after I had set up the “perfect” interview for one of my students,
whose topic was controversy about Piaget’s theories, with an
adolescent therapist at U.C. San Francisco's Langley Porter
Institute, the interview didn’t work. My student never made
the appointment—which would have made her project so much richer.
Sharonna, who wanted to become a psychologist, would have had
the chance to meet a woman therapist.
From
reviewing the senior projects with our staff, it also became
clear that students had trouble citing sources correctly and
embedding quotes into their text, a problem our language arts
teachers have noted and tried to address. These particular
skills appeared as some of those aligned with questions our
students missed on California’s recently required high school
exit exam. So there were many reasons for wanting to make this
lesson work.
Incorporating
the “Where I'm From” lesson described earlier will, I hope,
help students learn to interview someone in a meaningful way—perhaps
someone who can teach the students in this American literature
class something about the ‘20s. In the process of the lesson,
we will hear model “Where I'm From” poems by previous students
as well as several of their own poems, in first, middle and
final draft forms.
Students
will look closely at the images and structure of the original
“Where I'm From.” When Lyons’ poem’s schema is familiar to students
and they have seen the many and very different forms the poem
can take, I will ask them to take a copy of the questions I
pose to them in order to stimulate first drafts. They will find
someone interesting to interview: a parent or grandparent, a
teacher or former teacher, a neighbor or a community hero.
The
Chronicle article, “A Roaring Decade, a Glorious New
City, a Rival to the South,” (San Francisco Chronicle,
April 25, 1999, front page “Sunday”" section, part of the
California Century series) has some leads for San Franciscans
who lived here in the 1920s. One of the poets who has come to
the school through Writerscorps (a national program, part of
Americorps) knows one of the people quoted there.
Students
will explain to the person they interview, after introducing
themselves by reading their own poems, that they will write
a poem in the voice of the person interviewed, using the details
gathered in the interview. They will send a final draft, along
with a letter asking for permission to share the poem with classmates.
I
had usually, when teaching The Great Gatsby, divided
students into “committees” which were responsible for making
reports on such background material for the novel as the Black
Sox Scandal, the Harlem Renaissance, Women in the ‘20s, Prohibition
and the Great Depression. I decided to ask those committees
to choose as well a neighborhood in San Francisco to research.
The idea would be to find out about what that neighborhood was
like in the 1920s, and perhaps to interview someone who lived
in the neighborhood at that time, as outlined above, or at least
to try to arrange for one such person to speak to the class.
In
preparation for students choosing a neighborhood to research,
we visited a local arts organization, Intersection for the Arts.
My goal was to acquaint students with the Mission District,
a largely Latino neighborhood which includes San Francisco's
Mission Dolores. There, many California Indians were brought
to live and work, and where a tragic number died of tuberculosis
and other diseases.
Intersection
for the Arts has set up a gallery of political posters and photographs,
as well as a model of the Mission District, which visitors to
the project help create, along with their visions for the future,
The People’s Plan. There has been much local concern about
gentrification since many “dot-commies” have moved into the
neighborhood, creating “live-work” spaces and driving up property
prices and rents. Visitors also complete a survey after a presentation
about how the neighborhood has changed over the years since
the Gold Rush.
The
end result of the project is a report incorporating the model
and the results of the survey to the City Planning Commission.
We are going back for a more in-depth presentation on the neighborhood
in the 1920s after students have viewed a video based on the
newspaper series, produced by the San Francisco Chronicle and
TV station KRON, and perhaps the movie Chinatown.
The
neighborhood our school is in, the Potrero Hill District, has
a community historical archive, The Potrero Hill Historical
Archives Project, at the neighborhood library, which we will
visit. The San Francisco African American Historical Society
can provide students with resources to learn about neighborhoods
called “Hunter's Point” and “The Fillmore”. There are many other
organizations and projects which can give students ways to learn
about the many different neighborhoods in the city: Chinatown,
“The Avenues,” “Noe Valley,” “North Beach” and “Japantown,”
to name a few. (Angel Island Immigration Station, 415-561-2160,
http://www.aiisf.org; Chinese Historical Society
of America Museum, 415-391-1188, http://www.chsa.org;
National Archives and Records Administration, 650-876-9294,
http://www.nara.gov; National Japanese American
Historical Society, 415-921-5007, http://www.nikkeiheritage.org.
The
student committees will present ongoing reports about the progress
of their research on both topics as they present what they are
learning about the novel. Each committee also has an assignment
to look at one literary aspect of the novel: light and heat
as symbols in the novel; green (and other colors) as symbols;
women in the novel; the automobile and accidents; and Gatsby
as a character.
Library
visits, assignments to do research outside of class, committee
planning meetings and literary “fishbowls” will serve as preludes
to the culminating activities: a literary essay, and a committee
presentation on the group's background research and their selected
San Francisco neighborhood.
Instructional
sequence
1.
Introduce the idea of a community-based research project focused
on the 1920s and in conjunction with reading The Great Gatsby.
Tell students about the end product: two group research projects,
one based on a topic relevant to the novel (the Harlem Renaissance,
Women in the Twenties, the Black Sox Scandal, Automobiles in
the Twenties, Prohibition and the Great Depression) based on
a neighborhood in San Francisco in the ‘20s (Potrero Hill,
the Mission District, Hunters Point, the Fillmore, Japantown,
and Chinatown and North Beach).
The
project will include a poem, an essay about the time/place,
and a discussion of the connection to the novel. Students
will also write a literary essay on the novel using at least
five quotes, supporting a theme/thesis (accidents and cars;
women in the ‘20s; light and heat as symbols; green as a symbol).
Click for handout.
2.
Have students write a “Where I'm From” poem (George Ella Lyons).
Discussion of where Gatsby is “from.”
3.
Take students to Intersection for the Arts interactive presentation,
The People’s Plan, about the Mission District: model of the
neighborhood that visitors make; presentation on how the area
has changed since 1900; gallery show of posters, news articles,
protest of gentrification slogans and signs; survey which will
be used in a presentation to the San Francisco City Planning
Commission.
4.
Review with students the interviewing process and the interview
sheet for writing a “Where I'm From” poem for a person whom
they admire, who lives in the neighborhood the student has targeted,
and who may know something about the 1920s in that neighborhood.
5.
Take students to the school and Potrero Hill library to research
the period, the neighborhood (Internet, periodicals, books).
6.
Watch “San Francisco in the ‘20s,” video of “Gatsby” (Redford),
and video about Fitzgerald’s life, F. Scott Fitzgerald, The
Great American Dreamer (Arts and Education Biography).
7.
Make second visit to Intersection for the Arts: the Mission
District in the 1920s.
8.
Students participate in “fishbowls” on literary themes/ topics/neighborhoods.
One of the groups is selected to have a discussion while the
rest of the class watches. Protocol: Each student in the group
shares a quotation from the book or an interesting fact/photograph/passage
from a book, article or Internet site on one of the group’s
research topics, and makes a commentary. Then the group discusses
the theme or topic, their progress so far, and plans to continue.
9.
Give lesson on citations and embedding quotes. (ISA's guidelines
for senior project.)
10.
Students find quotes that fit one of 5 themes, compete for which
group can find the most (relevant and correctly copied, cited)
quotes.
11.
Read models of student essays, show posters for presentations.
Go over rubrics for each.
12.
Essays submitted, Presentations made. Each group will choose
one of the two presentations (topic, neighborhood) to present
during finals week.
13.
Evaluation
Necessary
handouts
Interview
Note-taking Sheet for a “Where I'm From” Poem
Name
of person interviewed:
Birth
date:
Appointment
made on (date):
Date
and time of interview:
First,
explain the assignment:
Thank
you for taking the time for this interview. As I explained
when I made the appointment with you, I am doing a project for
my American literature class at International Studies Academy
which includes learning to interview someone in order to write
a poem about that person's life, and doing some research on
periods in American history.
My
teacher's name is Judy Bebelaar, and you can call her at school
if you have any questions, at 415-695-5866. I’ll take some
notes as I ask you questions, and use those notes to help write
a poem modeled after one by American poet George Ella Lyons.
I’ll read you the poem I wrote about myself by way of introduction
and to show you what I mean by a “Where I'm From” poem.
Feel
free to ask me questions and please let me know if anything
I ask is too personal. I hope to learn something about you
and what America, or
another part of the world, was like when you were my age or
younger. I’m not going to ask you about historical events so
much as about concrete details which often give a deeper, truer
picture of someone's life than fact and figure do.
Then
read your poem, and begin to ask the questions below.
The
numbers with no questions are for you to write answers to questions
that seem interesting to ask as the interview proceeds. But
remember, always be polite. Write your answers on a separate
sheet of paper so you'll have room for surprises. If a question
has many parts, pause after each part long enough to give the
person time to think. Make a check by ones you’d like to come
back to later.
Introduce
yourself and thank the person for his/her time. Explain what
school you attend, who your teacher is, and that this is part
of an assignment on poems about place. Read the model poem
and your own poem, or one by another student you think is especially
good (with that person's permission) aloud. Then read the questions
below to the person you're interviewing. Add your own questions
too if you like. These questions represent only part of what
may be important and interesting details about this person's
childhood history. Set a time limit before you begin, asking
the person how much time he or she has to spare. Make a time
for a second appointment if necessary. Take a tape recorder,
or jot your notes down quickly, being sure to include specific
details you might want to use. Don't write complete sentences
- just the really important words.
1.
Where did you grow up? Where was your home? (city, town, or
part of San Francisco; in an apartment building, outside of
town, on a farm, etc.)
2.
When you think of that place, what comes to mind, such as the
color of your house, or whether it was small or large, or made
of brick or stone, or a tree that grew there, or what was planted
in your garden, or what the front porch or the view was like?
3.
What was your mother's name? Your father's? Do you have brothers
or sisters? What are there names? Is there another relative,
an uncle or grandmother who was important to you? What specific
activities do you associate with her, or remember doing with
her?
4.
What is an object or activity that reminds you of one or more
of those people? For example, did you cook with your mother,
or work in the garden or somewhere else with one of those people?
What utensils or tools or dishes or other specific things come
to mind, like woks or cookie sheets or wrenches or shovels or
ink pens? What I write will be better if you can be very specific.
The names of things are often interesting, especially if they
are in another language.
5.
What foods did you love as a child that your mother or grandmother
made?
6.
Do you remember tasting something you weren't really supposed
to eat - or plants children taste, like honeysuckle or lemon
grass?
7.
What games did you play? (Ask for an explanation too, if it's
a game not familiar to you.)
8.
What songs did you sing at home or in church or temple? Do
you remember any sayings or verses from a song or a holy book?
They can be in a language other than English.
9.
What sayings, funny, or wise, or scolding, do you remember -
things your mother or grandmother, father or grandfather, an
aunt or uncle might say to you? If they were said in a language
other than English, could you help me write them down in that
language and translate them to English?
10.
What movies did you like? Who were your favorite singers/ radio
stations/ actors?
11.
What were some of your favorite possessions - a doll, a toy,
a pet, something in your parents' house or your room?
12.
What are some names of near-by towns, rivers, creeks, mountains,
etc.
13.
What were your favorite holidays?
14.
What were some events that are important in your life? The
events might be personal, like the birth or death of someone
close to you, or historical, like strikes or protest marches
or wars.
15.
What's something you would have seen every day, which I may
not - perhaps think of how people went to work, or what a particular
street looked like.
16.
If you had to choose one moment or object or event that summed
up your childhood, what would that be?
17
Have all these questions reminded you of anything else you'd
like to share with me?
Thank
you so much for your time. I'll give you a copy of what I write
from your answers, and let you make any corrections or additions.
Then, if I have your written permission, I'll share what I wrote
with my class. Please sign below if my teacher has your permission
to share your poem with a group of teachers who are writing
a book about teaching and community research.
Rubric
for Group Presentations (possible score of 1 to 6 for each
requirement)
Essay
approximately one and one half pages, proofread and edited,
typed, double-spaced. The thesis should be clear, and the paper
should show a careful reading of the text or texts. Quotations,
examples, or facts (at least five) should support the thesis.
The writing should be clear and concise. Make at least one
connection with the novel (For example, quote a passage from
Gatsby that relates to the Black Sox scandal, or relate something
that occurred in your neighborhood in the 1920s to a part of
the novel.). The essay should be copied and distributed to
the class, or put on an overhead.
Graphic
Piece (poster) should be neatly, artistically, thoughtfully
done. The piece should be artistic as well as informative,
and should be large enough so the class can view it as it is
explained. For the topic report (Harlem Renaissance, etc.)
there should be a definition or explanation, brief autobiographies,
poems, photographs, selections from texts read by the group,
important facts or figures. For the neighborhood report, there
should be a brief written description of the neighborhood in
the 1920s, one of the “Where I'm From” poems, photographs, selections
from texts, facts and figures.
Presentation
Skills: Group members should be articulate (Ideas are clearly
spoken, written.); informed (Presentation shows you did your
research homework.); enthusiastic (The group is excited about
the ideas.); educational (The class learns from the presentation.);
and organized (Time was obviously spent preparing well.)
Student
artifact
“Where
I’m From”
I
am from the country of the goddess
I
am from two smart workers, who gave me life.
I
am from the blue soft sky, with an escort of angels
I
am from corn, because it gives me my identity of Latina
I
am from the green fields where
Every
single morning I woke up to pick tomatoes and corn
I
am from the city where the butterflies were born,
In
each one of them, one dream to follow
I
am from a little town, where the sun touched the fields
Every
morning, giving the energy that my parents needed
To
continue with their routine
I
am from the wind, because
You
can feel me even if you cannot see me.
I
am from las tortillas cooked of corn
I
am from my family,
From
the Virgen de Guadalupe
From
my country Mexico,
where I was born
--
Laura Melgarejo
“Where
I’m From”
I
am from the racism and the time of segregation
I
am from the Fillmore District in 1934, from a small, tight apartment
I
am from working hard every day to send el dinero to Beatriz
my wife in Mexico
I
was eighteen when we married, and twenty when I left for San
Francisco
I
am from horrible sounds coming from the machines
I
am from enormous buildings with dark-colored rooms
I
am from old beautiful black cars, from my old bicycle
I
am from the beach, from small boats
I
am from Dona Sara y Don Gabriel
I
am from three brothers and four sisters
From
Jesus, Alberto and Ramira and my sisters
Amalia,
Beatriz, Tereza and Guadalupe
I
am from Saturday and Sunday church,
From
sunny days playing soccer and having a good time
I
am from ice cream and chicken mole with tortillas,
From
the fresh water flavor of Guallava and
The
essential flavor, el chile
I
am from American food, from sandwiches
Milky
Ways and lollypops
I
am from Mexican songs, from Cielito Lindo
Sigo
Siende el Rey, Mexico Lindo y Querida
I
am from Spanish books
I
am from superstitions, from the priest’s advice
From
“Brothers and Sisters, love your fellows as I love you.”
I
am from losing my job
And
moving to Fresno to working there in the fields
I
am from poverty and hard times
And
from happiness too
I
am from talking to you, mi ja,
And
remembering the old days
--
Ramon Medina (Laura’s grandfather)
Teacher
reflection
This
lesson surprised me in several ways. Students, rather than
being reluctant to interview people seemed to enjoy the process.
Several found people who had lived in San Francisco in the 1920’s.
One
student, Laura, came to class the day after she had interviewed
her grandfather. “Ms. Bebelaar! Guess what? I never knew my
grandfather lived in San Francisco in those years! I always
thought he came from Mexico
to Fresno. He told me all about it and he even might come
talk to our class!”
Another
student interviewed a woman for whom the local middle school
had been renamed, honoring her for her decades of work with
children in the Potrero Hill neighborhood. Perhaps the interview
project worked well because students had a model of their own,
a poem they liked, the “Where I’m From” poem.
Perhaps
the focus on the 1920’s intrigued them because of the parallels
between then and now. My student teacher found an article in
the New York Times, “Jay Gatsby, Dreamer, Criminal, Jazz
Age Rogue, Is a Man for Our Times.” Adam Cohen says, “if Gatsby
were around today, he would probably be in the upper echelons
of Enron….But it is the elusive Gatsby, the cynical idealist,
who embodies America in all its messy glory…In today’s increasingly
disturbing world, home to Al Qaeda cells and suicide bombers,
offshore sham partnerships and document-shredding auditors,
the grim backdrop against which Gatsby’s life plays out feels
depressingly right.”
The
era came alive through the video as students saw San Francisco
in the 1920’s. They learned that many local landmarks, including
most of the high schools, were built in the prosperous Twenties.
They also got to know Sunny Jim Rolph, the flamboyant, cowboy-boot
wearing mayor
The
people who interacted with the students helped students develop
meaningful schema for reading. The interviews and the resulting
poems connected history and literature for students. They were
not just the consumers of literature but the producers as well,
taking on the role of writer.
Although
Leo Sapienza, one of the gentlemen in the article about San
Francisco in the Twenties, could not come to our class, I sent
him some student poems and interviewed him over the phone.
Students helped me create his “Where I’m From” poem. So his
life became part of the project too. The author of the Chronicle
piece, Carl Nolte, came to class. Students met the interviewees
through him, and in the process they got to know someone who
has made writing a career.
Cross
Curricular
Judy’s
well-conceived and thoroughly prepared lesson reminds me that
one needn’t abandon community-based projects in order to embark
on a close reading of classic American novels. Rather than
competing with each other, the two pursuits can instead complement
each other famously.
The
idea that The Great Gatsby might serve as a springboard
for research in and about San Francisco makes that text come
alive and at the same time integrates the KCAC approach to researching
and writing into the literature curriculum. It makes me wonder
what connections I might make with 20th-century literary
texts and the surrounding Atlanta landscape. How might Alice
Walker, or Flannery O’Connor, or William Faulkner lead to KCAC
discoveries? This outstanding lesson excites the mind.
--
Dave Winter
