Alzheimer’s At A Young Age

But For Being Lost – Mark R. Slaughter

As black imbued black, so was rendered the pitch of darkness

That befogged this godforsaken yard of graves -

And too the dank, ‘til now forgotten chapel that

Did little to grace these forlorn grounds.

Yet here stood I, seemingly first to tread this weed-ridden soil

Since times of yore when life had erstwhile blessed this land.

But for being lost in solitude - as does a country wanderer -

Would I not have happened across this morbid landscape.

And though detail rendered barely visible to my naked eye –

For desperately had the moon tried to break through this jet fog –

A sense of something suffused the place.

Was it those tormented spirits desperate for absolution,

Or perhaps the gargoyles teasing me on whether they be of stone or living flesh?

I was drawn to the oak door as it enticingly opened in passage for me.

The organ called from down the nave and through the pale orange of unsteady light

- that which could only be mustered from the few discoloured, moribund candles.

Could I also hear a distant choir of stern voices, as if in effort to scold me?

As I approached, those tarnished pipes came into view.

Standing erect with gothic pride, they bore down on me with patronising air -

Exaggerated by the disjointed sneering of minor chords,

As if to state that insignificant I had henceforth no grant of solace.

In answer, I steadied my rocking legs and racing mind to wonder of this scenario.

And in doing so, I found myself waking from a cramped dream –

Whence the message dawned: mine had been such a claustrophobic life.

This poem reminded me of an overarching theme throughout the three chapters assigned for this upcoming week. Both Deeper Reading and Critical Encounters tackle ways in getting the students to read and understand the literature being presented to them. So, in a way, I see students (and myself) as feeling lost sometimes.

Personally, I am finding Deeper Reading much more beneficial for me. It seems to have much more practical applications, whereas Critical Encounters deals mainly with examples from advanced or IB courses. However, I can take information from both texts and imagine how I will apply them to my, and our, practice. Appleman outlines the theory behind reader response(RR) in chapter three. She poses many difficulties that students have when entering a reading and how relating the text to personal experiences can both help and hinder certain students. I thoroughly enjoyed how she covered both positive and negative outcomes that this approach can have, namely:

·         RR allows the student to relate the text to their personal life

·         Students may twist the true meaning behind RR and say that they cannot be wrong and that the text has nothing to offer since their perspective is “unique.”

·         Some students may decide not to share their personal experience since it may be too closely related to the literature. Appleman uses the example of suicide.

·         RR may cause the student to close off because it relates too close to home, and this can lead to the student simply “giving up” on the literature.

As we can see, I do understand some notions behind what Critical Encounters has to offer. The problem I have is that most of us – if not all of us – will not be teaching advanced or IB classes. This text seems to be skipping some of the fundamental skills that relate to all students, no matter their ability. This is where Deeper Reading comes into play.

As stated above, Gallagher’s text and the information included can be applied to all levels of classes, whether it is modified courses or advanced. Once again, Gallagher includes analogies that relate closer to me than Appleman, such as the use of the bear to start the unit. The teacher tried it with her “inner city” class and most of the students had little to no prior knowledge about the mammal. Yet, when the teacher moved to a different school in a higher class part of town, the students had much more prior knowledge, thus, they were able to advance further into the unit. I think this is something that the teacher must realize and adapt their unit plan to. If I was teaching in, say, New York, I would probably stay away from literature about farming or hunting. However, baseball would probably resonate better, considering the Yankee/Mets rivalry. Also, I think that if we choose more enjoyable texts rather than the same canon used since 1968, the students will retain more from the literature. I read in one of my texts from my Creative Nonfiction class last year that you should write about what you enjoy. I feel this can transfer to learning as well. If we can use relevant texts and adapt the fundamentals to something enjoyable, the students – and teacher – will all have a more gratifying time learning.