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War for the Words Hook | Questions | Procedures | Data Investigation | Analysis | Findings | New Questions Melissa D. Elliott melissadelliott@yahoo.com "There is a System in place, If you let It, It will Think for you, "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But, after observation and analysis, when you find anything that agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it." "Never appeal to man's "better nature". He may not have one. Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage." "...Six billion souls inhabiting Two-hundred and Sixty-six nations,
Their Resentment and Hopelessness, Proclaimed in seven thousand distinct dialects. A planet in Total Disarray. Society without Law, Political and Social Disorder, Terrorism, Secrets, Lies, Environmental Disasters, Uncontrollable Disease, Overpopulation, Starvation, Anarchy, a loss of Faith, Mass Confusion, Chaos, Murder, Killing, WAR.. This is the world in which you live, this is real... these are the days.. The Last Days..." --Dave Rosenfeld "Modern science fiction is the only form of literature that consistently considers the nature of the changes that face us, the possible consequences, and the possible solutions." --Isaac Asimov "He that cannot reason is a fool; he that will not is a bigot; he that dare not is a slave."
--Andrew Carnegie On December 31, 2009, the world celebrated the turn of the decade in decadent abandon, oblivious to the omniscient observance of their revelries. Without warning or apparent provocation, when the final time zone turned to meet the new year, the alien assault upon humankind was unleashed. The legions of extraterrestrial beings that poured forth from skies polluted with behemoth aircrafts were unlike anything ever imagined by Steven Spielberg, Ray Bradbury or H.G. Wells. Enormous in both stature and number, the aliens had come...and they had not come in peace. In huge militaristic sweeps they rounded up humans like cattle into containment units: men, women, children...CEO's and street vendors, alike. In less than twenty-four hours, the alien forces had secured the human race around the globe. Then, the dehumanization process began. Destroying all telecommunication devices, the aliens disconnected our abilities to contact one another or to learn what was happening around the world. They burned sanctuaries, leveled libraries, and scoured the Earth of every human characteristic. By severing the connectivity to our fellow man, the alien invaders were systematically erasing our cultural identities and everything that defined us as human. Herding people into isolated, individualized containers, the aliens began programming the humans for their eventual profession--operant servants for the new residents of Earth. A few desperados managed to evade collection, reprogramming, and enslavement by disappearing into underground habitats and underworld substructures. These survivors have spent the last year laboring to reconnect with other rogue survivors in an attempt to begin rebuilding the human species and avoid total cultural annihilation. These separate factions have begun linking themselves together, desperate to find, organize, and preserve that which distinguishes us from our alien assailants in an attempt to find their weakness and defeat them. Amongst these factions, there exists no race, class, creed or nation--only a brotherhood of survivors determined to defeat their alien oppressors. These tiny subcommunities have found some success in restructuring what remains of our humankind heritage. An informal, but reluctant, commander has emerged from these survivors--a vindicated conspiracy theorist affectionately known as "Alien Dave"--who has helped rebuild a small system of crude hospitals, rudimentary educational organizations, makeshift telecommunication contrivances, and other services to meet the operational needs of this new society. A year after the invasion, Alien Dave is now actively recruiting people to begin the collection, organization, and storage of our former human legacies--law, literature, philosophy, theology, science. Aware of your former life as a writer and college literature professor, Alien Dave has approached you with the request that you build and lead a team of agents to collect and organize a library of literature representative of our pre-invasion, global, historical culture to preserve for future generations. Sensing you are overwhelmed by the responsibility of this assignment, Alien Dave worsens the burden by informing you that the task is even more difficult than it sounds. It seems that Alien Dave's informants have alerted him that the invading alien nation has been actively seeking out the surviving subcommunities, fearful that your insurgent population will assemble a strike against their new planetary authority. According to Alien Dave, all of the miniature subcommunities must become mobile--rotating and relocating--in order to
evade alien detection. This also means that the literature your team collects must also be transportable. Daunting as it may sound, he suggests that it can truly be no more than a ten moderately-sized volumes. He estimates that a single volume could conceivably hold no more than 50 poems...or 10 short stories/ novellas...or 4 plays...or 2 novels. You laugh. Though humorless, it is your first laugh since this whole nightmare began. How can the literary history of countless civilizations throughout thousands of years be encapsulated in only ten slim volumes? How would you even begin to determine what would be a fair and meaningful representation for future generations? Languages, cultures, eras, authors, forms--the possibilities assault you. You shake your head, bewildered. This mission is a privilege for which you are honored and humbled to be undertaking, but terrified to fail. Alien Dave reminds you that the only way you can fail is by not even trying, and you cannot help but to agree. Pleased with your concurrence, he offers you a rudimentary word-processing and printing system that the survivors constructed, informing you that you and your
team are welcome to anthologize the works that you select yourselves, rather than being forced to choose from pre-selected volumes. This is a small consolation. Your head is swimming with possibilities--with the responsibilities of choice and consequence. Alien Dave decides to leave you to think about your plan of action. As he descends into the shadowy tunnels, he turns to remind you--only those who do nothing leave themselves vulnerable to losing everything. As he fades into the darkness, his words find their way back to you: Haven't we already lost enough? Books are more than mere objects that we read. For better or for worse, they unflinchingly mirror our moods, values, beliefs, and principles. Literature is the key to our past, the reflection of our present, and the door to our future. Because we have become accustomed to being able to pick up or purchase literature as easily as we might pick up a Big Mac and Coke, we don't often consider the alternative: What if we couldn't? What if the proliferation of literary choices simply weren't there? What would you wish you had read when the opportunities were limitless? What would you salvage if you were given the opportunity to do so? Why? Upon what criteria would you base your decision? What are the consequences of the choices that you make today for the generations of the future? What will
you tell them about the decisions you have made? 1) How could I begin to assess what literature is "out there"? 2) How should I determine the degree of its magnitude? 3) How could I begin to choose what literature should be kept? 4) How should I structure my "team" of fellow students and divide our efforts? 5) How should we optimize the time and resources allotted to this project? 6) In what format should this project be presented? These questions could naturally lead into the following sub-questions for the students to further develop their level of inquiry. These sub-questions may include, but not be limited to, the following: 1) Once we have determined how to assess the literature, how do we access it? 2) What criteria should be used to determine what makes literature "great"? 3) What criteria should be used to determine what makes literature "valuable"? Type(s) of Data Students will need to gather a relatively large sampling of world literature. They should pool various lists of literature widely accepted as "great" and "meaningful" to analyze the content for why this consensus exists. The pool should be extremely broad--forcing the students to reach well beyond their own current level of literary familiarity. Extensive lists of resources and writings should be gathered and organized. Defining Important Terms While the literal definitions of words should not be a problem to the students involved in this project, they may be required to redefine their understanding of certain terms as they apply to literary theory. Meaning, what do the words "timeless", "classic", and "standards" mean with regard to their application to literature? The students will certainly need to develop their their understanding of what we mean by the "literary canon"--and its influence on shaping Western culture, especially. Investigation Tool(s) The primary tool associated with this assignment will be a computer with access to the Internet, spreadsheet software, and word processing software. The students will need the Internet access to research and collect data; spreadsheet software to organize (and possibly graph) their results and to classify and categorize their findings; and word processing software to create and publish their final project. Library access would also be beneficial to fully immerse the students in this assignment. Manipulating Data A concept map would be an excellent place for the students to begin this exercise in an attempt to break down the meaning of this assignment into manageable divisions. A student-created rubric categorically defining (and thereby "scoring") the differing elements that define literature as "great" would be an outstanding tool for manipulating the data. Finally, a creation of a time line would also be an exceptional way for the students to organize and manage the categorical data that they collect. As I developed this as a Senior Level, English IV assignment, I believe that--in general--the students are more than capable of searching for their own websites. However, given that I cannot simply assume that the technological understanding and experience of all students are equal, I would distribute the following links to aid them in approaching this subject matter. Each of these sites give a great amount of information about the subject of literature, literary theory, and the importance of its study, while still allowing the student to formulate his or her own opinion on the subject. The following is an example of a concept map that would determine that the students have organized their thoughts and are making an organized movement toward their data collection and manipulation. INSERT CONCEPT MAP HERE Once the students have explored the broadest reaches on the topic of literature and chosen a large selection of what they believe may be the works worthy of preservation, it is time for them to implement their rubric/spreadsheet for evaluating these works and begin "grading" their value and merit on an individual basis. Essentially, once they've listed or grouped the works that they are interested in preserving, the student will rate them individually (preferably entering this data in a spreadsheet format), compare these individual ratings to one another (within the spreadsheet), and arriving at a numerical value that aids them in selecting the specific works for our representative literary heritage. The success of this analysis rests primarily in the students' ability to work together to create a meaningful rubric that, ideally, would assign a point value to the most relevant and significant criteria in determining which pieces of literature will survive to enlighten, enrich, and entertain future generations of survivors. Once this rubric has been applied to the literature chosen by the students, they should spend the remainder of their project hypothetically assembling the anthologies and creating a report to present and defend their choices to the teacher and their classmates. The following is a sample rubric that suggests the different criteria that your students may want to follow to build a meaningful understanding of these works as a whole. (It should be noted that no class will ever have students that are completely familiar with all--or even a great many--of the canonized classics or even the post-modern lit. It is fair to allow the students to incorporate the [educated] critical consensus into the evaluation of any works with which they are, personally, unfamiliar.)
Caveat: Granted, this portion of the assignment is a clinical, unemotional means of approaching this dilemma. Of course this method leaves little, if any, room for the magical affection-connection that one particular person may have for one particular piece of literature...but it is imperative that the instructor emphasize that this assignment is not about what is best for one person. This assignment is designed to help students recognize the "bigger picture" in how literature relates the world at large--identifying, defining, and shaping the myriad of human experiences. There are no definitively right or wrong answers for this project--only evidence of careful thought, deliberate planning, thorough organization, inventive preparation, and entertaining presentation. The students' ability to creatively communicate their final selections and articulately defend their choices is the single largest factor in the grading of this assignment. In fact, in my rubric for grading this project, originality and creativity of presentation constitutes fully one half of the final grade. One clever, tongue-in-cheek method of presentation would be for the students to create an infomercial-like play where they "sell" their new series of literary anthologies to the class, much like the infamous Time-Life commercials that hawked everything from home improvement manuals to musical compilation discs from the seventies. In this scenario, the students might use sound and lighting effects that set the bleak mood of this apocalyptic, post-invasion world. After reiterating where the survivors stand in their struggle to reunite and rebuild society, the students could brightly chirp that all is not lost if they act now, purchasing the brand-new, superlative collection of "Literature's Greatest Hits". In their presentation, the students could distribute witty brochures (created on desktop publishing software) that outlined the selections within their collection, explaining brightly (and in true
infomercial-barker style) exactly why the students should "act now" and snap up this fabulous offer. Of course, this is a light-hearted approach to such serious subject matter--but I believe that the students should feel comfortable tackling an assignment this broad and demanding by being allowed to express themselves naturally. If this means permitting them to stretch their creative and comedic wings, then so be it. Jocular approaches do not necessarily signify a lack of introspection or preparation; in fact, as demonstrated by literary movement of the comic grotesque, it is often quite the opposite. The following is an example of the rubric created to determine how well the students have used this project to illuminate and expand their understanding of world literature and its significance to humankind. These attributes are only a suggested scale for rating student efforts, and may be modified to meet any instructor's personally chosen criteria:
Because, after the completion of a project of this magnitude, the answers do often lead to new questions, the instructor should be pleased if the students' cycle of inquiry is renewed. The teacher should be prepared to encourage the students continue this process. Listed here are example follow up questions students might have and wish to investigate at a later time, or which the instructor may want to add as an auxiliary assignment.
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MELISSA D. ELLIOTT
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War for the
Words Hook | Questions | Procedures | Data Investigation | Analysis | Findings | New Questions Melissa D. Elliott melissadelliott@yahoo.com "There is a System in place, If you let It,
It will Think for you, "Do not believe in anything simply because
you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it
is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything because
it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in
anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do
not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many
generations. But, after observation and analysis, when you find
anything that agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and
benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it." "Never appeal to man's "better
nature". He may not have one. Invoking his self-interest
gives you more leverage." "...Six billion souls inhabiting
Two-hundred and Sixty-six nations,
Their Resentment and Hopelessness, Proclaimed in seven thousand distinct dialects. A planet in Total Disarray. Society without Law, Political and Social Disorder, Terrorism, Secrets, Lies, Environmental Disasters, Uncontrollable Disease, Overpopulation, Starvation, Anarchy, a loss of Faith, Mass Confusion, Chaos, Murder, Killing, WAR.. This is the world in which you live, this is real... these are the days.. The Last Days..." --Dave Rosenfeld "Modern science fiction is the only form of literature that consistently considers the nature of the changes that face us, the possible consequences, and the possible solutions." --Isaac Asimov "He that cannot
reason is a fool; he that will not is a bigot; he that dare not is a slave."
--Andrew Carnegie On December 31, 2009, the world celebrated the turn of the decade in decadent abandon, oblivious to the omniscient observance of their revelries. Without warning or apparent provocation, when the final time zone turned to meet the new year, the alien assault upon humankind was unleashed. The
legions of extraterrestrial beings that poured forth from skies
polluted with behemoth aircrafts were unlike anything ever imagined by
Steven Spielberg, Ray Bradbury or H.G. Wells. Enormous in both
stature and number, the aliens had come...and they had not come in
peace. In huge militaristic sweeps they rounded up humans like
cattle into containment units: men, women, children...CEO's and street
vendors, alike. In less than twenty-four hours, the alien forces
had secured the human race around the globe. Then, the
dehumanization process began. Destroying
all telecommunication devices, the aliens disconnected our abilities to
contact one another or to learn what was happening around the
world. They burned sanctuaries, leveled libraries, and scoured
the Earth of every human characteristic. By severing the
connectivity to our fellow man, the alien invaders were systematically
erasing our cultural identities and everything that defined us as
human. Herding people into isolated, individualized containers,
the aliens began programming the humans for their eventual
profession--operant servants for the new residents of Earth. A few
desperados managed to evade collection, reprogramming, and enslavement
by disappearing into underground habitats and underworld
substructures. These survivors have spent the last year laboring
to reconnect with other rogue survivors in an attempt to begin
rebuilding the human species and avoid total cultural
annihilation. These separate factions have begun linking
themselves together, desperate to find, organize, and preserve that
which distinguishes us from our alien assailants in an attempt to find
their weakness and defeat them. Amongst these factions, there
exists no race, class, creed or nation--only a brotherhood of survivors
determined to defeat their alien oppressors. These
tiny subcommunities have found some success in restructuring what
remains of our humankind heritage. An informal, but reluctant,
commander has emerged from these survivors--a vindicated conspiracy
theorist affectionately known as "Alien Dave"--who has helped rebuild a
small system of crude hospitals, rudimentary educational organizations,
makeshift telecommunication contrivances, and other services to meet
the operational needs of this new society. A year after the
invasion, Alien Dave is now actively recruiting people to begin the
collection, organization, and storage of our former human
legacies--law, literature, philosophy, theology, science. Aware
of your former life as a writer and college literature professor, Alien
Dave has approached you with the request that you build and lead a team
of agents to collect and organize a library of literature
representative of our pre-invasion, global, historical culture to
preserve for future generations. Sensing you are overwhelmed by
the responsibility of this assignment, Alien Dave worsens the burden by
informing you that the task is even more difficult than it
sounds. It seems that Alien Dave's informants have alerted him
that the invading alien nation has been actively seeking out the
surviving subcommunities, fearful that your insurgent population will
assemble a strike against their new planetary authority.
According to Alien Dave, all of the miniature subcommunities must
become mobile--rotating and relocating--in order to evade alien
detection. This also means that the literature your team collects
must also be transportable. Daunting as it may sound, he suggests
that it can truly be no more than a ten moderately-sized volumes.
He estimates that a single volume could conceivably hold no more than
50 poems...or 10 short stories/ novellas...or 4 plays...or 2 novels. You
laugh. Though humorless, it is your first laugh since this whole
nightmare began. How can the literary history of countless
civilizations throughout thousands of years be encapsulated in only ten
slim
volumes? How would you even begin to determine what would be a
fair and meaningful representation for future generations?
Languages, cultures, eras, authors, forms--the possibilities assault
you. You shake your head, bewildered. This mission is a
privilege for which you are honored and humbled to be undertaking, but
terrified to fail. Alien Dave reminds you that the only way you
can fail is by not even trying, and you cannot help but to agree.
Pleased with your concurrence, he offers you a rudimentary
word-processing and printing system that the survivors constructed,
informing you that you and your team are welcome to anthologize the
works that you select yourselves, rather than being forced to choose
from pre-selected volumes. This is a small consolation.
Your head is swimming with possibilities--with the responsibilities of
choice and consequence. Alien Dave decides to leave you to think
about your plan of action. As he
descends into the shadowy tunnels, he turns to remind you--only
those
who do nothing leave themselves vulnerable to losing everything.
As he fades into the darkness, his words find their way back to you:
Haven't we already lost enough? Books are
more than mere objects that we read. For better or for worse,
they unflinchingly mirror our moods, values, beliefs, and
principles. Literature is the key to our past, the reflection of
our present, and the door to our future. Because we
have become accustomed to being able to pick up or purchase literature
as easily as we might pick up a Big Mac and Coke, we don't often
consider the alternative: What if we couldn't? What if the
proliferation of literary choices simply weren't there? What would you
wish you had read when the opportunities were limitless? What
would you salvage if you were given the opportunity to do so?
Why? Upon what criteria would you base your decision? What
are the consequences of the choices that you make today for the
generations of the future? What will you tell them about the
decisions you have made? 1) How could I
begin to assess what literature is "out there"?
2) How should I determine the degree of its magnitude? 3) How could I begin to choose what literature should be kept? 4) How should I structure my "team" of fellow students and divide our efforts? 5) How should we optimize the time and resources allotted to this project? 6) In what format should this project be presented? These questions could naturally lead into the following sub-questions for the students to further develop their level of inquiry. These sub-questions may include, but not be limited to, the following: 1) Once we have
determined how to assess the literature, how do
we access it?
2) What criteria should be used to determine what makes literature "great"? 3) What criteria should be used to determine what makes literature "valuable"? Type(s) of Data Students will need to gather a relatively large sampling of world literature. They should pool various lists of literature widely accepted as "great" and "meaningful" to analyze the content for why this consensus exists. The pool should be extremely broad--forcing the students to reach well beyond their own current level of literary familiarity. Extensive lists of resources and writings should be gathered and organized. Defining Important Terms While the
literal definitions of words should not be a problem to the students
involved in this project, they may be required to redefine their
understanding of certain terms as they apply to literary theory.
Meaning, what do the words "timeless", "classic", and "standards" mean
with regard to their application to literature? The students will
certainly need to develop their their understanding of what we mean by
the "literary canon"--and its influence on shaping Western culture,
especially. Investigation Tool(s) The
primary tool associated with this assignment will be a computer with
access to the Internet, spreadsheet software, and word processing
software. The students will need the Internet access to research
and collect data; spreadsheet software to organize (and possibly graph)
their results and to classify and categorize their findings; and word
processing software to create and publish their final project.
Library access would also be beneficial to fully immerse the students
in this assignment. Manipulating Data A concept map would be an excellent place for the students to begin this exercise in an attempt to break down the meaning of this assignment into manageable divisions. A student-created rubric categorically defining (and thereby "scoring") the differing elements that define literature as "great" would be an outstanding tool for manipulating the data. Finally, a creation of a time line would also be an exceptional way for the students to organize and manage the categorical data that they collect. As I
developed this as a Senior Level, English IV assignment, I believe
that--in general--the students are more than capable of searching for
their own websites. However, given that I cannot simply
assume that the technological understanding and experience of all
students are equal, I would distribute the following links to aid them
in approaching this subject matter. Each of these sites give a
great amount of information about the subject of literature, literary
theory, and the importance of its study, while still allowing the
student to formulate his or her own opinion on the subject. The
following is an example of a concept map that would determine that the
students have organized their thoughts and are making an organized
movement toward their data collection and manipulation.
INSERT
CONCEPT MAP HERE Once the
students have explored the broadest reaches on the topic of literature
and chosen a large selection of what they believe may be the works
worthy of preservation, it is time for them to implement their
rubric/spreadsheet for evaluating these works and begin "grading" their
value and merit on an individual basis. Essentially, once they've
listed or grouped the works that they are interested in preserving, the
student will rate them individually (preferably entering this data in a
spreadsheet format), compare these individual ratings to one another
(within the spreadsheet), and arriving at a numerical value that aids
them in selecting the specific works for our representative literary
heritage. The
success of this analysis rests primarily in the students' ability to
work together to create a meaningful rubric that, ideally, would assign
a point value to the most relevant and significant criteria in
determining which pieces of literature will survive to enlighten,
enrich, and entertain future generations of survivors. Once this
rubric has been applied to the literature chosen by the students, they
should spend the remainder of their project hypothetically assembling
the anthologies and creating a report to present and defend their
choices to the teacher and their classmates. The
following is a sample rubric that suggests the different criteria that
your students may want to follow to build a meaningful understanding of
these works as a whole. (It should be noted that no class will
ever have students that are completely familiar with all--or even a
great many--of the canonized classics or even the post-modern
lit. It is fair to allow the students to incorporate the
[educated] critical consensus into the evaluation of any works with
which they are, personally, unfamiliar.)
Caveat: Granted, this portion of the assignment is a clinical, unemotional means of approaching this dilemma. Of course this method leaves little, if any, room for the magical affection-connection that one particular person may have for one particular piece of literature...but it is imperative that the instructor emphasize that this assignment is not about what is best for one person. This assignment is designed to help students recognize the "bigger picture" in how literature relates the world at large--identifying, defining, and shaping the myriad of human experiences. There are no definitively right or wrong answers for this
project--only evidence of careful thought, deliberate planning,
thorough organization, inventive preparation, and entertaining
presentation. The students' ability to creatively communicate
their final selections and articulately defend their choices is the
single largest factor in the grading of this assignment. In fact,
in my rubric for grading this project, originality and creativity of
presentation constitutes fully one half of the final grade. One clever, tongue-in-cheek method of presentation would be
for the students to create an infomercial-like play where they "sell"
their new series of literary anthologies to the class, much like the
infamous Time-Life commercials that hawked everything from home
improvement manuals to musical compilation discs from the
seventies. In this scenario, the students might use sound and
lighting effects that set the bleak mood of this apocalyptic,
post-invasion world. After reiterating where the survivors stand
in their struggle to reunite and rebuild society, the students could
brightly chirp that all is not lost if they act now, purchasing the
brand-new, superlative collection of "Literature's Greatest
Hits". In their presentation, the students could distribute witty
brochures (created on desktop publishing software) that outlined the
selections within their collection, explaining brightly (and in true
infomercial-barker style) exactly why the students should "act now" and
snap up this fabulous offer. Of course, this is a light-hearted
approach to such serious subject matter--but I believe that the
students should feel comfortable tackling an assignment this broad and
demanding by being allowed to express themselves naturally. If
this means permitting them to stretch their creative and comedic wings,
then so be it. Jocular approaches do not necessarily signify a
lack of introspection or preparation; in fact, as demonstrated by
literary movement of the comic
grotesque, it is often quite the opposite. The
following is an example of the rubric created to determine how well the
students have used this project to illuminate and expand their
understanding of world literature and its significance to
humankind. These attributes are only a suggested scale for rating
student efforts, and may be modified to meet any instructor's
personally chosen criteria:
Because, after the completion of a project of this magnitude, the answers do often lead to new questions, the instructor should be pleased if the students' cycle of inquiry is renewed. The teacher should be prepared to encourage the students continue this process. Listed here are example follow up questions students might have and wish to investigate at a later time, or which the instructor may want to add as an auxiliary assignment.
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