Deconstruction of a poem

I am going to attempt to deconstruct Frost's The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
and sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
and looked down one as far as I could
to where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
and having perhaps the better claim
because it was grassy and wanted wear;
though as for that, the passing there
had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
in leaves no feet had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference


Even before the poem starts you get the feeling of regret in the title, The Road Not Taken, because the reader feels that there is something important about this road that wasn't taken. Then in the second line Frost says "sorry i could not take both". This again, is showing some regret and sorrow about only being able to take one road. The third line goes on to contradict itself when Frost says, "be one traveler, long I stood". If he is a traveler, he should be moving, not standing for a long time. Travelers travel. The contradictions continue when Frost is comparing the two paths, because he says the second was "just as fair" but has a "better claim/ because it was grassy and wanted wear" and then a few lines later says "the passing there/
had worn them really about the same". So, why did Frost even say the second one had better claim, if they really are about the same? He then says that he will save the first path for another day, and then says he doubts he will ever be back. Why is he trying to give himself false hope that he will get to see the first path? Then, the poem goes back to the feeling of regret when Frost says, "I shall be telling this with a sigh...I took the one less travelled by" So, with this deep sigh of regret Frost says he took the road less travelled, but if the two paths are the same, how does he know it was the one less traveled, and wouldn't it be more traveled if he has taken it? Then, the last line says "and that has made all the difference". However, is this difference a good one or a bad one? We don't know. If you listen to all the other regretful notions in the poem, it is easy to assume that taking the second path made all the difference into something bad, and if he had taken the "road not taken" things would have worked out for the better. But, we don't know how things worked out.

This was my attempt. i hope it worked!

Critical Encounters Ch. 7

In short....I want to be Martha. I think a lot of what she says is what i want to do, and how i feel about what i want my classroom to be like. I think her role as the "nudger" is the perfect way to describe it. Also, she says she wants her students to "see me as a collaborator and co-conspirator in their learning". These are my own feelings about my future classroom, in any subject area that i am teaching. I also think that she brings up a good concept of switching her physical place in the classroom from the center to moving around the room, and always changing. I agree with her when she says that it is better for the students, because i know i am a very hands on learner, and i frankly don't know anyone who learns well from being lectured at. However, something that i doesn't sit well with me is when Appleman says, "theory makes the invisible visible, the unsaid said". I feel like it is putting a whole lot on theory, when it might not necessarily be worth it...i dunno this is still something i am struggling with. i will have to get back on this when i have thought about it a little more and had more time to grapple with it. Overall, i liked reading this chapter and i think it can give a lot of insight to future teachers, and even current teachers.

Critical Encounters Ch. 6

This chapter was somewhat shocking for me to read. I always thought deconstruction was just taking apart and analyzing a text, or literary work. This is always the term my teachers have used, especially in our poetry units when we are supposed to pick apart what the author is saying, and what the true meaning is behind a work. I was never introduced to this form of deconstruction, until just now, so it is very interesting to read about. i liked this chapter and all it had to offer. However i agree with Appleman that getting students to understand the definition is probably the hardest part, since i am still a little confused as to what deconstruction really is. Also, i think it is a very good idea to put the definition on the hand out, and give a few different ones to students. I believe that it might even be easier to explain what deconstruction is not, than what is actually is. I will be wary to use this theory in my classroom though, just because of the negative effects it can have on students. Since it is such a high intellectual challenge for students, it can prove to spark feelings foreign to students that they might not be fully comfortable with. I also think this can be a good thing for students to struggle with though because it does teach them to be skeptical about what they read and to question things in their lives, and text without relying on their own personal reader response. They can take the text, and have examples, and back up to help defend their stance on issues.

Literature and Lives Ch. 3

I liked how the feminist theory was approached by Webb much better than how Appleman went about it. I think that bringing up gender issues related to feminism is a much easier way for students to be able to compare them to their lives. This doesn't mean that i think using feminist theory shouldn't be used in traditional text, but i think that gender issues are easier for students to relate to because that way they are not just focusing on the women in stories and how they are treated, or mistreated. Webb's example of this is in the book Macbeth, and i think that this is a wonderful way to do this because it isn't focusing on Lady Macbeth, but on Macbeth himself and how he traps himself with his masculine actions. I also think that since feminism is a gender issue it only makes sense that they should be brought up together. I am also glad to see that Webb brought up gay and lesbian studies as well in this chapter, because it goes along with the gender issues becuase i think that these are all issues that do bring up a lot of controversy, which as Webb states "serves as a stimulus to learning".

Critical Encounters Ch. 5

I think that reading this chapter just reemphasizes my own experience with the feminism literary theory. I say that only because a lot of the things they talk about i was thinking in my head. For instance, how my gender effects how i read the text. Being a female, i almost felt like this chapter was pointless. The feminist theory should just be known, and a lot of times when it is talked about i feel like women are just trying to make a bigger deal out of being different. This kind of goes along with how i feel about racism. I feel like a lot of time, if it just wasn't talked about as in depth and as often as it is, things might be better. However, in texts this is hard, since there are so many different ways to look at a text. I agree with Appleman when she talks about when she thinks that both "feminist" text and traditional text in the classroom. I think it would be more wise to start with the "feminist" text because i feel that it is easier to see the lens of feminism in that text, and then taking that into any text. I think that the feminist text make students more comfortable with the theory and looking at a text through that lens, and then, once they are comfortable, it will be easy for them to take that lens, and not only look at other texts, but also the world around them. i think that the activities that Appleman talks about are a really good flow to go from a poem, to text, to traditional, non feminist text, into the world around them. One thing that i thought this chapter could have done a little better is the amount of responses by the students. They were almost overwhelming, and i found myself just skimming them by the end.

Literature and Lives Ch. 6

This is a very controversial chapter, since even today we have to deal with race issues in the classroom. This also ties into chapter two, about controversial works of literature, and weather to teach them in th classroom. As controversial as this book may be, i think that Huckleberry Finn should still be taught in the classroom. I believe that in order to get rid of these issues they have to be addressed, and especially in the classroom. I also think though that if you talk about an issue too much you make it a bigger problem than it truly may be. So, as a teacher you have to find a happy medium between the two, and i think that Webb did this by talking about the book, and it's controversial issues before they even start reading the book. Since i have yet to actually be in the classroom and have to deal with issues with parents, i can't fully say that this will solve all the problems. Depending on the make up of the classroom, these issues could still be largely at hand. I also think that if your classroom only has a few minority students, that can also make it difficult for that one student because they will feel obligated to have an opinion, and will feel singled out. I am not sure how to go about solving this problem, and i am sure the answer will only come with experience.

Literature and Lives Ch. 2

This chapter was talking about teaching about Homelessness. When Webb runs into the homeless man, i knew right away, from just what we have read about Webb that he was going to find a way to use this experiences in his classroom. However, i didn't think he would use it so in depth, and focus on this topic for a whole class. It was very convenient that he again was able to find many different aspects to bring to the class such as a movie, texts, a speaker, and the class discussions that brought up a lot of controversy. I do agree with Webb when he talks about the fact that having topics close to home makes them more controversial and harder to talk about in the classroom without offending someone. When he taught Maggie: A girl of the streets was interesting to read about because right now, i am reading this story in my other English class. My class is having a very controversial discussion about naturalism and the influence of their surroundings. However, a huge topic that was brought up in my classroom was the homeless people around Kalamazoo. This is why i found it humorous that this story was brought up in the chapter about teaching homelessness.
Another thing that i agree with Webb about is the fact that it matters how he sets his lessons up, what he teaches, what texts are used, and what topics they discuss about the text all influence what his students learn in his classroom. I think this is very important.

Critical Encounters Ch. 4

I have never had the experience to work with Marxist theory, so this chapter seemed a little foreign to me. It was also confusing to read since i don't have a very strong political belief system. So, i have a hard time thinking that i will use this in my classroom. I also don't think i would enjoy teaching this theory in my classroom because i don't feel the pressure to introduce background knowledge of the time, and author, as i talked about in my previous blob from Webb. However, some things that i think are beneficial about this theory are the fact that it helps students understand themselves and others in relation to the text. This theory also encourages students to think about how the book is socially constructed for the reading audiences and the way the text is written. One quote that i agree with is from George Orwell when he says "No book is genuinely free from political bias. The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude" (pg. 60). However, i don't think that this idea should be used all the time becuase i feel like if you always thought like this it would be very hard to look outside this idea and see other theories and ways of thinking about a literary text.

MCTE Conference

The conference last week was beneficial for me to go to as a soon to be teacher. The two sessions that i found to be really helpful for me were the ones that talked about experiences from first year teachers and the pros and cons to their experiences, and the digital storytelling. I thought the session that surveyed 50 teachers, most of which were in their first five years of teaching was interesting to attend, since i am going to be a first year teacher soon. However, i thought it would have been more beneficial if we had actually had the opportunity to hear from the teachers themselves, not just read about the stats and information. I knew a lot of the positives to first year teaching experiences, but i was shocked to hear about a lot of the negatives from first year experiences. I think the biggest shock was when teachers didn't even have their own classroom. This would be hard for a first year teacher because you want to feel at home and comfortable, and if you don't have a room it is hard to do that. I also think that not having textbooks would be the biggest thing. Even though this was an English conference, i could see this being a huge hindrance for other subjects, especially math, which is my major. This would be really hard because if the students don't have textbooks, it is nearly impossible for them to be able to do the homework, or have a resource to look at while doing homework. This also relates to the digital storytelling session that i went to. the session started off a little rocky because the two teachers leading it couldn't get the technology to work, and sine the session was all about technology, they were a little worried. However, i think this happening only emphasizes that technology doesn't always work, and you have to have a backup plan. This is a positive lesson for all teachers to learn. However, i don't think i really would want to use this in my English classroom just because it seems to basic. I could see using it for middle schools but if i used it in the high school, i would want to find a way to make it more complex. However, in a math classroom i think this could be very beneficial to the students. I think this is true because it would be a good way to get the students thinking outside the mathematical way to explain things. It is a way to incorporate english into a math class, which can help some students who might not think very mathematically. They could use these digital stories to explain a concept in math and then show their stories to the class. It would be a good learning experience, and i plan on using something like this in my math class once i am a teacher. This conference was really helpful and gave me a lot of motivation as a soon to be teacher. I think it is especially beneficial when it wasn't even a math conference, but i was able to apply these topics to math.

Literature and Lives Ch. 5

I was torn when i read this chapter because new historicism, and Webb mentioned in this chapter about teaching Shakespeare, that in order to fully understand a text you have to look at the time period in which it was written and take everything that was going on during that time and apply it to why the book says what it says and why it is written that way. I believe that this is true, and especially for The Tempest which Webb describes teaching in this chapter because there was so much going on in London and the rest of the world at the time Shakespeare wrote his works. I also believe that it is a very powerful tool to use the history from that time period to support what was going on in the text and it can make the learning experience much more powerful for the students if they have a form of background knowledge about either a specific time in history, or a certain place in the world. But, as much as i agree with all this, i also want to just believe that some works were written without a deeper intent, and just written for pure enjoyment. I sometimes feel that if you read too much into the history, or purpose behind the words, you lose the story. it is almost like a lot of new historicism views are over analyzing the texts, and get away from the overall picture the author might have been trying to get across. I am not saying you shouldn't analyze a piece of work, but i think there is a fine line, and you have to find the happy medium. i can see both sides of the story, and don't know which one i agree with more.

Literature and Lives Ch. 1

I think it is very intriguing how Webb made such a deep and meaningful lesson for his students and himself without even really trying. He jut used the resources he had, and made the best of it, which i think was a lot more successful than he had hoped for. It is also interesting that the reader response and cultural studies are two theories that one would not right away put together, however, when they were used in Webb's classroom it is only normal to see how they would flow well together, and be able to build off the strengths and weaknesses of the other theory. Where reader response lacks, cultural studies fills in and vice versa.
It was a little disappointing to hear that the class Webb was teaching was taken out of the curriculum to follow a more standardized textbook content track. However, it was nice to see that Webb didn't give up his drive to change his ways of teaching. Something that i thought was really nice to hear that Webb learned was that he realized he needed to respect his students' responses and allow their questions and interests to set where the class discussion was going. I believe in this as well, especially when you are trying to make a meaningful lesson because if the student are interested in what they are reading about, writing about and talking about they will be more willing to participate and the class will have a richer conversation for it.