2021 Post #22 -- Your World

by Shawn O'Brien

The most valuable experiences in the classroom are those that help us to learn more about ourselves and what we really aspire to. For that reason, big questions can come up in English class. One of the biggest comes up early in my courses: “Are your choices making you more or less of the person that you hope to be?”

We talk about respect. We talk about humanity. We talk about doing the hard work to really climb, rather than allowing ourselves the all-too-easy slide down the proverbial mountain of our potential.

Here is where Harlem Renaissance poet Georgia Douglas Johnson comes in, as she concisely paints a powerful picture in “Your World” that begs the question: “How long will you allow fear and doubt to hold you back?”

After a reading of the poem, I ask students to respond privately to a couple simple prompts that help us to dive deeper into discussions about writing, about identity, and about courage.

• Please share your thoughts on "Your World" by Georgia Douglas Johnson. Please use at least one short quote from the poem to illustrate your feeling and insight.
• What do you feel Johnson has to say in "Your World" about self-respect? What does she have to say about the human experience? Please include at least one short quote from the poem as you explain.

Johnson’s piece, being both short and profound, makes for a great exercise in selecting strong quotes, and learning to incorporate them into a piece of writing.

With such a minimal commitment of time, a little work on “Your World” pays off big.

Further Reading: 

Shawn O’Brien is an English teacher at Central Bucks High School West in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Students find Mr. O. particularly passionate about hip-hop, philosophy, junk food, comics, and The Legend of Zelda. He’s been known to occasionally share some of those passions, and to promote West events, on Instagram and Twitter.

2020 Post #17 -- A Harlem Renaissance Classic

by Donte' Demonbruen

James Mercer Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. Langston Hughes was an African American writer whose poems, columns, novels and plays made him a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920's.

It was during this time that Hughes first began to write poetry, and one of his teachers introduced him to the poetry of Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman both of whom Hughes would later cite as primary influences.

Langston’s 1926 poem "I, Too" is a riveting poem that sparked much conversation during the Harlem Renaissance but is still very much relevant today in 2020. Hughes focused on the importance of being accepted and treated equally in America, two important topics in today’s society.

As a class, read the poem aloud and when finished, take a few moments to allow those words to sink into the minds of the students who just experienced Hughes's writing. Ask students how those lines relate to the world we live in today in America. Are we still fighting the same exact fight for equality or are we battling new demons? If the students respond with "we aren’t battling the same demons," then what demons are we battling?

 

Further Reading: 

Donte’ Demonbreum is a senior English major currently studying English education at a four-year public university in Clarksville, Tennessee, Austin Peay State University. Donte’ enjoys reading young adult literature in his free time and being with family. He graduates from APSU this spring with an English degree and a minor in professional education. You can follow him on Twitter @MrDemonbreum.