Simulation of Literary Characters Sparks Higher Level Thinking
This literary salon simulation is the final exam and major scholarly project of the Lost Generation Literature class I teach at the Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities. Students who take this course not only read the great literature written by such twentieth-century literary giants as Stein, Anderson, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Pound, Joyce, Eliot, Dos Passos, Williams, and e.e. cummings, but also examine women writers and publishers of the Left Bank: Djuna Barnes, H.D., Kay Boyle, Nancy Cunard, Margaret Anderson, and Sylvia Beach whose works were shadowed by the more popular male writers during the twenties. After a semester of research, the creation of two portfolios on their characters and two conferences with me, students become the personalities of these creative geniuses at the final exam simulated salon of Gertrude Stein and the “salon- type” gathering at Sylvia Beach’s bookstore, Shakespeare and Company.
Issues this Best Practice Addresses:
In-depth research and MLA citation; higher level thinking: analysis, synthesis, evaluation, creativity; communication skills: speech techniques, confidence in speaking, and acting, clear communication of ideas.
Major Challenges to Implementation:
Finding a suitable location. I have had the salon simulations in the Ball State music room in the Student Center, and it worked wonderfully. The problem is that we could not bring in our own food and had to go through Banquet and Catering which was expensive. I have located the salons at one of our English teacher’s homes in the past two years and the food and setting were fabulous. The problem was that the lighting is too low for photos, we had special problems with Josephine Baker’s dance, and there was no piano for Cole Porter, Virgil Thomson, and Stravinsky (we had to use a keyboard, and it just wasn’t authentic).
Benefits Derived from Implementing this Best Practice:
Students absolutely love this project and rave about it in my course evaluations. They gain so much confidence in themselves as researchers, writers, speakers, and actors. They get so immersed in their characters, they don’t want to stop researching them. This project awakens their passions and encourages them to express their many talents.
Evidence Illustrating Success:
Students want to take the course because they see how excited their friends are with the activities they are doing (maybe not the portfolio at first). Comments on the course evaluations are extremely positive and many of them are because of this project. Most express how much they learned through the project.
Additional Materials:
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Submitted by: Christine Ney, Indiana Academy for Science Mathematics and Humanities