Teachin' Books

2.3 Emily Dickinson's "A narrow Fellow in the Grass"


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If you enjoy thinking, learning, and hearing about the nuts and bolts of classroom practice, this one's for you!

In today's episode, I talk about three methods / exercises / approaches I've used to teach Emily Dickinson's poem "A narrow Fellow in the Grass." And I get downright detailed, y'all: close-reading, concept-mapping, riddle poems, assembling textual evidence, and practicing poem annotation. And: hear my breadmaker bangin' up a storm in the background -- whoops!
 
Listen in and let me know how *you* teach, or read, this poem. I'm curious to know!

  • Emily Dickinson's "A narrow Fellow in the Grass"
  • English 1G03: Emily Dickinson With Magda Zapędowska and Eugenia Zurowski
  • Bill Bartley's faculty page
  • Niigaan Sinclair's Twitter / faculty page
  • I Pass the Talking Stick to You: Sharing, Reading, Teaching Residential School Stories conference
  • For more on how the frames we bring into our teaching influence the learning that happens there, see Dissonant Methods: Undoing Discipline in the Humanities Classroom (eds. Ada Jaarsma and Kit Dobson), and especially the essay by soon-to-be podcast guest Namrata Mitra, whose contribution opens with a question similar to the point made by Niigaan Sinclair: "What is at stake in the first text you assign in an English literature course?" (103).
  • Episode pic is of my own damn undergrad paper, in which I correctly spelled Dickinson's last name exactly 0 times. Growth!

If you didn't hear my announcement from the last episode: We have MERCH! If you're interested in getting your hands on a Teachin' Books tidbits zine as part of my ongoing fundraiser to ensure I can keep providing honoraria for students and precariously or under-employed folks who come chat on the podcast, e-transfer to [email protected] or paypal.me/jambermcd or just drop me a line wherever you can find me :) The zines are pay-what-you-can, and I'll need your mailing address to get the zine to you.

The podcast music is by Dyalla Swain and the graphics are by @muskrathands.

Follow the podcast on Twitter and Instagram @TeachinBooksPod. You can also get in touch at [email protected].  In this kick-off to Season Two, I'd so appreciate if you'd share the pod with a friend, rate it, review it, tell your folks tell your family tell your neighbours and anyone who will listen!

 **The transcript for this episode, once available, will be here.**

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Teachin' BooksBy Jessica McDonald


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