So What?

First of all, I felt that all of these responses were great. Each student thoroughly thought them out and represented their opinions well.

However, the main thing I got out of these responses is a blatant example of how each student will approach a text differently. All three got the same general idea of race, and the issues stemming from it in our society. However, from there they each expanded on the point of the poem differently.

The first writer talks about fear, and using literature to overcome it, as well as understand our differences. The second writer makes if more of a political statement, raging about the fact that we still hold prejudices. He poses questions to the reader but also to himself, as a way to understand the poem, and the obvious emotion it is causing him to feel. Finally, the last writer also talks about society as a whole, but she shows that the author is not showing anything new, but rather an old idea just in a new story. She also brings up the issue of class, which was new to the discussion.

From their word choices, such as “fear,” “political correctness,” and “hostage,” we can see that each student has approached this writing with a different lens. However, after I thought about what I had taken from the story, I realized that many of these students brought up issues I hadn’t even though of. Reading these responses really showed how differently each student thinks, and how much I can learn and help other students learn with these different perspectives.