by: Tequilla Richardson

Reflective Introduction

Special education is a very broad and diverse field that encompasses teaching for a wide array of disabilities, ranging from physical impairments to neurological disorders. The field of special education has grown tremendously since its initial appearance in 1975, creating room for newly improved teaching techniques to be integrated into the classroom. A more positive attitude has developed towards special education, as many schools now integrate special education students into their general education classrooms (otherwise known as inclusion). Yet, most importantly, special education students have solid protection in place to respect their disabilities and also provide equality amongst other students.

Abstract

Within this project, I intend to demonstrate that guided notes are an effective method to incorporate into a classroom. I intend to prove myself through consulting various professional journals and research studies, as well as referencing a special education course I excelled during the spring 2016 semester. I found the topic of guided notes interesting because they are such a simple, yet powerful tool. Moreover, guided notes are applicable to all age and grade levels: elementary, middle, and high school. In my opinion, guided notes are so valuable because they can be coupled with other learning techniques within all subjects/topics. Overall, this topic is extremely important and relevant because special education students are often overlooked. In essence, I will present a brief introduction to guided notes followed by tips for appropriate (and successful) usage. To add validity, I have researched several studies conducted within various classrooms further attesting to the effectiveness of guided notes. To conclude, I will include my personal experience with guided notes.  

 

The term special education has come to include hundreds of disorders and disabilities. Through special education services, students now previously overlooked and/or ridiculed have access to equal services and treatment. In the last few decades, there has been a huge push towards incorporating these students into general education classrooms, a move termed inclusion. In an effort to provide equality within inclusive classrooms, more and more teachers are turning to various learning techniques for students. One of the most popular techniques is guided notes; guided notes are handouts provided by a teacher that outline key concepts and information. Guided notes are indeed effective tools to utilize within the classroom because they promote equal access to material while also enhancing student learning by organizing information; in addition, guided notes help further the overall vision of special education by promoting inclusion for both educators and students.

Guided notes are best implemented in traditional classroom settings (i.e. lecture-based). When paired with lectures, guided notes provide students with the most important information, while also retaining their attention. Guided notes leave blank spaces for students to fill in during the lesson’s progression, prompting active student listening/participation (Heward 1). Most importantly, guided notes can be revisited for future studying, a necessity for all students. The basic idea behind guided notes is quality over quantity, helping to prevent students from being overwhelmed with information. All students are provided the same sheet and expected to fill in the same information using sentence clues and other resources such as textbooks, classmates and/or media and video supplements. Guided notes work so well in traditional, inclusive classrooms because no student feels singled out, primarily special education students. If special education students are separated from their general education peers, they can feel discouraged or underappreciated.

When determining how to implement guided notes into a classroom, the most important step is to carefully monitor each student. Educators are responsible for knowing students’ strengths, weaknesses, and any accommodations needed. In order to maintain classroom balance and include all students, guided notes help bring everyone to the same level by providing uniform information. Upon determining the need for guided notes, teachers should choose the most important information from the lesson/text, in order to: prevent overloading students with information, retain students’ attention span (including students with ADD/ADHD), and also choose information that can connect to other topics of the course, either in review or the foreshadowing future lessons. Students learn best when they feel connected to the presented material and see a correlation with the final assessment required at the lesson’s conclusion.

As the lesson progresses, teachers should inform students of their responsibility to actively attend to the lecture and/or video and to fill in information as it arises during class discussion. To make special education students more comfortable, teachers can fill in the note-taking sheet at the same time if needed. If the lecture involves a video or other digital media, the teacher can stop the video when needed to allow students time to fill in their guided notes handout. At the lesson’s conclusion, the teacher can check for students’ completion and accuracy of the handout with an assessment. The most effective assessment is students’ independent practice, which typically occurs as a quiz. Quizzes are a quick way for teachers to evaluate students’ comprehension and see if further alteration of the guided notes handout is needed. Quizzes can come in a written version, oral examination, or as a ticket-out-the-door assignment in which students jot down salient information from the lesson after reading through the guided notes handout and listening during the teacher’s instruction. In part, guided notes are so successful because they are easy to implement and lead into other assignments such as quizzes to verify student comprehension. Their implementation is especially useful within an inclusive classroom because they help teachers to judge their effectiveness based upon assessment performance. Afterwards, the teacher should also allow the opportunity for students to provide feedback for future improvement with a post-assessment. When students feel their input is valued, they are more receptive to their teacher and the presented material.

Guided notes are versatile, meaning they are efficient study tools for all types of students, both disability and non-disability, across all grade levels (elementary, middle, and high). Particularly, guided notes work well with students who have a writing impairment or difficulty focusing their attention during a lecture; however, guided notes can also aid those with a visual and/or hearing impairment. Those with an intellectual disability are particularly receptive to guided notes because these supports help with metacognition and organization. Within his Ohio State University fast facts sheet, William Heward notes, “The listening, language, and/or motor skill deficits of some students with disabilities make it difficult for them to identify important lecture content and write it down correctly and quickly enough during a lecture. While writing one concept in his notebook, the student with learning disabilities might miss the next two points” (Hughes & Suritsky, 1994). Thus, guided notes help supplement students having to write as much information so quickly; virtually, students are not as pressured to write every piece of information and in turn feel more relaxed and engaged with the material. Heward goes on to state: “Course content is often presented via lecture in unorganized and uneven fashion. This makes it difficult for students to determine the most important aspects of the lecture (i.e., What’s going to be on the exam?)” (Heward 2). Through his argument, Heward remarks upon the organized, succinct layout of guided notes.

Several research studies have been conducted to test guided notes’ effectiveness. These studies range in target audience, length, and selected disabilities. One study conducted in an elementary science classroom analyzed the impact of guided notes for three students with intellectual disability and autism. Within “The Additive Effects of Scripted Lessons Plus Guided Notes on Science Quiz Scores of Students with Intellectual Disability and Autism”, Bree A. Jimenez, Ya-yu Lo, and Alicia F. Saunders note:

The Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004 and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 emphasized that students with disabilities should have the same opportunities to learn and be held to the high standards as their nondisabled, same-age peers by accessing and participating in the general education curriculum” (231).

The authors’ familiarization with imperative special education legislation adds to the validity of their research on guided notes. The authors revolve their argument in support of guided notes solely because of federally enforced legislation. In the study, the three students were administered three different quizzes (covering three different units) individually by the special education teacher.  The special education teacher first began with a traditional lecture format. The same teacher then provided the three students with guided notes. The guided notes served as a reinforcement of important concepts from the lesson, while also allowing all students equal access to the same information. Overall, the three students’ quiz scores improved upon using guided notes. The author’s point is further emphasized: even special education-classified students deserve a fair, equal education and when provided such, can excel at high rates.

Guided notes were also implemented in a high school classroom. In this study, the authors (Karen H. Larwin, Daniel Dawson, Matthew Erickson, and David A. Larwin) also address the relevance of special education legislation in terms of employing guided notes. In “Impact of Guided Notes on Achievement in K-12 and Special Education Students”, they note:

The right to a free, appropriate public education (FAPE) and an education in the least restrictive environment (LRE) are two of six guiding principles of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that drive special education practice. Implicit in these principles is the right of all students with disabilities, regardless of their severity, to have an opportunity for meaningful access to the general education curriculum (Wood, 2005, p.7) (K. Larwin, D. Larwin, Dawson and Erickson 108).

This “opportunity” the authors mention above is fostered by their guided notes research. Essentially, guided notes operate as an attempt “to provide students with disabilities the appropriate accommodations and modifications to the general education curriculum…teachers strive to find resources and supports to help these students be successful” (K. Larwin, D. Larwin, Dawson and Erickson 108). The 26 students in the study are all diagnosed with learning disabilities and/or emotional-behavioral disorders. In the study, the authors conclude that the guided notes benefit all of the students. The authors write, “guided notes in the form of written cues to promote the use of meta-cognitive skills were provided to help students identify lecture topics, link topic to prior learning, summarize, and reflect on key points throughout the lecture” (K. Larwin, D. Larwin, Dawson and Erickson 110). The authors reference Joseph Boyle in maintaining that “teachers can improve note-taking skills of students with mild disabilities by either modifying their presentation during lectures or teaching students how to use note-taking techniques to students” (Boyle 110). They later add, “Students with disabilities are often unable to identify the important information to note; are unable to write fast enough to keep up with the lecturer; and, even when they do record notes, are frequently unable to make sense of their notes after the lecture, mostly because their notes are illegible” (K. Larwin, D. Larwin, Dawson and Erickson 110). If students’ notes are unorganized, they will have difficulty on assessments. The authors again reference Boyle with: “difficulties with note-taking presents a major problem for students’ success in the general education classroom, especially in content area classes, where instructors often use their notes to develop tests, which in turn serves as the basis for grades” (Boyle 110).  Reverting back to earlier ideas, guided notes helped these students to retain information learned and also practice their note-taking for successful test performance. Overall, the 26 students in this experimental group saw significant improvements in their testing, as opposed to the students who did not participate in the research study (whom were given free range in their note-taking).

In another case, guided notes were used within a collegiate classroom. In the study, “Effects of Guided Notes on Enhancing College Students’ Lecture Note-Taking Quality and Learning Performance”, the authors (Pin Chen, Timothy Teo, and Mingming Zhou) note, “According to Peper and Mayer (1986), the process of taking note helps make students’ attention more selective, forces students to organize ideas, and helps them relate material to existing knowledge, thus facilitating learning” (Heward 1) as her reasoning for conducting the guided notes study. In this case, guided notes were used not only as equal-information providers, but also as an incentive for students to practice note-taking. Note-taking is a concept that many students struggle with, which makes guided notes that much more valuable. In his Ohio State University fast facts sheet, William Heward quotes, “Many college students do not know how to take effective notes. Although various strategies and formats for effective notetaking have been identified (e.g., Saski, Swicegood, & Carter, 1983), notetaking is seldom taught to students” (Heward 2). Thus, it is helpful that guided notes are traditionally fill-in-the-blank and encompass the most important pieces of information. When Heward is asked whether guided notes make a college-level course too easy, he responds: “To complete their guided notes students must actively respond—by looking, listening, thinking, and writing about critical content—throughout the lecture. We make it too easy for students when we teach in ways that let them sit passively during class” (Heward 3). Heward’s words help shun skepticism of guided notes by highlighting a significant aspect: guided notes help get students actively connected with classroom material by coercing them to pay attention and actually write down information, as opposed to just sitting and listening to a teacher lecture nonstop. In this, students are not just “spoon-fed” all information and instead, engage in learning discovery by gathering information piece-by-piece. Basically, the college students’ classroom performance improved because the quality of their notes developed rather than the quantity (Chen, Teo and Zhou 2).

Guided notes are so remarkable in my opinion because of my personal experience with them. Although I do not remember having special education students within my classes, I can still attest to the impact guided notes created. For my pupils who had trouble focusing their attention or lagged behind, guided notes provided that cushion of support that they needed. Guided notes are traditionally fill-in-the-blank and cover the most important information of a lecture or video. For students like me, guided notes allow us to remain engaged by filling in information along the way. I have always been the type of student who grasps information quickly and naturally retains information. Still, there were times when I struggled in retaining more difficult concepts and guided notes provided an easy template for me to study. I can remember utilizing guided notes the most within my social studies courses because of the huge range of dates and historical events. In essence, guided notes served as reinforcement for information we already grasped. Thus, having this review better prepped us for quizzes and other forms of assessment, while bringing our classmates up to speed.

In conclusion, guided notes have a very impressive success and approval rate. They are quick, simple tools to integrate into a classroom, as well as any scholastic subject. Guided notes have an important function within all sorts of classroom, but especially within inclusive classrooms. Tons of research is available in support of guided notes because they are used for both general and special education students note-taking. In essence, guided notes are popular because they demonstrate that equal opportunity and performance are crucial indicators of a classroom’s success.

 

Works Cited

1. Chen, Pin-Hwa. “Effects of Guided Notes on Enhancing College Students’ Lecture Note-Taking Quality and Learning Performance.” (2016): n. pag. Web. 6 July 2016. http://link.springer.com.proxy-remote.galib.uga.edu/article/10.1007%2Fs12144-016-9459-6
2. Heward, William L. “Guided Notes: Improving the Effectiveness of Your Lectures.” Ohio State University Fast Facts Sheet (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 11 July 2016. http://ada.osu.edu/resources/fastfacts/Guided-Notes-Fact-Sheet.pdf
3. Jimenez, B. A., & Saunders, A. F. (2012). The additive effects of scripted lessons plus guided notes on science quiz scores of students with intellectual disability and autism [Abstract]. The Journal of Special Education, 47(4), 1-14. Retrieved July 6, 2016, from http://sed.sagepub.com.proxy-remote.galib.uga.edu/content/47/4/231.full.pdf+html
4. Information, P. U., Technology, & Reid, P. (n.d.). Guided Notes. Retrieved July 6, 2016, from https://www.itap.purdue.edu/learning/innovate/hdiseries/notetaking/guided.html
5. Inclusion Strategies for Secondary Classrooms: Keys for Struggling Learners (2010) https://www.itap.purdue.edu/learning/innovate/hdiseries/notetaking/guided.html
6. Larwin, Karen H., Daniel Dawson, Matthew Erickson, and David A. Larwin. “Impact of Guided Notes on Achievement K-12 and Special Education Students.” International Journal of Special Education 27.3 (2012): 108-17. Web. 14 July 2016. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1001064.pdf

The Winter’s Tale

by: Trace Calloway

 

REFLECTIVE INTRODUCTION

As I read through some of Shakespeare’s plays that I had not managed to read, I noticed that The Winter’s Tale incorporates several elements of genre shifting. I decided to reread the play paying attention to symbols, language use, and generic conventions with regards to the various readings on genre that we’ve examined during this class. Often genre is perceived as static, a series of boxes that stories fit neatly into. The Winter’s Tale, however, shows how misguided this conception is. There is no box or category that fully encapsulates the complexity of Shakespeare’s later plays, especially The Winter’s Tale, which occupies the spaces between traditional genres.

ABSTRACT

The Winter’s Tale was one of Shakespeare’s later plays and has given reviewers and critics considerable trouble in its classification. The play includes conventions of several genres, containing elements of tragedy, comedy, and pastoral romance all under the title of a winter’s tale—a specific and separate genre in its own right. The Winter’s Tale fits in none of these categories nor is it simply a combination of them. It defies the generic conventions of each of its constituent parts at one moment or the other and ultimately transcends them, becoming a never-before-seen genre. The text is self-conscious of its role as a piece of art, commenting on the purpose and value of art in nature throughout. I argue that, through the play’s emphasis on symbols of rebirth in nature, it is a representation and example of the continually ongoing transformation of genres.

The term ‘late comedy’ can be applied to Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, but in differentiating it solely on its temporal status, it neglects a description of its content, structure, and style. The play is extremely self-conscious of its role as a work of art and offers a dialogue on its own nature and the role of rebirth in art. Maurice Blanchot argues that modern literature is defined by genre breaking, and he claims “authors of our era” experience “that impetuous impulse of literature that no longer tolerates the distinction of genres and wants to shatter the limits.” Well before the concept of modernity, however, The Winter’s Tale pushed against the generic boundaries of the time and brought together diverse elements from separate genres, creating a heterogeneous play that defies conventional generic terms and gives life to a hitherto unseen sort of art.

 

The name of the play is the first indication that the play will be defying expectations. Traditionally a winter’s tale is inconsequential, told to wile the time away until spring. The stories are often fantastical and traditionally associated with femininity, so the title seems to suggest the play will be a romance in line with this tradition. However, Mamillius disputes this notion early on, saying “A sad tale’s best for winter” and conveying a sense of the tale’s significance and seriousness (2.1.25). Anis Bawarshi in “The Genre Function” discusses the idea of the author-function and the role the reader’s expectations play in reception (339). The events of a play, for instance, are interpreted based on the expected genre of the work. The Winter’s Tale exhibits this by providing the illusion of a romance from the onset, then shifting the tone and acting against the viewer’s expectations for a heightened sense of the importance placed on such tales. This play is no mere tale awaiting the rebirth of a new season. It is the winter’s tale, the simultaneous epitome and transcendence of the fanciful genre that, rather than waiting for, creates its own sense of rebirth.

 

The Winter’s Tale is highly self-conscious of its status as art and the role of art in general. Perdita and Polixenes discuss the genuineness of art in terms of nature through their talk of gillyvors. Perdita claims that these flowers are worth less than those that grow naturally apart from any sort of artifice; since “There is an art which in their piedness shares With great creating nature,” they are bastards and not fit to share space with ‘pure’ flowers. Polixenes disagrees and points out that art is equally part of nature and “Yet nature is made better by no mean But nature makes that mean: so, over that art Which you say adds to nature, is an art That nature makes”. He then takes the argument one step further by adding that art, which is natural, improves upon nature through the grafting of one flower to another. In the same way that husbandry can hybridize carnations into a new superior flower, dramaturgy can graft comedy onto a tragedy and create a new genre that fits no previously conceived category.

 

The first three acts of The Winter’s Tale have an aura of tragedy, combining the jealousy of Othello with the pride and responsibility of Macbeth. Leontes’ irrational jealousy is a characteristic fatal flaw that harms himself, his loved ones, and his kingdom. A bear kills good-hearted Antigonus, Hermione dies of a broken heart, and the friendship between Leontes and Polixenes is broken.  This tragic tone, however, is not long sustained, nor is it indicative of the genre of the whole.

 

After the huge temporal shift before the fourth act, the nature of the play changes dramatically. A comedy is grafted on. As Bazerman notes, through “implicitly recognizable kinds of language, phrasing, and genres, every text evokes particular social worlds where such language and language forms are used”, and the language shift between these two parts of the play is stark indeed (4). In the beginning Leontes uses metaphors of nature to describe treacherous acts such as cuckolds having “his pond fish’d by his next neighbour” and as insults when he his wife is “as rank as any flax-wench” (1.2.18, 28). The second part is focused on the pastoral Bohemia full of growth and bounty where natural metaphors are used to describe peace and contentment and the repentant Sicilia seeks redemption. They talk of the beautiful in flowers, in the “Hot lavender, mints, savoury, marjoram” and “The marigold, that goes to bed wi’ the sun” (4.4.37-38). The people celebrate in the fields and rejoice at the change in season. The transition results in an ending commensurate with a comedy where families are reconciled, marriages are promised, and social order is once again restored. This comic conclusion is completely unforeseeable based on the tragic acts that came before.

 

Hybridization is never a sure process, however, and there always remains the possibility that the graft will not take. The Winter’s Tale though is successful precisely because the bond holds and, despite its disparate parts, forms a cohesive whole. The parallels between the milieus of Bohemia and Sicilia and the structures of the two temporally separate sections bind the two sections together. For instance, the elements of romance that run throughout help the audience suspend their disbelief and become more receptive to the generic shifting. In a world where oracles speak the truth, men believe they can find “fairy gold”, and bears suddenly and conveniently appear to kill off a character expectations are fluid and constantly being subverted. The play therefore can be less diligent about following the strict guidelines of any one genre’s conventions. The fluidity of genre creates a naming problem since no name fits nor does a combination of names fare any better. Tragicomic pastoral romance becomes meaningless as a term because the play breaks the boundaries between genres and works in opposition to each piece of the name at different points. The Winter’s Tale can’t properly be called a tragedy because it’s characters are redeemed, can’t be fully a comedy because the beginning is much too dark, can’t truly be a romance because everything is also explainable in perfectly natural terms. All the conventions of its composite genres are at one moment accepted then resolutely rejected.

 

This breaking of convention and transcendence of previous genres is emphasized by the play’s focus on rebirth. Perdita and Florizel’s arrival in Sicilia brings the natural vitality of youth and the pastoral world to a court grown aged and cheerless. Whereas before, Leontes used bucolic metaphors negatively, he now welcomes Florizel’s company as “the spring to th’earth” (5.1.150). Leontes finally admits his own barrenness, and he is now readier to accept new growth after his penance has prepared his heart like a farmer tilling the soil in anticipation of planting. It is only after a genre’s conventions are revealed and broken that it can adapt and grow into something new.

Autolycus perfectly represents this idea of adaptation, as he is constantly being reborn into new characters as he changes outfits and goes from victim to peddler to lord. His current attire has power over other characters’ expectations like when the clown and shepherd are fooled by “the air of the court” in his “enfoldings” (4.4.697). Just as Autolycus has power based on expectations, The Winter’s Tale too influences the viewer as they first interpret the play as a tragedy then slowly shifts their understanding to a more comic ending. Autolycus’ power stems from his protean nature, and if he were static and unchanging he would no longer be effective in the world. The Winter’s Tale must evolve the genre of the play for this same purpose. Tsvetan Todorov writes “There has never been a literature without genres; it is a system in continual transformation.” The play acts as a microcosm of this systemic change, displaying the ongoing physical transformations in the various characters and the metaphysical or metaliterative transformation of the tragic and comic genres. Both concepts are perpetually in a state of becoming.

 

The treatment of Hermione’s death has a complicated duality and is representative of how The Winter’s Tale is playing with the multiplicity of genre and in-betweeness. It attempts to explain Hermione’s return in both human terms and the supernatural. It is at the same time a miraculous resurrection and a mundane restoration. Hermione exists as both dead and alive at different moments in the play, and neither explanation is ever confirmed. Paulina affirms her death saying, “I say she’s dead. I’ll swear’t” and even offers to let Leontes “go and see” the body to confirm it himself (3.2.200). The ghost’s later appearance would seem to confirm her death and would match the romantic elements of the story. Then Paulina talks about the statue as if she is really going to bring it back to life and her chant is certainly reminiscent of an incantation. It is only in light of Paulina’s offer to take the “office to choose [Leontes] a new queen”, her visits “twice or thrice a day” to “that removed house”, and her protestations not to touch the statue that her death is ever in doubt. It would seem that the previous suppositions are here subverted, and Hermione’s continued life becomes the new truth. One truth now replaces the old in the audience’s mind.

 

However the issue is never settled. Polixesnes’ mandate is not met: “make it manifest where she has lived or has stol’n from the dead!” (5.3.114). There is no commitment to either the natural or the supernatural. Even when Hermione says “thou shalt hear that I…have preserved myself to see the issue”, which sounds an awful lot like her absence was of her own agency rather than her death, her statement that she learned from Paulina “that the oracle gave hope” that her daughter was alive doesn’t fit. The real Hermione was in the room when the oracle spoke, and only an artificial or revived statue would have had to be informed of her daughter’s condition. Hermione exists as both natural and supernatural and is not limited by either. She is neither wholly one or the other. The Winter’s Tale exists in the same sort of space where fantasy and plausibility collide and tragedy and comedy merge.

 

Carolyn Miller defines genre as “a specific, and important, constituent of society, a major aspect of its communicative structure, one of the structures of power that institutions wield” (71). Society is constituted by genres, which themselves have constituents that combine to create the cohesive whole out of their various conventions. Normally genres derive their power from following these conventions and operating within an audience’s expectations, but The Winter’s Tale moves beyond the limitations of its composition and becomes a new genre separate from those that formed it. It is reborn as neither a comedy nor tragedy, neither a tragicomedy nor tragicomic pastoral romance. The play becomes wholly other and requires a new nomenclature.

 

This generic transcendence is a continually ongoing process, which is represented by the end of the play. The two pending marriages are signs of a new beginning rather than an ending. There are still individual stories to tell and no guarantee it will all go well. The ending provides a general trajectory, not a sense of finality or closure. Leontes is given a second chance; he is not shown returned to the way he was because it would take “a thousand knees, ten thousand years together, naked, fasting, upon a barren mountain, and still winter in storm perpetual could not move the gods took that way” (3.2.207). He is given an opportunity to effect that redemption he has gone through the motions of, but there is no promise that it will be enough. Does he really think the prayers he said over his wife’s grave were in vain (5.3.139), or does he understand they were necessary as part of his redemption? And does he understand he must continue the redemptive process and he must not return to his old habits? Obviously the play answers none of these questions; the audience can only guess as to how the play would continue.

 

The Winter’s Tale is not the endpoint in generic modifications, but is another step in the process as it moves beyond its constituent elements and becomes something new. Like the hybrid gillyflower, it requires a new name to encapsulate its essence rather than relying on the old terms of an outdated classification system. The play itself is a rebirthing of the storytelling art amid the literal rebirth of spring, new marriages, and the redemption and repentance of Leontes.

 

Works Cited

Bawarshi, Anis. “The Genre Function.” College English 62.3 (2000): 335. Web.

Bazerman, Charles. “Intertextuality: How Texts Rely on Other Texts.” (n.d.): n. pag. Cdh.sc.edu. University of California at Santa Barbara. Web. <cdh.sc.edu/~hawkb/readings/bazerman_intertextuality.pdf>.

Belsey, Catherine. “Critical Practice.” (1980): n. pag. Web.

Shakespeare, William. The Winter’s Tale. Ed. John Henry Pyle. Pafford. London: Arden Shakespeare, 2000. Print.

Todorov, Tzvetan. “The Origin of Genres.” Ed. Richard M. Berrong. New Literary History 8.1 (1976): 159. Web.

Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss”

by: Ange Han

Gustav Klimt is an Austrian painter and one of the most influential from Vienna. Many of his works have since been critically acclaimed for what they represent as well their aesthetic qualities. I will be delving into his personal background, from his upbringing to his artistic career, then referring back to “The Kiss” and how several of his personal and outside influences helped make it to what it is today – an original masterpiece. Along the way, I will be critically analyzing what the work portrays by focusing on the man and woman’s emotions, and whether or not the female actually desires this intimacy. There has been much controversy over how the male and female interact and this sense of give-and-take love as well as whether or not the encounter fully captures its essence. I believe that the woman senses the intense love from the man and is succumbing to it; however, Klimt seems to paint her not as a symbol of obedience, but rather from adoration. The female is not simply the receiver of the male’s kiss, but the spotlight of the painting itself. Ultimately, I will be considering Klimt’s other works in relation to “The Kiss” while discovering how and why he chose to paint the emotion of love the way he did, with the female at the centerpiece and everything else as details to illuminate her light. (See “The Kiss” (1907-08) below)

 

 

Introduction

Perhaps Klimt’s most famous painting is “The Kiss.” It is a work he created during his ‘Golden Years’ when he incorporated utilizing gold in many of his paintings, inspired by Byzantine imagery, and fused this detail with drawings of females. The gold imagery can be repeatedly seen in his later works as well. “The Kiss” captures a man and a woman in a full embrace, as the man tenderly kisses the female on the cheek, and they are draped in a golden aura as well as the deeper golden background. He uses shapes for symbolism, rectangles for masculinity and ovals for femininity. In several of his works, females are at the center and this exploits his fascination and admiration for them, despite never having been married and yet fathering fourteen children⁵. This focus is an important trait of his and reappears in several of his works. Klimt is fascinated by the female body, female expression, and female emotion. If you take a look at his lifetime works, he paints focusing on women more than anything else; men, nature, and symbols simply play background detail. This unique pattern ends up becoming Klimt’s signature style of painting.

Personal Life

Klimt’s childhood provides a deeper insight to the reasoning of his future painting career. He was born on July 14, 1862 until his death on February 6, 1918⁵. He was the second of seven children within a poor family and faced many troubles early on his life with the death of a sister, mental breakdown of another sister, and financial hardships⁵. However, he ended up attending the Viennese School of Arts and Crafts and began his formal career at a time known as the Ringstrasse Era in Vienna¹. During this period, the city was undergoing exponential change in industry, science, and soon to be in the arts. As he progressed in painting, he began to receive some backlash and controversy over the nudity in his works. In his three-part series for the University of Vienna Ceiling Paintings, his interpretations for Philosophy, Medicine, and Jurisprudence was commonly claimed as ‘pornographic’ and ‘perverted excess’ which would end up only hurting his reputation⁵. A Vienna journalist named Karl Kraus proclaims,

“Within days of the exhibition opening, eighty-seven members of the University … had publicly protested about Klimt’s picture and petitioned the Ministry of Education to cancel the commission. They accused Klimt of presenting ‘unclear ideas through unclear forms’ : instead of making an unambiguous statement about the virtues of philosophy he had produced a puzzle which seemed to suggest that the mysteries of life were ultimately impenetrable and that human existence consisted of nothing more than the infinitely repeated cycle of birth, copulation and death.”⁵

Klimt was experimenting with self-expression by painting humans at their most vulnerable, naked, and yet incorporating elements of warm emotions to soothe the foreign looks of bare bodies. He later helped father the Vienna Secession in 1897 which aided him in branching out towards new European styles of painting, especially known for erotic art, and grew to develop his own unique style of painting. The Secession was a breakaway from the usual conservative art in Vienna and introduced modern culture to the city, something that had never been exposed before.

This would only be the beginning of his great exploration with nudity in his works. His modest childhood ended up granting him the willpower to freely express an array of emotions in his own personal style. For Klimt, painting begins and ends as a vessel for getting his voice heard in the world without the restrictions of words nor the inaccessibility of money.

“Whoever wants to know something about me – as an artist which alone is significant – they should look attentively at my pictures and there seek to recognise what I am and what I want.”

“The Kiss”

“The Kiss”, originally called “Der Kuss”, is possibly the epitome of love – as it brings a fuzzy, unquestionable feeling to any onlooker immediately. This artwork was first displayed in 1908 and widely considered as the most famous Klimt work today. When released it defeated previous records for sales, as the Belvedere bought it for 25,000 crowns ($240,000 today) when at the time the highest work bought in Austria reached only to 500 crowns⁴. The work itself is unique in many ways – it’s large, perfect square shape, various notes of gold, fusion of bodies, and multiple patterns. However, the main focus for this abstract painting and the only clear point is in the faces. Steven Zucker states in his analysis of the painting-

“The female figure is completely full frontal but horizontal. So that there’s this beautiful sense of her passivity receiving that kiss, but also a kind of deep interior feeling with her eyes closed. Her fingers just delicately touching his as he holds her head and his neck reaches out and round, and you get a sense of his physical power through the strength of that neck, but also the intensity of his desire.”²

Zucker points out his view of the painting regarding the women’s perspective. The woman is the one getting caressed and loved on in this picture, almost succumbing to the love the man is giving, and the entire embrace seems to melt the two together – strengthened by the orgasmic feel of the kiss. In response to the analytical video by Harris and Zucker, a user comments her contradicting thoughts about the women’s perspective.

²

One can view the embrace in a different light, like the user above, as one that is unwanted and reluctant. Some view the painting as the woman wants to pull away from the kiss, and that her hands as well as indifferent facial expression supports this notion. The hand that is lightly placed upon the man’s own hand is not grasping it with affection, but rather just placed on top. Her hand on the arm wrapped around his neck shows her fingers intertwined and seemingly nervous and intertwined. Her upper body is posed inwards and seems uncomfortable, but is held in place by the man’s two hands. Although the painting does not suggest any struggle, this point of view is certainly still interesting to consider.

If the painting is viewed in this light, then it takes the meaning of love in a completely different way. Love is portrayed throughout this piece, undoubtedly, but the interpretation can take on several different forms. Love can be a display of mutual agreement, but also a display solely from one side. The man could be pouring his affection on the woman, who may not want it. He could be forcing it upon her. She could be confused on how she is feeling but still accepts his embrace. Perceiving artwork is based on the individual, and although there is no known fact about the thought processes and specific motives Klimt had when painting this picture, it is standard to say that it is love nonetheless. In my view, there is a sense of role reversal because the dominant male is the one displaying his emotion onto the accepting female. Females tend to be stereotyped as being more emotional, but in this case it is the male that is pouring the love. Considering Klimt’s background, he does not seem to devalue women; nonetheless, purposefully create a picture where there lies spite and neglect. Instead, he seems to celebrate the bond between the two. It could even be seen as a representation of Klimt himself and a lover. The perceptions are endless, but ultimately taking into account his other paintings and personal character, Klimt creates “The Kiss” to represent a pure action that accurately sums up the feeling of love that arises during an embrace between lovers.

Gustav notes every little detail in order to capture the essence of romance. He utilizes gold leaf paint in this romantic scene, as well as several other paintings, and the blending of these two tools creates an ultimate dreamy picture. The intertwining bodies of the lovers amidst the complex background creates a stunning portrait that even people like myself, who may have no background knowledge on the work, can’t help but stop to admire. Many onlookers that see it in real life explain that it surpasses all expectations, with its grand-scale as well as intricate coloring and details. Some have even claimed that it is a more influential work than the Mona Lisa, both in scale and ability to stir emotion.“Klimt inhabited an odd, archaic culture where old and new fused in quite different ways from anywhere else.”³ Not only does Klimt address and perfect the aesthetics of an appealing picture, but also intertwines  intricate history and minute details that adds an extra depth to the grand scheme.

 

Examples of “The Kiss”

“The Kiss” has achieved great and wide-spread popularity in the modern world. In fact, it has been reproduced in multiple different mediums. It is becoming a world-wide phenomenon and achieving fame and status that could make it an icon – a work needless of explanation. 

 

(Real life depiction below)                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

  (Comic humor below)

(Tattoo below)                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

(Wall Art below)

I’ve also seen instances of the painting being reproduced as a phone case, magnet, poster, journal cover, and pillow case.

All of these remakes of Klimt’s “The Kiss” only fuels the popularity of the artwork and what it resonates for the viewer. Jones praises this piece by stating, “This modern masterpiece is self-contained. Perhaps that’s why it doesn’t make us ask any questions, doesn’t make us feel we need further information”³. Klimt fuses abstract painting and historical detail, from the objects to the color tones, with a moment that everyone from a child to an elder can stop and admire because it produces a feeling inside of them that they can relate to. The feeling that is similar to the moment when your mother picks you up and hugs you, when you first receive that awkward hug from the cute boy grade school, when your brother bear hugs you for doing good on your quiz, when your grandma gives you a frail embrace during graduation, when your dog runs towards you and knocks you over after not seeing you all day, and when your spouse pulls you in and kisses you on your head because they just felt overwhelmed with your beauty and character. “The Kiss” does more than showcase a man and woman’s intimate relationship, but it captures the bare essence of love and all of its warm radiation then delivers that straight to the onlooker.

 

Other Works

“Nudas Veritas” (1899)

This painting is entitled “Nuda Veritas” and when originally released, caused a great debate. Klimt quotes Schiller above the picture of the naked, red-haired woman. The quote says,

“If you cannot please everyone with your deeds and your art, please a few. To please many is bad.”⁵

Klimt approached his life in an incredibly carefree and individual manner, and it shows through his works. He did not work to ‘please’ as he states,  but instead pursued art because it was what worked for him. Referring back to the user’s argument that he might have portrayed the female in “The Kiss” as restraining and posing the male as a threat seems to be an approach that does not take his background into account. Klimt did not look down on women, but rather wanted to shine their characteristics and emphasis that beauty. In his great variety of works, all of the females are displayed in a glowing light, soft and mellow, and as ethereal creatures.

“Water Serpants I” (1904-07)

Although throughout his life Klimt never married, he did have a number of companions. Most notably there was Emilie Flöge, the sister of his brother’s widow⁵. However, much of his love life is still unknown. He is to have fathered 14 illegitimate children and been in romantic relationships with several other women. Despite his cloudy love life, through the little facts we do know and especially from his artwork, we can note that Klimt appreciated females to a high degree. He paints them vividly and full of emotion, whether it be in the complexity of structural designs, dreamy looks on their faces, warm color tones, or body language; there is a sense of appreciation and beauty that resonates within the picture and delivers to the viewer.

 

Conclusion

“The Kiss” portrays two lovers embracing and importantly notes that it is not a mutual kiss, but from one to another. Anyone who sees this painting, which is increasingly becoming more and more recognized, agrees that its gold accents and creative symbols make it hard to look away from. It is feminine in its tone but historical in its method of representation. Then, if you dig deeper into Klimt’s background and history of the painting itself, you are able to understand the many layers that the painting holds – freedom and admiration. There is appreciation for the female in the way the man is holding her, caressing her, and desperately wanting to have all of her. Klimt has painted females in numerous other paintings, but this is the only one where man and woman are together and the interaction is shown. It is not about permission or denouncement; instead, it represents two souls coming as one and the insatiable desire one can have for their lover, a thirst that Klimt and many of his audience can ponder on and relate to.

Bibliography

1.  “Gustav Klimt Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works.” The Art Story. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 July 2016.
2.  Harris, Beth, and Zucker, Steven. “Gustav Klimt, The Kiss.” Khan Academy. N.p., 21 June 2012. Web. 06 July 2016.
3.  Jones, Jonathan. “The Last Romantic.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 22 Sept. 2001. Web. 06 July 2016.
4.  “The Kiss Gustav Klimt.” The Kiss Gustav Klimt. Art.com, n.d. Web. 06 July 2016.
5.  Moffat, Charles. “Gustav Klimt – Symbolist Painter – The Art History Archive.” Gustav Klimt – Symbolist Painter – The Art History Archive. N.p., 2009. Web. 06 July 2016.

by Lisa Shurtz

 

Social media needs to become an integrated part of a teacher’s pedagogy in today’s US high schools.  We are teaching the first generation who have been influenced by the internet and technology from the day they were born.  These Digital Natives construct their social and cultural identity through social media (Churcher, Downs, & Tewksbury).  By incorporating Facebook, blogs, and wikis into the classroom, we create a learning pathway that interests the students, activates prior knowledge, and can even remain with them after they leave the classroom setting.  Once students are interested in what we are teaching, they are then able to develop the cognitive skills of critical thinking, reflection, and thoughtful dialogue.  These skills are also essential for successful careers.  Most companies want employees who can collaborate, be creative, and solve problems in order to develop a competitive advantage in the marketplace.  High school students are capable of developing these skills while learning new academic concepts and using social applications that are an integral part of their lives outside of school.

Why Incorporate Social Media?

   We are living in a rapidly evolving world of social media, and many students are better versed in these than their teachers. Today, Facebook has over one billion active users (www.facebook.com); Twitter has over 300 million active users (www.twitter.com); and there are well over 100 blogs in existence globally (Wikipedia).  According to a 2010 Pew Research Center study, 93% of US teens (ages 12-17) and young adults (ages 18-29) are online, and 73% of those teens use social networking (Churcher, Downs, & Tewksbury).  Within the smaller population of higher education faculty, Seaman and Tinti-Kane revealed that 70% of faculty actively use social media, but only 41% incorporate it into their teaching (Blaschke).  All of these statistics indicate that educators need to become more familiar with the various social media applications, actively use them in their daily lives, and then effectively introduce them into the classroom.  Active use may involve learning from the students.  While some teachers shy away from relinquishing control of the learning process to the students, in this case, student control does not threaten the teacher’s authority.  Instead, it allows students to learn how to instruct, to better understand how others learn, and to educate someone older than them, which although potentially uncomfortable will be necessary in the working world.  Success in this endeavor can also boost a student’s self-confidence in the classroom.  Some educators are concerned that students will focus more on their personal activities on social media rather than the academic activities.  Are they concerned that, when in groups, students chat more about their social lives than discuss the academic topic at hand?  No.  They have observed that group discussion is an effective collaboration and learning tool, so they incorporate into their teaching toolbox.  Social media can be incorporated in the same manner.  

How Should We Incorporate Social Media?

Facebook, blogs and wikis can be incorporated into the classroom to complement lectures, readings, videos, and interactive learning.  The key to successful incorporation is choosing the right social media tools to support the learning objectives and academic subject matter and the ones that students are competent using.  We move beyond successful incorporation if we can also link what they are learning to life outside the classroom and learning beyond their high school careers.  

Teachers can create a Facebook group for each of their classes and invite students to post articles and information on various topics, to react to a statement or question about the literature they are studying, and to help students further connect with each other.  For example, the teacher can post a question to the group and allow the groups to ask clarifying questions and comments.  Students can also post examples of key concepts and terms related to what they were learning in class.  Churcher, Downs, & Tewksbury studied these activities in a classroom and asked the students about what they learned.  When surveyed about group learning and sharing diverse viewpoints, 90% of the students responded that they learned more about their classmates’ opinions and 50% believed they learned more because they actively participated in the Facebook exercises.  Their comments included that it made them think about how different people interpret different messages, how people interact with each other (because they don’t talk to each other in class), and how people were able to share their views on controversial topics in a safe and educational manner.  In addition, they found that students corrected each other and clarified points to help those that posted incorrect or incomplete information.  Communicating in a safe environment in school prepares students to collaborate with others and share their viewpoints to ensure that all voices are heard even after they leave the classroom and move into adulthood.  

Facebook is a good tool for teachers to use to connect classroom learning to “real world” experience.  Simply posting articles that relate the discussion topic to a current event can illustrate how relates to real events.  As the students use Facebook to read the articles and delve more into the topics, they may not even realize they are developing the critical skills needed for their future.  Instead, they simply see a familiar tool supplementing their classroom learning.

Wikis and blogs are effective tools for generating creativity and encouraging collaboration.  They can also be used for classroom projects and student resumes for colleges or jobs after high school.  Research studies offer strong examples of implementing wikis and blogs in very different ways in the classroom and still achieving successful results.  In one study, a professor instructed the students to create their own final exam and, in doing so, evaluated the collaborative learning environment and its effect on knowledge retention (Churcher, Downs, & Tewksbury).  Upon completion of the exam, students were asked to respond to an anonymous survey.  They mentioned that they knew the information better through the collaboration and exam-development approach.  The instructor was also positive about the results, which included active learning through social media collaboration and discursive interaction between students where they learned from each other.  In another study, Blaschke used an e-portfolio to test how social media affected the development of cognitive and meta-cognitive skills in the classroom and those skills that could be used in the workforce.  Students were asked to create a wiki or blog to be used as an e-portfolio that contained a reflective learning journal and artifacts to capture the students’ academic achievements and reflections on them. The e-portfolios were intended to encourage critical thinking, creativity, and reflection.  After surveying the students, Blaschke found that “over 70% of the students agreed that the tools helped them construct new knowledge, reflect on and better understand course context and their individual learning process, as well as give them skills they could use in their work environment.”  One of the most interesting studies asked students to describe and illustrate their biographical information, such as hometown, extracurricular activities, and family, in a package for colleges and universities to access (Moody).  High school seniors were able to highlight their job skills, strengths, aspirations, goals and internships for recruiters and potential employers as well as the colleges and universities.  Moody found that “this project cultivates creativity, builds on previous assignments, and prepares students for future jobs.”  It allows the students to develop the skills of collaborating with and managing others beyond just gaining academic knowledge.

Wikis and blogs allow teachers to see what the students really think and feel.  They can see student creativity because wikis and blogs are fairly open to narrative and illustrative interpretation and ingenuity.  Students can respond in a manner that plays to their strengths and allows them to communicate in their most effective way.  They problem solve as they put together their e-portfolios and projects because they have to make decisions about what to highlight, what to omit, and how to incorporate their ideas.  When assigned collaborative work, they also learn how to work with others, approach assignments from different perspectives, and incorporate various views in the final product.

What is the Impact Beyond the Classroom?

By incorporating social media into the classroom alongside other learning tools, teachers can prepare students for life beyond their classrooms.  Social media can help teach creativity, problem solving, and collaboration.  Those skills are not only required in the classroom, but they are also successful criteria for employees in the workforce.  If we examine the corporate values of four Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies, they all have similar qualities and skills required in their employees.  These are also skills that students can apply to any endeavor they pursue after high school.  For example, teachers and artists need creativity.  Athletes and sales associates leverage collaboration and teamwork to be successful.  Soldiers and farmers adapt on a daily basis to their changing environments.  The student e-portfolio in Moody’s study allowed students to be creative in expressing themselves, their interests, and their experiences.  The visual composition skills can be used in presenting marketing campaigns, corporate strategies, and new products for companies.  Wikis and Facebook help students problem-solve as they answer questions or build exams much like they consider company data and sales statistics to adjust a product or sell to a targeted group of consumers.  All three social media tools easily facilitate collaboration.  Students work together much like they do in traditional group discussions.  They share their views, ask critical questions, and provide feedback to each other.   This collaboration teaches them to respect others’ ideas, work together, and produce what is best for the corporation as a whole.  The added benefit is their knowledge of social media use in the learning environment and their personal lives.  That knowledge can be an advantage in the corporate world where social media is an important pillar of business and marketing plans.  All of these skills can be taught in the classroom alongside the academic knowledge that we share with our students.  

Table – Cognitive Skills in Fortune’s Top Companies (per their websites)

	Creativity	Problem-Solving	Collaboration
Apple	We’re perfectionists. Idealists. Inventors. Forever tinkering with products and processes, always on the lookout for better.	Whether you work at one of our global offices, offsite, or even at home, a job at Apple will be demanding. But it also rewards bright, original thinking and hard work.	It’s what we do together that sets us apart.
Amazon	Leaders expect and require innovation and invention from their teams and always find ways to simplify. They are externally aware, look for new ideas from everywhere, and are not limited by “not invented here”.	Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Leaders create and communicate a bold direction that inspires results. They think differently and look around corners for ways to serve customers.	Leaders listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully. They are vocally self-critical, even when doing so is awkward or embarrassing.  They benchmark themselves and their teams against the best.
Disney	Each of our companies has a unique ability to harness the imagination in a way that inspires others, improves lives across the world and brings hope, laughter and smiles to those who need it most.	We strive to set a high standard of excellence. We maintain high-quality standards across all product categories.	We aspire to inspire together. We honor and respect the trust people place in us. Our fun is about laughing at our experiences and ourselves.
Starbucks	Acting with courage, challenging the status quo.	Delivering our very best in all we do, holding ourselves accountable for results. We are performance driven, through the lens of humanity.	Creating a culture of warmth and belonging, where everyone is welcome. Being present, connecting with transparency, dignity and respect.

Conclusion

Social media promotes collaboration, creativity, and classroom discussion amongst students.  They interact verbally and in writing.  This collaboration leads to discussions that lead to creative thinking.  When the students apply their knowledge in this manner, the information that emerges from the collaboration can be greater than the sum of its parts.  By critically engaging with our students using common tools, we provide them the crucial interactions needed to prepare them for the world beyond the classroom.  However, we must remember that social media is not the only tool we should have in our box of pedagogy.  “Students today still consider technology basically a tool in the classroom and continue to appreciate interpersonal interaction with teachers, in-class presentations, and, most importantly, real-world applicability to course content” (Flippin-Winn).  It serves to compliment the written text, lectures, role play, and other teaching methods.  As teachers, we have to strike the right balance between all of these tools, and we may use different tools for different groups of students.  Our challenge is to find ways to connect with them through what they already know and what they are interested in so that we can then fill them with more skills and knowledge.  Those connections and the growth that the students experience will certainly help them succeed long after they leave our classrooms.

Works Cited

Blaschke, Lisa Marie. (2014) Using social media to engage and develop the online learner in self-determined learning.  Research in Learning Technology. Vol. 22.

Churcher, Kalen M. A., Downs, Edward, & Tewksbury, Doug. (2014) “‘Friending’ Vygotsky: A Social Constructivist Pedagogy of Knowledge Building Through Classroom Social Media Use”.  The Journal of Effective Teaching, Vol. 14, No. 1, 33-50.

Moody, Mia. (Spring 2010) Teaching Twitter and Beyond:  Tips for Incorporating Social Media in Traditional Courses.  Journal of Magazine & New Media Research, Vol. 11, No. 2.