ON THE MESA
English and Humanities instructor and novelist Brooks Hansen breaks down story narrative to freshmen in 2019.
How Did You Learn That? Over the summer, the entire Cate community read Delia Owens’s Where the Crawdads Sing and the many lessons gleaned from the novel were widely discussed in the classroom. The following is an inside look into Brooks Hansen’s freshman humanities course from the first week of school. The sample lesson plan and assignments reflect the teaching style at Cate, as well as the desired writing outcome for new students.
Prompt #1: Show and Tell Activity Our Inquiry Question for the year is “What is education?” Delia Owens’s Where the Crawdads Sing is, among other things, a book about education. Abandoned as a child by the rest of her family, Kya Clark must design her own learning journey, relying on a tattered string of grudging guardians, voluntary tutors, mystery benefactors, and her own self. Many of the things Kya learns, she is specifically taught by others. Tate Walker teaches her to read, for instance, and very late; she is fourteen. Before that, her father teaches her to fish: “Git in” was all he said as invitation. She started to express glee or gratitude, but his blank expression kept her quiet, as she stepped to the bow and sat on the metal seat facing forward. He pull-cranked and they headed up the channel, ducking the overgrowth as they cruised up and down the waterways, Kya memorizing broken trees and old stump signposts. He eased the motor down in a backwater and motioned for her to sit on the center seat. “Go on now, scratch some worms from the can,” he said, a hand-rolled cigarette hanging at the corner of his mouth. He taught her to snag the bait, to cast and reel. It seemed he contorted his body in odd postures to avoid brushing against her. They only talked fishing, never ventured to other subjects, neither smiled often, but on common ground they were steady. He drank some likker but then got busy and didn’t drink more. At late day, the sun sighed, fading to the color of butter, and they may not have noticed, but their own shoulders finally rounded and their necks slacked. Secretly Kya hoped not to catch a fish, but she felt a tug, jerked her line, and raised a thick bream, flashing silver and blue. Pa leaned out and snatched it in the net, then sat back, slapping his knee and yahooing like she’d never seen. She grinned wide and they looked into each other’s eyes, closing a circuit. (Owens 55)
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CATE B ULLET IN / F ALL 2020