Cheryl Irving: Breaking Barriers Between Disciplines

Spring 2012 The Magazine of William Penn Charter School

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i n n o vatio n :

Breaking Barriers Between Disciplines

by Rebecca Luzi

“This is not your grandfather’s Penn Charter.”

I

s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn an offensive, or, at best, insensitive text laced with racial slurs, or a groundbreaking book that forces readers to acknowledge racism and its place in American history?

The 11th grade American Studies class took up this question last fall when they put Huckleberry Finn on trial. The premise of the mock trial was the proposed banning of Mark Twain’s book from a fictitious school district.

Members of that school’s administration, advocating removal of the book, were the plaintiffs.

The defendants were parents and teachers who wanted the book to remain in the curriculum.

“Are you aware that the novel Huckleberry Finn makes some (LEFT) English teacher Cheryl Irving, along with Lee Payton, chair of the social studies department, teaches American Studies, an interdisciplinary course and early example of the school’s strategic vision for the future.

people uncomfortable?” the “lawyer” for the plaintiff asked a witness on the stand.

“I don’t think the problem with this book lies with the text,” said the witness, a “mother” who wants the book taught in school. “It lies with the people who don’t understand it.”

Another witness, “a teacher” in the district, said, “It’s supposed to make you feel uncomfortable.”

“The potential for danger is greater than the lessons learned,” the plaintiff argued. “High school students are not all mature enough to understand Twain’s use of satire.”

While the eight jurors deliberated (in the ceramics studio), Cheryl Irving, who co-teaches the class with Lee Payton, was in the classroom, on the edge of her seat.

“I’m feeling the tension,” she mused. “I’m feeling like I’m on trial.

What kind of job have I done? Satire and irony are tremendously challenging to master. I feel, in the best way, my teaching is on trial here. I don’t think teachers should continued on next page

rest on our laurels in the way we present materials.”

In the end, the “jurors” said they based their verdict on the strength of the witnesses: “We the jury, after copious debate, find for the defense.”

American Studies is a new course offered this year to juniors – an interdisciplinary, team-taught elective covering both American history and English literature from the colonial period through the 20th century. It is an early example of the 21st century learning called for in Penn Charter’s strategic vision. For students, it is an exciting learning experience. For the teachers, an opportunity to break barriers between traditional disciplines.

“The story of the evolution of a national identity is a key idea that we’re trying to get to this year,” Irving said.

“This is not your grandfather’s Penn Charter,” Payton said.

“What was the narrative of the antebellum period?” Lee Payton asks students. “What’s the story of this moment in history?”

Payton, chair of the social studies department, and Irving, an English teacher and director of the Writing Center, developed the course last year.

To prepare, they studied the curricula of other schools, and Irving attended training at Villanova University designed to help teachers teach Huck Finn. (Irving and English teacher Sarah Moses have since taught a workshop for the Multicultural Resource Center on teaching the book.)

Payton and Irving knew that context was key to studying Huck Finn. In their course, they would delve

After the mock trial of Huckleberry Finn concluded, jurors thoughtfully weighed evidence in favor of and opposed to teaching the book in school.

into Twain’s motives, read other examples of his satire, watch a 60 Minutes episode about the 2011 “sanitized” version of the book, set boundaries based on their comfort level with the “N word,” and study the slave trade, the North and South tensions, and what westward expansion would mean for the slavery issue. “The power of literature lies within the historical context out of which it arises,” they wrote in the course description.

“Ms. Irving gave us two contexts,” junior Julia Vahey said. “As an antiracist book and Jim as a moral hero. I thought it was a great experience.”

To dig into the competing realities and tensions of the post-Civil War era, students acted out a historical role play, in which they portrayed a freed slave, a former slave owner, a KKK member and a Republican anti-slavery lawmaker.

“You can’t harmonize all those views,” Payton said. “How do you bring all these viewpoints together?”

“We’re giving kids a lot of big, open-ended questions for which there are no answers,” Irving said.

The teachers, as well as the students, are being stretched by this course, which meets for 80-minute double blocks most days. In addition, Irving and Payton spend 80 minutes planning each week.

“I’m challenged in ways that I didn’t think I would be at this point in my career,” said Irving, who has taught at Penn Charter since 1985.

“We’ve got so many people helping us to write our curriculum, expand the boundaries,” Payton added. Head of School Darryl J. Ford shared his

Spring 2012 The Magazine of William Penn Charter School

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collection of black memorabilia, including photographs of black minstrels, and racist depictions in advertisements for Aunt Jemima products and Gold Dust washing soap, with the class, which discussed how the pieces fed stereotypes. Chief Development Officer Jack Rogers served as the judge during the mock trial. Upper School teachers regularly contribute ideas.

The class visited Occupy Philly, Ellis Island and Harlem. “The vision is, in part, a classroom without walls,” Irving said.

American Studies, courses such as Foundation Arts, and much of the curriculum in Lower School are examples of the style of teaching and learning called for in Penn Charter’s new strategic vision, said Beth Glascott, assistant head of school.

“When I think about the strategic vision,” she said, “it’s interdisciplinary, collaborative, innovative.” Glascott teaches another interdisciplinary course, Bioethics, along with Tom Rickards, chair of the religious studies department.

“As someone who teaches this way,” she explained, “I really see the benefits for kids. There are kids who do best by understanding big themes.” Students also respond to differentiated instruction because two teachers in a classroom will approach the same subject differently.

“We’re playing with the boundaries between English and history,” Payton said. “How do we create a body of knowledge for students to think critically about American history? For me, the blending of disciplines makes such sense. Twenty-first century learning means we’re all marching together.” PC