Juxtaposition: Dude, That's Messed Up

I am an English teacher, and I have always believe it is my job to make English usable - not to scare kids away from trying to improve their reading and writing skills.  I don't think that any English teacher sets out to do that; however, because we are really the experts in these areas, it is easy to forget what it is like to be a struggling reader or writer. I personally know what it feels like to not understand English. There was a time when I could not tell a subject from a verb, so it has become my mission to make my content understandable.

One of the terms/concepts that I love to teach is "juxtaposition".  I have tried for years to find an easy way to get students to be able to identify this term in their reading, but until this year it seemed that they can only find it if I give them a few to choose from - then they can pick it out of a lineup.  For those who may not know, not only is juxtaposition fun to say, but it also means "to place two concepts, characters, ideas, or places near or next to each other so that the reader will compare or contrast them" (courtesy of www.literarydevices.com). So, my job as an English teacher is to make this usable so that students don't read the definition in the tone of Charlie Brown's teachers...waa wa waa wa waa. If they are not engaged in what we are doing, it is highly likely they won't apply it.

A few weeks ago, my students read "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson.  I LOVE THIS STORY!  If you've never read it, it's never to late = click here! It wasn't until I was reading it again (for probably the 50th time in my life) that I found myself saying, "Dude, that's so messed up" over and over again. I was reading about a beautiful summer day only to realize that a few hours later, a brutal tradition was to be carried out by the citizens of this town.  That's when it hit me - DUDE THAT'S MESSED UP was the answer to my juxtaposition problems! 

So much about what we teach is about teaching students HOW to think.  For the first time ever, "dude that's messed up" helped my students find juxtaposition on their own.  It isn't rocket science, but it is usable - and that is what matters.  If we can't make our content usable to our students, there is NO WAY they are going to take that information outside of our classrooms and apply it to real life.  That's why I like to use a little rap history to teach sentence structure, the stereotypical horror plot to teach the types of irony, and now the phrase "dude, that's messed up" to teach juxtaposition.  


Update:  And this is an example of some of the amazing writing and thinking my kiddos produce!  I am definitely blessed to be able to read their thoughts and work with them as they become more comfortable with their academic writing voices!

Sample in-class essay:

By definition, juxtaposition is using comparisons or contrasting ideas within literature, often in ways that seem to not fit quite right. Juxtaposition is a literary technique not often found in Edgar Allen Poe’s writings, including “The Cask Of Amontillado”. Poe’s style is much more outright dark and twisted; there isn’t a lot of darkness hidden in the ordinary, as we see in “The Lottery”.  In “The Lottery”, there is a good amount of juxtaposition. For example, the children are piling up stones before the event starts. This seems like an innocent game, but in hindsight we can see that they are piling up stones for use during the killing. As a result, we see how naive the children are, despite being raised with such dark traditions. Another example of juxtaposition in “The Lottery” is how quickly the dynamic between the villagers changes. They are bantering and chatting amiably beforehand, but when it is time to get to the point, they find it easy to turn on the victim without a second thought. Therefore, we understand how quick the villagers are to abandon old friendships and relationships; and how the attitude turns from jovial to serious.