From Mary and Jonathan

Teaching Pre K-8, Feb 1998 by Libre, April L

Just in time for Valentine's Day, a unit in memory of a beloved teacher

Richard Bach. Mary Murphy. Jonathan Livingston Seagull. I teach them all every year. Richard Bach created Jonathan and Mary Murphy created me. I wish I could talk to her today about what I've become in my own classroom, but she died six years ago when she was 52. Now, every year in eighth grade English, I teach Jonathan Livingston Seagull. It's a unit on tolerance. It's also my memorial to Ms. Murphy.

Before we begin, I explain to my Advanced English class that Ms. Murphy was my English teacher in high school and that she made me aware of such things as the importance of being an individual and not letting peer pressure get me down. The students feel Mary Murphy through my love and so she lives on in my class room. I think she'd like that very much.

Main objectives. Each student begins our unit with a partner and three main objectives in mind. Our plans are to read Bach's novel Jonathan Livingston Seagull (Macmillan, 1970) and to respond to its themes in our writer's notebooks. We also focus on plans for a class mural depicting the way we see intolerance in our society. Finally, the partners begin discussing ideas for a life-cycle poster that will represent Jonathan, the novel's protagonist.

We have a class bulletin board designed as a graffiti wall. Each day, I write a disparaging comment about Jonathan, and a class member writes a response that will provide incentive for Jonathan as he continues his lifelong quest.

The bulletin board is a great success, providing the catalyst for getting the kids to class early each day to try to be the first to write a response. Here are some of my comments: JLS - a rebel without af lock... JLS soars alone... JLS is a weirdo... JLS is a snob... Jonathan wiLL die young... Jonathan loves no one... Jonathan wuz here but now he's an outcast The kids respond.

The novel is relatively short, so all reading is done during class. Most of it is oral because that seems to build the kind of community feeling needed for the success of this unit. We don't hold many impromptu discussions, choosing rather to think about the ideas presented and compose our insights before sharing with the group.

Four topics. The following journal topics must be completed: 1) "Do unto others..." Why is it so hard to love your neighbor?; 2) Why do we fear change?; 3) What is the difference between seeking knowledge and seeking a grade? 4) What is Bach's message to you?

The book takes some getting used to because it's an allegory. It stumps some students when they're forced to think of the characters as people with real lives instead of birds (which they are literally in the book). Courtney put it best in her honest response to an opinion question about the novel: "I think that even though it was a good idea you should use a different book next year...we can understand the symbolic things but it just makes more sense to have it about us."

Brittany, however, countered with this opinion: "I think there is not a more worthwhile type of book than this. Jonathan Livingston Seagull can teach anyone a lesson about being more open-minded and less human because being human these days is a lot less than we should expect of ourselves. Being human means hurting and being hurt."

The students seem to come alive when we begin exploring possible topics for our mural. In order to get them in the right mood for this serious undertaking, I ask them to write a response journal that begins with the sentence, "I have been an outcast."

My young writers are reticent during share time the following day; I am, in fact, the only person who will read my response orally. This reaction makes me sad and relieved as well. I'm sad because I know they have entered a painful part of their memory collection; children can be the cruelest of companions. I'm relieved by their ability to find a way back to those private memories; that's the place where we'll find meaning for our mural.

Since it's to be displayed in our eighth grade hall, the mural is an important assignment. Our hope is that it will speak to the other students about pain, fear, hatred and, finally, love, acceptance and tolerance.

We brainstorm an appropriately heavy title and decide on What's Wrong with Our World? The partners sit on the floor, lean over the mural and create. They testify against gang violence, gender inequity, neo-Naziism, apartheid and terrorism. They begin to look at the world and at their places in the world. We are all somehow made different by witnessing the turmoil flowing through the artwork.

Brittany's response to the assignment is that it "forces us to realize where we are going wrong as a society and as a people...people still treat differences like diseases." Christina reacts in a similar way, saying that "it helps me to understand how intolerance tears our world apart more and more every day."

When the life cycle poster presentations are made, the students seem to believe in something they've found in Jonathan. They want him to be independent and unaffected by peer pressure. They want him to follow his dreams and be true to himself.