Thursday, June 21, 2012
"Flowers For Algernon"
I was lucky enough to be apart of the "Flowers For Algernon" unit when student teaching. This is one of the most touching stories I have ever read, and it was even more rewarding to see how this story touched my students' lives. "Flowers for Algernon" is written by Daniel Keyes and was later expanded into a novel. It is a science fiction tale about Charlie, a man who was born mentally slow (I wouldn't say completely non functioning as he does have a job). People often make fun of him, pull pranks on him, and down right torture him for his "slowness". Through Charlie's night school classes he meets Miss Kinnien, his teacher, who is also involved in science and psychology. She admits Charlie into a special program where he meets Algernon. Algernon is a little white mouse that was born "slow". However, Algernon received a brain surgery which has made him smart. Charlie subsequently receives the same operation and begins to progress to the point of pure genius. I must warn you-- this story does not have a happy ending!
For the unit, we purchased a little white mouse for a class pet and raffled our "Alegernon" off at the end of the unit. We also conducted many free writes prompting critical thinking questions and class discussions such as "Would you have an operation to make yourself smarter? Why or Why not?". We also discussed how Charlie was treated differently before and after the operations. The story is told through Charlie's journals. We see his spelling and sentence structure change throughout the story. This allowed the students to see Charlie's progress after the operation. After reading the story, it was clear that my students' were touched and would think differently about their peers and people in general who suffer from disabilities. This story is a great tool for teachers to express many literary devices and discovering humanity in general.
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Caitlyn,
ReplyDeleteI loved this book! I never knew it began as a short story though. I often think that Charlie's journals could serve as a great way to link grammar lessons with literature. For example, you could take sentences from the novel and 1) have students identify the errors; 2) have students identify the type of error; and 3) write the sentence correctly.
This book sounds great. It reminds me of a song titled "Citronella for Algernon" by Aesop Rock. The song is basically stating how corporations have the ability to destroy intelligence (Citronella is a form of rat poison). I don't think the song directly relates to the short story or novel, but it's an interesting take on the story from a hip-hop stand point.
ReplyDeleteI could see reading this story and referencing the song being effective in an urban classroom. You should check out the lyrics to the song also. Aesop Rock references 9/11 by talking about the "sole defenders of the longest night New York had never slept." He also speaks about the role of the media in education today.
I remember reading this when I was in school; it's exceptionally poignant and moving. I was looking through quotes from the story/novel, and while I don't remember this from Back In The Day, it's quite wonderful (and not as sad as many of the other themes explored in the book):
ReplyDelete"One thing? I, like: about, Dear Miss Kinnian: (thats, the way? it goes; in a business, letter (if I ever go! into business?) is that, she: always gives me' a reason" when - I ask. She"s a gen'ius! I cou'd be smart like-her, Punctuation , is? fun!"
I never knew this started as a short story either. It is so good though. I remember crying through the end. I think that with Charlie's movement through learning and losing grammar a good lesson could be made. Also, the idea of having a class pet named Algernon is adorbs. :)
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