Jane’s Journey: First Stop


This mod, I am teaching a class for juniors and seniors called ”The Jane Journey” or “Jane and Janie.” This class is an option within the English Department’s “Big Book” course requirements. We are reading Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre and Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. I taught this course early in my teaching career before CSW and wanted to revive it here during my last year at CSW. I am both excited and nervous, and I thought it would be fun to devote my Pocket Change during this mod to a conversation with you about our exploits in the class. I am hoping I might get a couple of student guest writers, too!
 
I began teaching back in the mid 1970s in England at a state school in Lichfield, Staffordshire where I taught English and German at the high school level. Those were the days of red exercise books, no computers to speak of, and definitely no handheld devices! We did not officially know much about how students learn, but anyone with an instinct for understanding adolescents quickly recognized that we all learn differently – that realization has inspired a lifetime desire in me to know more about how we learn and to create classrooms that work for all kinds of learners. 
 
As I taught my first classes last week and set up our work to study Jane Eyre (an all-time favorite book of mine; thanks, Jeannette Lee-Parikh for letting me borrow your course!), all kinds of thoughts and feelings crept into my mind and heart – about the power and privilege of being a teacher, about discovering literature anew, and about the deep relationships that can be formed in a classroom. My first big question to students was: how does a book like Jane Eyre, published in England in 1847, connect to the lives of 17 and 18 year olds in the United States? In the ensuing discussions, it has been interesting to watch the students relate to issues of family structures, school life, and the central character's journey to autonomy. Their 21st Century awareness of Jane’s psychological development, the inherent class structure presented in the novel, and the early feminist thinking has quickly brought many of our conversations to a very deep level. 
 
I hope you enjoy taking this adventure with me and my students. As a result, perhaps you will feel compelled to read (or re-read) these two excellent books. 

More News from CSW

List of 5 news stories.

45 Georgian Road | Weston, MA 02493 | 781-642-8600

CSW—a gender-inclusive day and boarding school for grades 9-12—is a national leader in progressive education. We live out our values of inquiry-based learning, student agency, and embracing diverse perspectives in every aspect of our student experience. Young people come to CSW to learn how to learn and then put what they learn into action—essential skills they carry into their futures as doers, makers, innovators, leaders, and exceptional humans who do meaningful work in the world.