Commenting on Teaching and Learning Assignment

Angelina De La Torre

EDU 1055 – Spring 2022

Dr. Blanchard

March 7, 2022
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Dr. Blanchard – SP22

Prompt #1

There’s no doubt that Ms. Cathie Wright-Lewis demonstrates responsiveness to her

students as she is ready to comment back on their responses. Sometimes it’s a compliment or an

expression of agreement. When a female student considers griots as “anybody who can convey a

message through either spoken word…music”, Wright-Lewis replies to this student by saying

they have the same mindset as she was thinking the same way (Annenberg Media, 2003, 4:27).

This also exhibits how she rapports with her students, never labeling an answer as incorrect but

adding to the discussion. Other times it’s a chance for Wright-Lewis to expand a response by

voicing new content to further learning of the spoken word. For example, she gives a brief

historical background of griots in ancient times, such as how writing was not as advanced, which

increases the importance of griots within African tribes (Annenberg Media, 2003, 2:41). She

makes an effort to show mutual respect for her students by never rebuking them and always

elevating all responses to form a bigger picture to understand. She constantly writes a short

version of the responses on the whiteboard for everyone to observe and write down in their

notes, from their definition of “griot” to the words that stood out in the poems they listened too.

Students are acknowledged and appreciated as their answers have earned a place on the board. 

The teacher challenges students to engage in learning by her prompting of questions.

When a student gave his definition of a griot, stating that it’s an elder who holds information

about a tribe (Annenberg Media, 2003, 1:49), the teacher asks students what griots do with the

information they contain. This is to slowly lead students to the main topic of the workshop, the

spoken word, by discussing the purpose of a griot. Later, students are to listen closely to an

audiotape of On the Subway by the Last Poets, focusing on words that reveal the time of this

poem. After discussing what words stood out to them, students are then challenged to formulate

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an interpretation of the poem. Creating poems with an assigned theme poses a challenge as

students are to consider the style of writing of the Last Poets to create poems that have an impact

like them, not being afraid to use a spoken word they already use. Also, to get students prepared

for the next workshop, Wright-Lewis mentions Abiodun Oyewole, a member of the Last Poets,

making a guest appearance. Therefore, to make sure students take advantage of this opportunity,

they prepare questions to ask him. Once again, students are challenged to engage in learning as

they make great attempts to use vocabulary and concepts from the previous workshop to

formulate questions on their learning of Oyewole’s poems and the spoken word in general. 

As mentioned before, Wright-Lewis starts the workshop by asking what a griot is. This

links prior knowledge as a few students can explain what a griot is in their own words (e.g., “an

elder in a tribe who holds information,” “through spoken word…[griots] [inform] people what he

or she knows”) (Annenberg Media, 2003, 1:49 - 2:18). Even asking who would be considered

griots in today’s world sparks students to think back to what individuals they know, with one

female student sharing that rappers fit the description of a griot (Annenberg Media, 2003, 3:51).

Perhaps this teacher can build upon this technique of receiving responses in a modern-day sense

is by using technology, such as creating a padlet or word cloud to have all student answers

displayed to the whole class and add more to the discussion through they observe. When students

make their poems, they brainstorm current 2002 events, issues, life in New York, and other

things that reveal the time they live in. This links to personal and cultural assets of students as

they share their ideas and prior knowledge/experiences in small groups, which community assets

jump in as they give their opinions to each other on what to write, respected as a contribution.

This also connects the instruction to students’ prior academic learning as the teacher expects

various literary devices in their poems, as these have been learned in past workshops.

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Prompt #2

The central focus of this class is to teach students about the spoken word and how it is

used and written. The essential learning strategy that was taught is brainstorming. Students are

asked continuous questions to help them understand the topic of the spoken word. Wright-Lewis

asks students what a griot is, who would be a griot in today’s world, what language from On the

Subway reveals the time it was written, why does the poem talk about stopping at 125th Street,

and etc. As a result of this questioning, students constantly brainstorm interpretations, opinions,

and ideas to voice to the teacher and classmates. Overall, it creates a smooth and engaging class

conversation on the spoken word, especially its poetic and musical form. 

Students were challenged to engage in rigorous analysis through the first activity:

carefully listen to On the Subway, specifically the language the Last Poets used to express how

life was like for them back when they wrote the poem. As the audio of the poem is being played,

students write down in their notebooks the words that stood out to them. This leads to a class

discussion of what students heard from the poem and what are their analysis of each word shared

in the sense of what it means and who or what it is pertaining to. As a result, students can mold

their interpretations of the poem on what the Last Poets expressed in their spoken word. Every

bit and piece, referring to the words and language of the poem, are all mixed together to structure

a more significant explanation. There is evidence of analysis through the students’ responses.

When asked what the poem is about, one student shares that she felt “[t]he whole purpose of it

being on the subway and him getting onto 125th street is saying that [he] can’t even go to [his]

home, where [he] think or [he] feel that [he] can be who [he is], without [the white man] trying

to hold [him] down even when [he’s] not doing anything to [the man]” (Annenberg Media, 2003,

10:51). Another female student also expresses that she believes the poem “was like a

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representation of a journey back to Africa, his home” as the Last Poets mentioned 125th Street

train station that is located in Harlem (Annenberg, 2003, 11:06). 

The instructional practice of asking questions to activate students' prior knowledge

engages them in developing knowledge and related skills. By promoting what a griot is, a few

students bring in the knowledge they possess in the class discussion to help their classmates start

to perceive the overall view of the spoken word. As griots are associated with African culture,

this discussion might get students more curious about how that term is connected to the current

workshop as they are of African descent. One recommendation for improving this technique is to

add a second question about different types of storytellers. There are differences and similarities

between storytellers worldwide. This would note that these individuals make use of the spoken

word to convey information. Nonetheless, the teacher did slowly transition from griots to

storytellers to spoken word, students can better grasp just how the spoken word was used in the

past and how it can be used now. Exposing students to two poems of the Last Poets, they get a

taste of how people use language from their times to create an influential spoken word that

showcases how life was like for a specific group of people at a certain time and place. All of this

prepares students to generate a poetic version of the spoken word in which they tell their stories,

their lives, and the world they live in as African American youth. Peter Elbow’s “work

highlighted the importance of expression and discovery as writers craft their pieces, with a

particular emphasis on writers finding their voice as they work through iterative cycles of a

writing process” (Chase et al., 2020, p. 21). Therefore, students get a sense of how word choices

and organization can play a significant role. These are the essential knowledge and skills for

them to test to convey their interpretations of their lives as poems are another spoken word they

can use to express their voices to others.

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References
Chase, E., Morabito, N. P., & Abrams, S. S. (2020). Writing in education: The Art of Writing for
Educators. Brill Sense.

Wright-Lewis, C. [Cathie Wright-Lewis]. (2003). Critical Pedagogy: Abiodun Oyewole and

Lawson Fusao Inada [Video]. Annenberg Media. https://www.learner.org/series/the-
expanding-canon-teaching-multicultural-literature-in-high-school/critical-pedagogy-
abiodun-oyewole-and-lawson-fusao-inada/

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