The+Book+of+Negroes



Matthew Morris EN 3051 – Novel Study Assignment Part A.

The text I chose to use for my Novel Study Assignment is Lawrence Hill’s // The Book of Negroes. // There are numerous reasons why I chose to use this text in a classroom. Firstly, Lawrence Hill is an outstanding black Canadian author. Today’s curriculum stresses the importance of equity as well as understanding the significance of what it means to live in Canada, and Hill quintessentially represents both these things. The black voice and narrative is seldom heard outside the month of February and a book like Hill’s // The Book of Negroes // not only articulates a historical narrative of the black struggle but it is written by a black author. I wanted to choose a text with a black author because I feel that the “hidden curriculum” is extremely influential on today’s students and is a contributing factor to the reasons why we have too many “at-risk” youth in the black community. Lastly, the narrative throughout the text stresses the precise issues that we as educators are committed to bettering – social justice and equity. The textual examples within the novel focus on opportunity and equal results; thus the transition to include these strategies when teaching the text could be done smoothly and effectively.

I would introduce this text at the Grade 12 university preparation level mainly because the narrative contains explicit content and requires a mature reader. The imagery suggested in some passages is simply something I would not want to tackle at a lower level grade. Our senior level student possesses the ability to understand the context of passages and use the imagery to augment their understanding rather than distract them. This text would also be appropriate for many social studies courses including history, politics, and even geography. Sections and passages from this text connect with themes and teaching points that run in Grade 11 American History, Grade 11 “The Americas: Geographic Patterns and Issues”, Grade 12 World Geography, Grade 11 American History, Grade 12 World History, and Grade 12 “Canadian History, Identity and Culture”. Because the text touches on so many aspects of our social and cultural realities, its inclusion in the English and social science classroom would be extremely beneficial to high school students and our community.

The text contains an abundance of issues related to social and cultural realities that not only existed historically but still exist today. In teaching this text, I would combine the topics related to family, identity, pride, freedom, and gender with historically laced issues of colonial slavery, the Diaspora, and borders. By including the issue of “borders”, I would be able to extent classroom thoughts to Aboriginal issues within Canada and reflect on the importance of our Aboriginal past. Textually, not only would I focus on the themes that run throughout the text, but I could also shift the teaching points to the importance and significance of voice, plot development, narration, and literary devices such as imagery. Culturally, the text exposes the historical realities of slavery looks at the issues that blacks have faced overtime. Ultimately, if students learn anything from this text, I hope that they will understand the social horrors of colonial slavery and come away with a greater appreciation of equity and anti-racist attitudes.

As mentioned earlier, there could be several issues I may encounter in teaching the text. The text is 470 pages long; and although the language used by Lawrence Hill is not dense, the sheer number of pages may intimidate and deter students. Secondly, the book contains graphic imagery of sexual acts. This would not be a text to use before you gauge the maturity level of the class. However, if the text was prefaced effectively, students will develop an understanding for the purposes of using descriptive language and evaluative its effectiveness. Forewarning of the text’s graphic nature should dissolve the concerns that may arise from those specific passages.

An underlying theme running through the text pertains to the importance of oral tradition. One activity that I could using when teaching the text would be to ask the students to create and perform an oral memoir of a specific character in the text. Drawing on information from at least three separate passages from the text, I would ask the students to develop and present a five minute oral memoir that takes us on a journey throughout the character’s life and uses language and ideas contemporary to the time the character lives in. This activity would directly connect to Ministry curriculum policy that pertains to oral communication. By completing this activity, students would be able to communicate orally, using language effective for the intended audience. This activity would focus on the specific expectations of “speaking to communicate” by stressing the importance of correct diction and devices, as well as the significance of communicating with clarity and coherence. The activity targets the overall expectations of oral communication in Grade 12 University Preparation English. I would most likely use this activity as a formative assessment. The text //The Book of Negroes// would be an excellent addition to the English classroom, its teaching possibilities are endless and its themes are elastic. The narrative is something that is missing in our classroom and is essential to our future generations.