How students to Build Relationships in an Article?
Because of Angels in America’s unique characters, it was not difficult to activate student engagement around personal interest. Whether gay or not, problematic or not, Roy gripped student attention because of his crass language. In contrast to other literature read in school, Angels in America offers a tone that is recognizable to students.
Although text-based sexuality and profanity may concern teachers, I found that students identified with the language and thus debated its usage. Fernando and Ernesto commented numerous times that Roy’s use of fuck, etc. made Angels in America feel “real” and therefore worthy of conversation. Rather than abuse the crassness, they respected the severity of each situation. Even when Louis tells an anonymous man in the woods, “I want you to fuck me, hurt me, make me bleed,” students were horrified that Louis would ever put himself in Tag Heuer Replica that dangerous situation. They were concerned for his health. Taking these connections one step further, I asked students to pick one character to follow and portray throughout the play. Many students stepped out of their comfort zones, picking characters with different genders and sexual orientations from their own.
Allowing themselves to speak through the voice of Kushner’s characters not only made scene reading in class entertaining—watching Fernando’s Harper pop Valium pills and declare to Miguel’s Joe that she burned dinner certainly got a laugh out of the class—but also encouraged an openness and ease for conversation because students had the help of someone else’s words and view points. For many, comments and questions from their characters were in line with personal viewpoints. Alicia, who in her initial survey about homosexuality wrote, “I don’t make bad comments about them because every person has the freedom to decide their life,” cajoled Roy for being “so cruel to the gay community.”
Responding as Louis to Roy’s controversial stance on homosexuality, she continued, “You are trying to say that the gays are nobody, and let me Omega Replica Watches tell you something, if you call us like that you are nobody too. But it isn’t because you are gay; it is because you are a coward.” For other students, getting inside one character in the play did allow a shift in perspective.
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