How do we do this? By developing sensitivity to language: its connotations, its sounds, its combinations. It is right that we call our field "Language Arts" because it all centers on the language, the words used to shape thought.
I am daily pushing kids to go to the text to provide evidence for their conclusions. You "feel" the character is arrogant? Fine. Now look to the text to prove it. You "believe" a writer is biased? Show me the words, explain the context, that grounds your reasoning.
It is this acuity to language that will allow my students to become thinkers who can navigate the complexities of the world.
I remember an episode in a college lit course. A student had proffered an interpretation of a poem that could not be sustained by the text. When the professor pointed this out, the student complained that all interpretations were equally valid.
The professor kindly but firmly explained that interpretations supported by evidence are given more credence than interpretations supported by "I feel" and "I believe."
I'm thinking hard this week about what "interpretations supported by evidence" means. It would be a luxury to close my door to the world and ignore the headlines that fly in the face of what I teach:
Trump believes millions voted illegally, WH says -- but provides no proof (CNN)
White House Pushes 'Alternative Facts." Here Are the Real Ones. (NYT)
However, if we degrade the meaning of words such as "true" and "fake," if we allow unsubstantiated claims to carry the same weight as evidence-based reasoning, if we ignore flagrant use of words to contort and distort meaning, we must accept the price of our ignorance. And that price? Consider this passage by George Orwell:
“In a way, the world−view of the Party imposed itself most successfully on people incapable of understanding it. They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening. By lack of understanding they remained sane. They simply swallowed everything, and what they swallowed did them no harm, because it left no residue behind, just as a grain of corn will pass undigested through the body of a bird.”
― George Orwell, 1984
Today in my language arts classroom, we will still demand evidence, scrutinize language, and think critically. Words matter. Join us?
