The Life of the Mind: Discusing "The Man With the Hoe"

Recently, I've been coming to the end of Ellin Oliver Keene's "To Understand," and one of my big take-aways has been to help students dwell in, appreciate, and develop the ability to access the life of the mind - to help them learn how to experience the joy and intellectual awakening that comes from discussing art, music, writing, and other art forms in depth.

So, the other day in class, we spent a whole period just talking about the painting below - "The Man With the Hoe" - and the poem Edwin Markham wrote as a reaction to it (see both here). At the end of one of my at-risk classes, a student came up to me and asked, "Can I call my study hall teacher to see if I can stay here for 7th period to see what the next class has to say? I really want to understand the picture and the poem better."

I was floored and of course let her call; thankfully the study hall teacher let her stay. Upon talking with her about it later, I discovered she didn't feel she got a whole lot from 7th period's discussion, but I was still amazed at what she must have felt and been thinking during her class's discussion to make her want to stay and discuss it more.

That has to have been one of the best lessons of my teaching career, at least for her, and it makes me wonder how I can replicate it more in the future. Please leave any thoughts below.

Source here.