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I have found that in formal education, in order for the student to succeed and the professor or teacher to maintain a firm grasp on his/her classroom, full comprehension of materials or class subjects must be retained. Comprehension is the grasping of the meaning or the purpose of something, whether it is an idea, formula or directions. In the teacher’s curriculum, comprehension of the material by his/her students is the link to further teaching or reinforcement between the teacher and the students. If the students are in an algebra class and they have not comprehended or had the opportunity to gain further reinforcement on the simplest formulas and theories then he/she may have a harder time when it comes to the more complicated situations. For an example of this let’s take a common algebra problem: 2(a2 + a)(3a2 + 6a). If a student doesn’t know the FOIL method of algebraic equations he/she may have a harder time when it comes to dividing and multiplying equations for the proper answer. If this is caught at an earlier time there lies an opportunity for more teaching and the student now will be able to go on with the other work and feel good about accomplishing something.
Comprehension of the teacher’s lessons during the course of a school year can in fact be the turning point in the successful rate of the students involved in the classroom. Variables like absence or learning curves of individual students can also be a factor when it comes to comprehension but when all of the right things line up; the teacher is teaching, the students are learning and the work is being done at a sufficient time, it can be called poetry in motion. The phrase poetry in motion is used when things are recognized as being close to perfect or operating at a pace that seems effortless.
Poetry is another way for people to write about emotional and insightful circumstances that have touched them. Poets take these thoughts and ideas and transform them into a literary landscape full of metaphors and patterned verse in order to relate images to the readers mind. The perfect poem may only consist of four lines or it may be a two page journey into another world. What the poet intends is to share a piece of themselves through written words and allows the reader to take from it what they might. Poems do not come with directions or a footnote section below each stanza. They are written with a level of ambiguity based on the writers style and sometimes may force the reader to do further research in order to comprehend the true meaning of the work. When this level of understanding is reached then the reader finds him/herself satisfied as if a meal was just eaten. The reader has gathered enough information to in fact, comprehend the material and read into and between the lines. Now a level of enjoyment from the work can be exercised by the reader. So here again comprehension is the bridge to higher learning and personal achievement.
We begin our literature review by first summarizing all above statements. We have said that in order for a student to feel achieved and accomplished at his/her work he/she must have had an opportunity to comprehend the material, as in an algebra problem. Also stated was the fact that the teacher or professor must also have a comprehension of how his/her students are grasping the work given before moving on to higher levels of planned curriculum. Finally, the bridge of organized words into a thought or sound pattern, poetry, in other words, is a way to show the need for comprehension of material that may or may not have a direct impact on the reader’s level of emotion.
The feeling one gets when accomplishing a hard math problem, understanding poetry, or any other coursework sometimes both can be the start of comprehension on another level. In, “Zimmer’s Head Thudding Against The Blackboard”, (Zimmer pg. 937) these two elements that we have been speaking of are on full display for us to analyze:
At the blackboard I had missed
Five number problems in a row,
And was about to foul a sixth,
When the old, exasperated nun
Began to pound my head against
My six mistakes. When I cried,
She threw me back into my seat,
Where I hid my head and swore
That very day I'd be a poet,
And curse her yellow teeth with this.
Here in this poem, Zimmer tells a tale of classroom drama. He cleverly puts together a piece that is whimsical and at the same time evident in many person’s history as a student. How many times have you been a part of or witnessed this scenario? A student called up out of his/her chair to work on a problem in front of the class. They are standing at the blackboard for what seems like forever and can’t seem to get the answer. The person is frozen with shame or guilt as the seconds tick by. Now the teacher has grown impatient and the embarrassment begins. Based on this scenario, the embarrassment of the student stuck with the number problems on the board in front of his classmates should be shared with the teacher as well. It is also the teacher’s responsibility to bear some of the responsibility for the student stalling on a problem. Instead of the teacher making matters worse, let the professor find out if this problem is a result of being uncomfortable in front of people, performing under pressure. Or let the professor find out if it is because of comprehension of the work.
When I read Zimmer’s poem I remember being around circumstances like this and feeling embarrassed for the student. The initial reaction may be to laugh or poke fun at the person but in fact I was more inclined to help the person any way that I could. Then a solution to the real problem can be put together.
It is stated that the educators that are more involved and interactive with their students, the better the students have performed on a nationwide level. (Bryson, 2007) Interaction is not just to be a negative reinforcement but instead a positive one. Lack of support or decreased interaction between the student and teacher can prove to leave blemishes on individual psyches. The affects of negative reinforcement given by any type of educator or instructor poses the possibility of shaping the formative years of mental development of the student. In a time that appearance and acceptance can go hand in hand, comprehension of these variables is needed when dealing with social issues in the classroom as well. In the poem, “The School Room on the Second Floor of the Knitting Mill”, (Heitzman pg. 939) we see an example of this:
Judy is not a good leader is all Mrs. Lawrence says.
She says it quietly. Still, everybody hears.
Her arms hang down like sausages.
I hear her every time I fail.
The writer starts out the poem describing what seems to be a beautiful memory from her youth. Heitzman paints a picture of sunny days spent in her childhood schoolroom. The details of the day are written a way that the reader seemingly shares a seat in the classroom with the other children and witnesses the events as they happen. Heitzman closes the poetry piece by revealing her memories have been forever tainted by the way that her teacher handled the embarrassing moment. At the time, the teacher did not comprehend the effects of her words on the student. Positive reinforcement could have left a better life impression on the child. In order for comprehension to exist, the participants must seize the exact moments or opportunities to try and make sense of things before they get out of hand.
Throughout this review we have stated that it is important that the teacher or professor must provide a time for further learning or teaching if needed based upon the results of the students overall comprehension of the curriculum. This is not to say that the educator is thereby the only person responsible for the comprehension of the material handed out. It is indeed up to the student to make sure that he/she has taken the proper steps and options available to them. It is also up to the student to help in recognizing any problems that may arise from false information or information that is not factual. There have been some instances of the wrong information being passed out to students and leaving the classroom. Never is it so evident than in the case of “History Teacher” (Collins 2002) Here in this poem the author writes about the experience of receiving the wrong information:
Trying to protect his students' innocence
he told them the Ice Age was really just
the Chilly Age, a period of a million years
when everyone had to wear sweaters.
Collins opens up by stating the opposite of the obvious for his readers and invites us into the silly way that the History teacher goes about his profession. He seems to be content with handing out the wrong information and the students themselves have not yet began to understand that it is wrong. They go about their days as planned and have fun while doing so. Collins sums up the poem by letting us into the mind of the professor and shows the readers that the history teacher seems to be a product of his own work and beliefs on history:
while he gathered up his notes and walked home
past flower beds and white picket fences,
wondering if they would believe that soldiers
in the Boer War told long, rambling stories
designed to make the enemy nod off.
Collins supports the history teachings by showing a sense of humor in the end. The History teacher seems to know that he is giving out the wrong information and it almost seems funny to him what children will take as information or believe in their little minds.
The above example is a sign of teaching sympathy or comprehension of the level of retention by his students. In the poem, Collins writes, “The children would leave his classroom for the playground to torment the weak and the smart, mussing up their hair and breaking their glasses.” This shows that the students in the poem may be some of those that are in the lower levels of the education tier. The History teacher shows comprehension of this fact and asks the audience to join in with him as he provides a little fun for the students. It is a way for the students to feel as though they have learned something when that in fact may be the most challenging thing that they do throughout the day. In order to fully understand these things imagine back to middle school and high school. Most of the class clowns or the people that were getting in trouble were in fact those that did not do too well in school. This could have been from the lack of comprehension on their part or the schools lack of comprehension to observe these traits before they had become a character or learning issue. There are many other studies and reviews that openly debate the topics of student conformity and comprehension of acceptable levels of behavior. That is not the case for now but to fully understand the literature reviewed it is necessary to look at other factors as well.
Student morality and the way at which they carry themselves lend their educators an opportunity to approach a situation if it would seem necessary. If the student shows resistance to extra help on curriculum comprehension, the educator may feel like it is not necessary to help them in the future. This case could be handled under a moral code of ethics or in terms, doing what is right no matter the case of the outcome. In the poem “Ethics” (Pastan 1981) the writer develops her reader’s minds with a combination of all of the mentioned variables of comprehension:
In ethics class so many years ago
our teacher asked this question every fall:
if there were a fire in a museum
which would you save, a Rembrandt painting
or an old woman who hadn't many
year left anyhow? Restless on hard chairs
caring little for picture or old age
we'd opt one year for life, the next for art
and always half-heartedly
Pastan immediately shows the students dismissal of repeated questions or work that is beyond their understanding. The students don’t seem to understand or can’t grasp the true meaning of the question. They are not interested in an old painting and an old lady for that matter. They want this question to end in the way that it began, quickly and quietly.
The teacher still does not relent in trying to get the students to understand the greater question, the questions of morale that are described in the end of the poem. The question is not a trick question but one that is in need of higher thought or someone that is seasoned in the classroom of life. Someone that may be interested to read between the lines of the poem may find evidence to the answer. Pastan goes on to say:
The colors
within this frame are darker than autumn,
darker even than winter--the browns of earth,
though earth's most radiant elements burn
through the canvas. I know now that woman
and painting and season are almost one
and all beyond saving by children
Here Pastan is stating that in order for the woman in the poem to actually answer the question she needed to be of an age that all things can be appreciated. Sure the obvious answer to most would be to save the old woman. But reading further into the piece of literature shows that the painting itself has life which is almost as important as the life of the old woman. Children could never answer such a question because their minds have not fully developed to the point of understanding the laws of ethics. If something shows signs of life, we have been taught that it must be considered to be a living thing and has the same rights to life as everything around it. The painting shows signs of life by the way that author describes it and the old woman now recognizes this because of the way that she has aged and learned to comprehend things larger than her.
Comprehension is the bridge between a student’s education and the educators intended mission with his/her curriculum. The shorter distance that either side takes to reach the one another can prove to be a vital instrument in measuring success over an academic lifespan. If one side reaches too much the strands of communication will be broken and comprehension will fall to rocks below.
Works Cited
Bryson, Collin & Hand, Len (2007) The Role of Engagement in Inspiring Teaching and Learning Innovations in Education and Teaching International, v44 Issue4 p349-362
Collins, Billy “The History Teacher” from
Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins © 2002
Heitzman, Judy Page “The Schoolroom on the Second Floor of the Knitting Mill” The New Yorker December 2nd 1991
Pastan, Linda, “Ethics” from Waiting for My Life, by Linda Pastan, © 1981
Zimmer, Paul "ZIMMER'S HEAD THUDDING AGAINST THE BLACKBOARD" from Family Reunion: Selected and New Poems, by Paul Zimmer, © 1983
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