Presenter:
Elizabeth Lutz
Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
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How do we help students to find meaning in texts without
“torturing confessions” out of them? (moving away from
one-meaning thinking)
These methods will help students to feel comfortable feeling
around for the light switch – being comfortable not knowing.
Finding meaning is useful in literature and beyond –
students also need to become critical consumers of popular
culture.
We will use Pixar Shorts and their multi-layered stories as a
bridge to various analytical techniques in order to help
students move beyond the literal.
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Introduction
Notice and Focus Technique (…or how to avoid
jumping to judgments while also identifying
points for analysis)
Applying Notice and Focus to Day and Night
Ideas for use in literature units
Horizontal and Vertical Movement in La Luna
Further applications
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Why Pixar? Why this short?
You can begin the lesson with a screen shot – having the students track
everything they notice. (see handout for this option)
You can also skip to the first viewing of the film, asking students to list
observations.
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Borrowed from Writing Analytically by David
Rosenwasser and Jill Stephen
Simple technique that can be applied to so many
classroom projects - film notes, image analysis,
close textual analysis of fiction and non-fiction, and
discussion preparation.
Helps students to “feel for a light switch”
I have had students tell me that this technique
works for all of their classes…even when studying
a science textbook.
Step 1
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List at least ten things that seem important. Don’t make judgments about them
(yet) or try to figure out why they are important. Just list. You might write down a
quote or a moment or an idea. It could just be one word. This step provides
freedom – students don’t need to have any answers as to why things are
important. They are just observing.
Step 2
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Rank your list in order of most important to least important. Settle on the top three
most important items.
Step 3
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For each of the three most important items, write a brief paragraph exploring what
each detail might contribute to the meaning of the piece. Look at it from different
angles and try to identify why it might matter. For every idea you come up with,
answer the question “So what?”.
Rosenwasser, David, and Jill Stephen. Writing Analytically. 6th ed. Boston: Cengage Learning, 2012. Print
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While watching the film, notice ten things
related to perspective (it is helpful to give
students a subject to guide their thinking).
 Before
continuing to other steps, it is useful to have
volunteers read some of their observations (students
are often surprised at how meaningful the minute
details might seem).
 Students
then rank their observations. It is useful to
have them do this with a partner because it sparks
debate about what matters in the film. Please turn to
your neighbors and discuss the top two most
important items from your list.
 The
third step (Analysis) requires a bit of
explanation to students. They need to understand
that this is where they answer the “Why?” and
“So what?” questions.
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Why is that detail important?
What does it contribute to the meaning of the whole
text? So what?
Students are now able to utilize this technique as a way
of analyzing so many other things: chapters in a novel. a
passage from a text, non-fiction essay, fil m clip, image,
peer essay (a peer editing session), poem
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We often use Pixar Shorts in classes because they are both engaging and complex at the same time. We
have included here some of the ways that we have used Day and Night along with some of the other
films in their collection.
Day and Night
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Introduce the idea of varying perspectives – explore the idea of “other” before reading a text like
Night by Elie Wiesel and identify how the characters in the short film are finally able to see the
perspective of the other
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Have students rename “Day” and “Night” using characters from a text. Create blank templates of the
Day and Night bodies so that students can draw in the things their characters might see as “other”
Do a close reading of the spoken lines in the middle of the short. The only spoken lines are from a
1970’s lecture by Dr. Wayne Dyer and are reminiscent of a similar speech by Albert Einstein. Have
students identify texts, situations, characters, or personal experiences that these words speak to.
“Fear of the unknown. They are afraid of new ideas. They are loaded with prejudices, not based upon anything in
reality, but based on… if something is new, I reject it immediately because it’s frightening to me. What they do
instead is just stay with the familiar. You know, to me, the most beautiful things in all the universe, are the most
mysterious.”
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Most Pixar Shorts are great examples of how a short text can be
filled with meaning. La Luna is an excellent example of this. Its
horizontal movement (plot/action) is short and simple: a young boy
working with his father and grandfather. Yet its vertical movement –
possible meanings, use of literary elements, questions raised – is
quite rich.
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Pay attention to the details!
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Understanding of creator’s intentionality
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Understanding of vertical movement.
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Horizontal – similar to “Notice”
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Vertical – similar to “Focus”
Notice
Focus
(so what?)
The boy is
given a hat
identical to his
father’s and
grandfather’s.
He is just like
them (or they
want him to be
just like them).
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Noting literary elements under horizontal
movement.
Further questions – now that students have
looked at horizontal and vertical movement…
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Why are the differences between the father and
grandfather emphasized?
How is generational tension explored?
What was left out? What information was not
provided? Why?
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For students, the reading experience is about what
happens – the plot.
Encourage attention to details
 Writing in-depth about short texts
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Apply horizontal-vertical movement to short
written text:
Flash fiction or flash non-fiction
 Poetry
 Very short stories, e.g. “The Story of an Hour” (Kate
Chopin)
 Prep for writing analysis
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Similar to their reading practices, students tend to focus on plot when writing
their own stories, poetry, or other creative genre. After watching a Pixar Short
and examining its horizontal and vertical movement, students can apply these
concepts to their own writing. I encourage my students to limit the scope of
their writing and increase its depth, or vertical movement.
Possible Activities
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Provide students with several brief moments, e.g. a girl slaps a boy; a
daughter cries on her mother’s shoulder; a boy scores a touchdown.
Students choose one of the moments and come up with possible “vertical
movement” – possible meanings or themes that could arise from that
moment.
Students sketch out full plots for a story, from exposition to resolution. The
story should revolve around a central theme. Then students narrow the
scope, or horizontal movement, of the story, to the key moment that
contains the most thematic depth. They then write the story about that
moment, focusing on developing vertical movement.