To get teenagers to take a published poem (whether it be classic or contemporary) and invest in it to a level that they were willing to perform and defend it would be my real goal.

As long as they don't all choose Yeats's "The Second Coming". Adventures in overwrought fanfic have taught me that it really is possible to take a pretty good poem and render it meaningless by repetition.

Also true of Eliot, although people go all over the map on his work rather than beeline to a single poem. Also, I have a poem someplace called "The Love Song of Audrey", which is what would happen if Prufrock were a dog. (There is whining and shoe-chewing involved.) It brought the original back to life, for me, and I know how absurd that sounds.

I see what you're saying, Nutty, but I do think that for the kids who haven't been exposed to it, "The Second Coming" will still be very powerful for some. I have a similar "oh god, not again" reaction to most of Dickenson's work, which I know is unfair.

Adventures in overwrought fanfic

heeheehee

See, this is why I never get beyond question four on the Meyers-Briggs whatsis tests.

Deb - I actually do this whole process with my students at the beginning of the school year! I think that everyone benefits from having a better understanding of personality theory. It actually answered a lot of questions I had about my relationship with my parents and my SO when I first did it in college. However, I do understand that it's not everyone's cup of tea. :) If anyone is interested, I recommend checking out some of the books on this site. (Btw - I have no affiliation with MBTI services - I just have found it to be a really useful process and have used it with my students to build a stronger class understanding)

If the only thing M-B teaches kids is that people react differently to the same situation - it has to help the class. I keep thinking about th epoetry deathmatch. Really - it works no matter how much interest the kid brings to it. every kid brings in one poem - with a paragraph saying why the chose it. Takes minimal effort for those that don't care about poetry. By the end of the deathmatch- even if a kid still doesn't like poetry - they should have some idea of how to approach it and what makes a poem. much better than a poetry unit.

Heh. Off-topic, but Kristin, ought to let you know, the whole "your favourite flavour is (choose one) vanilla, strawberry, chocolate or spumoni" thing with me is a very very very old 'Deb doesn't do that' deal - I invariably answer look, this is insane, did you mean today? Do I have a headache? Who am I with? Do my shoes hurt? How was the morning news? What's the weather doing?"

I'm completely in the minority, but we've had this discussion, both here and other places - I think it was Natter - quite a few times.

I know they can be incredibly useful, although I remain violently opposed to using them for workplace screening, because they can mean that the best person for the job is swept aside for a better personality fit, something I dislike intensely; it ought to be both.

I just mean that I tend to be in the whackaloon little one bazillionth of crazy people who send the test results skewwhopping, because I do not cohere.

What's more? If anyone demanded that I take it, I'd deliberately fill in the wrong answers, just to mess with them. So I won't take the things.

the best person for the job is swept aside for a better personality fit

Well, it's not like personality fit doesn't factor into "best person for the job."

Well, it's not like personality fit doesn't factor into "best person for the job."

Yes, I agree. That's why I ended the sentence with "it ought to be both".

I do think skill set has to be considered as much as anything else. And what happens if the test is administered to someone who wants the job is doing their best to fill in the answers they think the employer wants to hear?

But I honestly do not want to argue this, because there's no argument. As stated, I do grok the usefulness of the tests. I just said, and continue to say, that I don't believe in them for myself, and wouldn't take one, not that the rest of the world shouldn't.

ita, it turns out this McDermid character is a series, even. This one is fun and (relatively) light. FYI.

I invariably answer look, this is insane, did you mean today? Do I have a headache? Who am I with? Do my shoes hurt? How was the morning news? What's the weather doing?"

I'm giggling, because after using and teaching the MBTI for years (and Deb, to be clear, I don't just "give a test" on this -- I teach what each of the four pairs mean in terms of preference and then the students select from each), I have heard that argument a hundred times...from people with a strong "P" preference of the J/P pair. That pair is all about how you like to live your daily life -- a J likes a plan, a schedule, a decision. A P likes to leave every option open and will often refuse to make a decision out of anger at being "forced into a box". Hee hee hee.

I do agree that I would never ever use it as a job screening, however, because the biggest thing we teach about the MBTI is that everyone is capable of doing all 8 of the possibilities, and that different situations bring out different responses. Anyway, I'll drop it. I don't mean to start a debate. Just thought that was funny.

Heh. They just had a big MBTI thing at work when I started, and tested everyone and talked about all the types and told us where everyone in the company is. It was interesting, but a little odd. I LOVED that one of the last questions on the test was "How many of these questions did you want to argue about/disagree with the answers?" (or somethign along those lines), because I was very "ALL OF THEM".

Er, and um, books are good. My job has a big "cafeteria" (some tables, vending machines, and a microwave and fridge), and in it there's a bookshelf with random books on it, mostly mysteries. I found two that are about a husband and wife, where he's a doctor and she's a coroner. They're kinda cute. Very medical. Which is fun for me.

I do think skill set has to be considered as much as anything else

And only crappy employers wouldn't I wager. If they weren't hosing you over MBTI, they'd be hosing you over something else.

The test that my MI job used was reputedly unfakeable. Or at least, you couldn't predict the results you'd get by faking it, since it took your answers and mapped them against a database of known quantities, instead of actually interpreting them.

This one is fun and (relatively) light. FYI.

Ta. I'm onto Shadow Man (which is mainly confusing me -- too much alien language introduced too quickly), but maybe I should put in some pre-emptive library reservations. My actual branch sucks hairy root. I've never found anything there I was looking for.