Soundtracks for The Wednesday Wars

When I read (in Teaching to Exceed the English Language Arts Common Core State Standards), “to maintain its authority over India in the mid-19^th Century, the British government—rather than resort to the use of only military control—developed a British literature curriculum designed to subtly impose British/Christian values and provide examples of virtuous Englishmen to the religiously diverse people of India exploited by English colonizers…[and this was] the first time English literature was used as school curriculum anywhere in the world,” I was reminded of my misgivings about teaching The Wednesday Wars in an underprivileged, minority classroom.  For all its strengths in other contexts, the novel is rooted in upper-middle-class white norms and relationships—and reinforces that these are the relationships prone to and for success: The obedient student connects with the loving and constructivist teacher; the bully is confronted and avoided but never socially engaged in restorative dialogue; even the antisocial father has relationships that fit his own (and conventional) definitions of professional networking success.

Still, I was also reminded of the fact that many teachers do not have direct control over the books their classes read. So as I reflected on the reading strategy I was going to adapt for our conversation this week, I found one that had the students assemble a soundtrack for the novel (at www.learnnc.org/lp/external/5368 ), and I thought it may be an appropriate bridge from a loaded, at times distant, text and the students' lives and critical capabilities.

I think the way I would adapt the strategy to this novel would include showing a clip or two from the new The Great Gatsby movie.  Yes, the movie is in some ways anathema for English departments; the editing out of the famous scene which has been used to bolster claims Nick Carraway is homosexual is debatably homophobic. I would still show a clip of this to an urban classroom because it shows the interesting possibilities of applying music that is (superficially at least) thematically and historically dissonant to the text. The soundtrack was also produced by Jay-Z—a fact that I think could grab the attention of the students in many urban settings. The assignment would then regard reading The Wednesday Wars and creating a soundtrack for it—not of music from the era the novel is set in but from our contemporary music.  Students could even write originals if they so chose. Hip hop would certainly be very welcome. Ultimately, the students would reflect on and defend their pairings of particular scenes with particular songs.