The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
"Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering.”
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss: Sometimes we are lucky enough to stumble across a text, a work of art,
that changes us - and will in turn change so many of our students lives for the better: Giving comfort, beauty, and solace at a
time of anxiety, stress, and depression. I started teaching this novel after about a decade of teaching. It fit so well with the other books and stories we were reading - and it came at just the right time as the stress levels of students were on the rise - and it gives the students a wonderful introduction to close reading, connections, and to so many of the ideas and concepts that we will revisit throughout the year - in an approachable novel that so many of them will not only appreciate - but deeply love as well.
For a long time, I have given students, bookmarks for the novels (PDF) that we read with due dates and references to poems and other related material that are, then, available at a glance - It allows them to plan their time and for students that need more time for reading - they can begin early (I try to give them the bookmarks a week early.
I have always taught a great deal of poetry in my British Literature course - and students who ended up taking my World Literature class told me they missed the poetry - and honestly, so did I. I then started incorporating more poetry by way of finding, reading, and discussing a thematically linked group of poems - as an introduction to each of our novels that we read. I also found it gave me a chance to bring in even more diverse texts and authors (poets).
Our first novel - and our first discussion of that book. So much in a few short weeks has led up to this - the short stories on truth, the quizzes and students knowing that they are actually expected to do the reading, and of course the previous lessons poems which served as a kind of prelude or overture to upcoming discussions.
You will probably only use this lesson if your Opening Discussion got cut short. Otherwise you can proceed to the next lesson.
Three distinct ways to have a class discussion on The History of Love 25-45. A vertext, divided reading, and Ringmaster Teacher. Each are explained complete with their respective Power Points or notes.
A group work that brings in what they've been reading so far - having the students make the big critical thinking discoveries - and it also gives them some background on the author of The Little Prince (whose presence is felt in the book).
The first long term project for the World Literature Class - and it's based on partners creating an Illuminated Text (see this page for more on Illuminated Texts) of one of the works that we are currently or have just covered.
Usually our class discussions skip the part of the book that was covered in Group Work (see above). However, sometimes we will briefly discuss those areas that were not covered in the Group Work questions - and then go further in the text than that assignment went. Such is the case in this lesson. (Sometimes as the teacher - who is also reading the novel - you just want to talk about things!)
Two Ring-Master Teacher lessons in a row. There is actually a pretty good reason for this. While it's possible to prepare students for the wonderful connections in this book using other methods - they can be easily missed. The biggest danger here is actually to give spoilers. In twenty years of teaching this book, I gave away the ending - only once (but boy did I feel terrible).
A very student-centered (how I hate that term) lesson. Each student has a turn - we cover the entire reading. I also talk about in this lesson how the teacher can "cover their bases" to make sure that everything they feel needs to get covered - does.
"The Street of Crocodiles" - an abstract short story or panegyric by Bruno Schultz is key to The History of Love. It is the favorite book of two of the main characters - and what happened to its author (Schultz) echoes much of what happens in Krauss's novel. This exercise utilizes groups to help the students get the text read (and understood) in a period.
So many connections to make that the students will love. The best way and the most powerful way to show these connections is with a Vertext (set of quotes). It allows the students to work together as a class in solving the puzzles that bring this novel together.
This group work attempts to have students not only tie things from within the book together but brings in two works - Henry V by Shakespeare and the death of Falstaff, and the last page of The Great Gatsby. That page will appear again and again throughout the year.
It's back to the students finding things - with every student contributing to the discussion - with a Row Reading (see my page on types of discussions).
- Continuing with the more student active discussion - we do A Vertext on the next section. The secrets and connections in the story start to be revealed and a Vertext is a great way to have the students make those connections themselves.
So exciting to finish this wonderful book. The teacher will lead the discussion but every student has a prepared comment, question, or idea from the breadth of the entire novel.
Nicole Krauss comes to Room 207 - does a short reading from The History of Love and answers the students' questions. She then stayed to sign everyone's books.... What a day!
Students will watch Everything is Illuminated, a wonderful film that ties so very closely with The History of Love - answering some questions immediately - and more involved thinking prompts at home.
An alternate movie to show instead of the above. Students will watch Wings of Desire, a beautiful, poetic film that ties so very closely with The History of Love - answering some questions immediately - and more involved thinking prompts at home.
Because the movie questions are like 30 mini-essays, with opportunities for extra credit essays as well, I didn't always have the class do a separate essay. That changed, however, the year that I taught AP Language and Literature (I only taught it one year). That year, I created an in class essay modeled on the type of essay that they would ultimately be writing for their AP test. There is another essay somewhere that I assigned to the nonAP classes - but I have yet to find it.
It is time to watch (and grade) the Illuminated Texts that students have been working on for the past month (with partners while we've been reading "The History of Love")