Black Swan Green- Final Reflection

After finishing this book, I tried to figure out how I would teach it in the classroom and came up with a blank sheet of paper. I agree with most of what has been said by everyone else in the reading group. It seemed to me like there were moments that had great potential but they all fell flat. Some of the slightly fantastical elements that could have made the story really interesting by mixing magical realism in were introduced and then dropped with no further exploration. The scene with the woman in the woods when he hurt his ankle is an example. We find out at the end that she does exist and is just a senile old woman which











just ended up seeming like a neat and tidy way to tie up a loose end. I got that feeling with a lot of the individual
scenes or episodes; I walked away from the reading feeling like the story had gotten away from Mitchell halfway through and rather than paring it down into a cohesive narrative, he just scrambled to find a way to end it.
I don't see myself teaching this in a classroom. With the limited time we have with our students to make an impact on them this novel just isn't something I would want to waste that time with. It has potential but falls short in the
sneaks there are other options that are more realistic and more cohesive that students would be able to relate to more.
If students were expected to read this for class it would be useful to either use post-it notes as Cory suggested, or a double-entry journal to help students keep track of what was going on. Writing down colloquialisms to be looked up or researched later, along with current events of the time. A lot of group and partnered work would also be helpful to flesh out what was happening and why it's important would be another possible strategy.