Sanem and Fast offer new elective course

Theology and literature come together in the new course that offers travels to Italy

graphic illustrated by Mackenzie OGuin

graphic illustrated by Mackenzie O’Guin

story by Helen Wheatley, graphic by Mackenzie O’Guin

 

Literature and Pilgrimage, STA’s new elective course offering for the 2015-16 school year, offers a completely different dynamic from most high school classes. Theology teacher Michael Sanem and English teacher Kelly Fast will co-teach “The Divine Comedy,” an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri. The course, which is offered only to juniors and seniors, will span one semester and includes an optional trip through Italy the following summer.

“The Divine Comedy” was written in the fourteenth century and is widely regarded as one of the greatest works of world literature. It combines elements of philosophy and literature as the main character travels through hell, purgatory and heaven, according to Fast, who believes the work still asks questions students should be interested in, despite its age.

“The main character has conversations with people,” Fast said. “Like ‘What is art?’ or ‘Is a viewer supposed to look at a piece of art and have his spirit moved so that he gets closer to God, or simply be aesthetically pleased?””

Last year brought a huge push for collaboration between teachers, motivating Sanem and Fast to plan the course after Sanem helped teach Fast’s Great Books course for a few years. The two teachers saw this as an opportunity to create the co-taught class. Sanem and Fast agree that the poem is a great work to teach.

“The works itself is awesome and interesting… it’s not boring– he’s going to hell,” Sanem said.

The two teachers will lead the trip through Italy, as both believe it to be an essential part of the course.

“We imagined a class that’s not just in the classroom,” Fast said. “We are going somewhere after the fact and having students connect on a more personal and experiential level to connect with what they’ve read.”

The trip is a sort of pilgrimage of its own, as students travel for thirteen days through Italy, visiting Rome, Siena, Orvieto, Florence, Vernazza and Milan, according to Fast. The group will visit places the author lived and wrote, and see attractions that were influenced specifically by him.

Sanem feels that the trip is important because the students will fully experience the culture in which the poem was written, as well as experience the pilgrimage present in the work.

“The poem is all about movement and motion in that we need to get up and go somewhere and experience something outside of our comfort zone,” Sanem said. “To see it, to smell Italy in the afternoon… to eat the food: [it’s] a full body experience.”

Sanem believes the class should not critique the poem, but appreciate and learn from it. Students tend to be “hyper-critical” of works, Sanem has observed.

Literature and Pilgrimage takes a different approach. The course will teach students an appreciation for literature and culture, but most importantly it will teach them to “look at [a work] and appreciate its value,” Sanem said. “Sometimes a flaw is a part of the work itself.”

“We lose the freedom to just say, let’s read something incredible and talk about it,” Sanem said. “And that’s the course… We are not teaching to any test. We just want to read this work together as a community of learners and talk about it.”