2001-10-25
CJ: "Come and Get Us", posted at 8:01 a.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com Yesterday I had an amusing class period with my freshmen, who I actually enjoy when they're not screaming. I'm having students create a three-song soundtrack for "To Kill a Mockingbird" as one of their major writing assignments for the novel. In it, they must choose three songs that deal with the major themes, characters, or situations of the story, and then defend their choices by using evidence of each. All of it should fit into a nice, cohesive, five-paragraph essay.To help them out, I am presenting my own personal soundtrack for the novel to them piece by piece. Yesterday was the first piece of "my" soundtrack - "What It's Like" by Everlast. It's a great song, and I bought the CD maybe a month ago. I've done the soundtrack idea before, and wasn't sure it would work for "To Kill a Mockingbird", but I saw the idea here and I decided to go for it.
Anyhow, bringing in the song created a comedy of errors, but all was good. First of all, I forgot to bring in the CD from my car. When no other teachers came by to watch my class so I could leave, I sent two kids out to my messy car and had them get it. The only thing is, I'm horrible about keeping the correct CD's in the correct containers, and told them to go ahead and bring my whole center console in so I could look through it. That was sort of funny. Then, when I gave the assignment, I told them that their presentations should feature school-appropriate lyrics. So what do I do? I bring in a song with the f-word and two s-words. It was a big radio hit, but apparently that was the edited version. So I played it for the kids anyway, turning it down for the f-word and letting them heard the s-words. The song worked really well - it's all about looking at the world from another person's perspective ("God forbid you'd ever have to walk a mile in her shoes / then you might know what it's like to have to choose"), and that's what Atticus told his kids all the time in the novel. The swear words prompted a discussion of what I consider school-inappropriate, and since I can't really expect them to follow standards that I can't follow, I told them that the f-word was a no-go, as was the c-word. No one knew what the c-word was, so I immediately regretted saying it. They guessed "coochie" and "cum," which of course was absolutely wonderful to hear in my classroom. They finally demanded that I spell it, using the excuse that if they don't know what the word is, then they can't avoid it. Ugh. I also told them that excessive swearing was a no-no, and to talk to me if they have any doubts. I'm a bit leery about the class, since I think there's at least one arch-conservative Christian in there - the girl whose parents wouldn't let her read "Annie John" because of the supposed "lesbian" themes. Of course, there were no real lesbian themes, but whatever. I'll tread lightly on this topic.
We finished "TKAM" yesterday, about a minute before the bell rings. The kids requested that I read the last few pages, and I did so. You could hear a pin drop. It was wonderful. I think the kids really liked the book. I know I sure did. In fact, I found myself related my experience to that of Helen's last night on "Ed" - her principal was critical of her teaching of "The Great Gatsby" (which much to Nick's chagrin, I STILL haven't read yet, which is very problematic since I start teaching it in December), because she hadn't actually read it as a reader in years. I was reading "TKAM" as a reader and lover of literature, and hopefully I won't lose that feeling next time I teach it. Now I've got to figure out something else to keep them occupied for a while - "TKAM" was working so well.
Another cool development emerged yesterday. That youngish English teacher who announced her pregnancy at the department meeting last week is super-involved in student organizations, and sometimes overextends herself. This is becoming more problematic now that she's pregnant. Anyhow, there is an Upward Bound trip to the Applachian Mountains that needs a faculty member to go along. She asked me to do it. It would be from Nov. 2 - Nov. 6, and I would miss three school days and be gone from Thursday night until Tuesday night. I'm a bit leery of missing all that time in class, but, really, who's kidding? I really want to go, it's all expenses paid, and hopefully it'll get my foot in the door of helping out with extracurricular activities. I don't have to miss any official days of school - it'll all be under the heading of "professional development". The trip sounds wonderful - beautiful, 25 miles of hiking over the weekend, sleeping under the stars, canoeing, kayaking, etc. I'd love to do it. All I need is the the principal's permission, and according to the teacher, that is all taken care of.
It will also be a nice little vacation.
Today is an assembly during 7th period, and the counselor is taking up half of my sophomore second period class to talk about scheduling. I'm also showing "The Simpsons" version of "The Raven" and the Poe A&E Biography. Should be a fairly hassle free day. I'm excited.
"The West Wing" was back to being good again yesterday. It ended with an incredibly sexy shot of C.J. cracking open a beer, staring into the camera, and snearingly whispering "Come and get us." Jason and I both just about flipped about with that edict. It made Jason go and get a beer.