Wednesday, Jan. 08, 2003
When will Alan Trammell get more Hall of Fame support?, posted at 5:42 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com Just as I was losing confidence in Their Eyes Were Watching God as a great book for 9th graders, a student from last year stopped by to ask me for a piece of gum. A quintessential jock, he's a star on both the basketball and football team despite merely being a sophomore. He asked what we were reading. When I told him, he said, "That's my favorite book of all time."That was reassuring.
I think I may begin a campaign to add A Lesson Before Dying to the curriculum. It's an African American male-centered novel, something that's needed in our curriculum, plus it's readable and enjoyable (unlike, say, The Invisible Man). I think the theme of an uneducated community putting a lot of faith in one educated member of it that returns is one that will resonate with the students, many of whom will be first-generation college students. It's also intense, powerful, and beautifully written - a great modern novel.
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Today, I woke up at my usual 4:50am, checked my e-mail, ate my cereal, took my shower, and headed downstairs to my bedroom to get dressed. It was freezing down there, as there is no heater and it's like 25 degrees outside. I was so cold standing there in my towel that I lay down under my blanket on my bed. Tobey joined me, curling up on my chest. Next thing I knew, it was 7:20. Oops. No workout this morning.
The day was pretty good, considering. If you haven't guessed from my much more frequent updates as of late, I've gotten my home computer back. My laptop for school is still busted, which is a source of both frustration (I'm not getting enough done at school) and relief (I'm using it as an excuse as to why I don't have certain annoying records turned in). It will be nice to get it back, regardless of the excuses I'm making.
My 7th period is driving me bananas again. Today, I actually said this: "Okay, if you all continue to talk, I'm going to assign those talking to copy paragraphs out of the book." I hate, hate, hate it when teachers use writing as a punishment. Ugh.
Well, at least it worked. My 4/5 period is angelic. I wish I could teach 18 students in all my classes instead of 30. It is a pleasure to have each of them in class. I gave one of them my fish today.