Sometimes you catch yourself thinking thoughts, especially when they are the first ones of the day, that make you reconsider your career choice and/or life path thus far. Thoughts like,
Oh good! We have toilet paper today.
Other times your students write things that are so unintentionally charming and/or hilarious you write them on 3x5 cards and show them to everyone you see that day.
On Romeo’s mental state and motivations:
Romeo is feeling depressed because he is in love with a girl that he will never be able to date or marry because she is a noun.
On asking people if they believe in true love:
I guess that the answer was different depending on which or what age they were. Like little kids think that love is gross. And also that little kids are gross.
Then there are the times when they say things so completely idiotic that you just stare at them, aghast.
After a really rough week with my 9th grade class, during which almost no headway was made in Romeo and Juliet, I gave them a brief talk about why they needed to learn this play: It’s one of the most famous in Western literature; it’s full of evocative, poetic language that will help us with our own writing; it deals with huge themes that help us to examine humanity; and last of all, every ninth grader in the known universe reads this play, and when you go out into the world, you will want to know what other ninth graders assume is base knowledge. My Prettiest Girl, by which I mean the one who has most consciously made the decision to be a Pretty Girl, says in her snottiest, most dismissive tone,
Well, what if we’re already in the tenth grade?
Touché!
Then today, I busted my kids betting on poker after the state test. They were pissed when I took their cards, and I explained (calmly and quietly, I might add) that this was not just my rule, but the school’s, and the government’s, when not of age and in a casino. And this kid says, in his best Gotcha! voice,
But I’m not legal! I don't have papers; I don’t have to follow your rules!
Yeah, buddy. Good luck with that.
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2 comments:
you surely have to think on your feet!
poor kid. he doesn't have to follow any rules, huh? boy, is he in for a rude awakening.
Yeah, didn't you know? That's how it is when you enter a country through non-legal means. No rules for you! I would assume this also extends to other countries of which you are not a citizen, which is why it's OK to steal when on holiday.
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