'Allo
Because I can "do" an effective-ish Irish and/or British accent, my students are convinced that I have something of the Britannic race in me. They don't understand the nuances of whiteness-- the fact that as a pasty, frizzy-haired russian jew, being a pasty, frizzy-haired irish lass is something I only achieve in my wildest, once-exploited-white-sublcass-hopping fantasies.
My sophomores have been struggling through Lord of the Flies. They find it incredibly boring. MY plan is to push our way up to page 100 this week and then possibly show them the movie immediately upon return from break to help catch them up/refresh their memories. I had them write the conflict between Jack and Ralph as a funny dialogue today, and some did an adorable job. "Yo, my n*gga, why you be chasin that pig all day when the fire's burning out. That's f*cked up," and etc. I amused them with my own composition, "LOTF goes to the OC," which included the memorable line: "Dude, hunting the pig is like totally uncool," and the overuse of such words as "awesome" and "bro". For some inexplicable reason, my kids thought this was the funniest thing they had ever seen.
In short, even after the insanity of the past two weeks, with pesudo-snow-and transit strike days throwing the school into chaos, dozens of fights outside my classroom, a bird apparently shitting in a corner of my room this weekend (I'm going into school armed with bleach spray) and a pool of blood in the hallway from a lucky punch, I'm feeling pretty alright about my job. My students have a charm, when i let them.
They also have horror stories, lurking behind their eyes. One student returned after two months in Juvenile hall, another came back from six weeks in Jamaica looking lost and traumatized. One girl finally let me overhear the story of how she watched her father get shot, another kid longs for Christmas in the DR so badly that I keep waiting to see the tears drop down his face.
And they keep coming into school, so that means I have to keep it up too. Even if I'm going to let this week be one of little accomplishment!
My sophomores have been struggling through Lord of the Flies. They find it incredibly boring. MY plan is to push our way up to page 100 this week and then possibly show them the movie immediately upon return from break to help catch them up/refresh their memories. I had them write the conflict between Jack and Ralph as a funny dialogue today, and some did an adorable job. "Yo, my n*gga, why you be chasin that pig all day when the fire's burning out. That's f*cked up," and etc. I amused them with my own composition, "LOTF goes to the OC," which included the memorable line: "Dude, hunting the pig is like totally uncool," and the overuse of such words as "awesome" and "bro". For some inexplicable reason, my kids thought this was the funniest thing they had ever seen.
In short, even after the insanity of the past two weeks, with pesudo-snow-and transit strike days throwing the school into chaos, dozens of fights outside my classroom, a bird apparently shitting in a corner of my room this weekend (I'm going into school armed with bleach spray) and a pool of blood in the hallway from a lucky punch, I'm feeling pretty alright about my job. My students have a charm, when i let them.
They also have horror stories, lurking behind their eyes. One student returned after two months in Juvenile hall, another came back from six weeks in Jamaica looking lost and traumatized. One girl finally let me overhear the story of how she watched her father get shot, another kid longs for Christmas in the DR so badly that I keep waiting to see the tears drop down his face.
And they keep coming into school, so that means I have to keep it up too. Even if I'm going to let this week be one of little accomplishment!
posted by SarahMarian at 7:02 PM
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