The Daily News
1 One of the great things about experience is that I've reached a point in life where I don't care what anyone else thinks of what I teach; I am now teaching everything I ever wanted.
2 For years I've kept certain things out of the realm for whatever reason. This year I threw in a unit on Simon and Garfunkel songs, just to see if it would work. The students loved it, analyzed five songs and wrote some of the best papers I've ever read.
3 I played America for them with a mic and a guitar. They had never heard me play, and it was quite a surprise when I actually nailed the song. Was it embarrassing? A bit, because I'm such an ugly ol' coot! But it was also nice singing and playing live in the Cathedral, aka the Cafe' Verona.
4 And the moon rose over an open field.
5 Yesterday was the last day officially of STAR testing, which I enjoy more and more each year because it gives me some Goof Off Time.
6 But no matter how they try to swing the STAR, there's always random periods of time left over, and so we had to teach only one hour per class this week. Where do your tax dollars go? Well, testing is one place.
7 Whatevuh. The standards-based education thing and No Child Left Behind is a huge smokescreen anyway. Tons of money spent on things that are essentially not going to make things better. I won't go there today because my focus is on other things, but some of that is always present, almost every single day.
8 Just let teachers teach. Most of them are pretty darned good at it.
9 But I digress.
10 Because we had this extra time with the STAR testing, and because of the scare we had last month, I was able to take two days that were almost designed to be throwaways and show Shakespeare in Love, one of the best films ever.
11 Tricky, yes because it's rated R, but that makes it great for a reclassified pirate like meself.
12 It has about three scenes that need "screening" and it's pretty easy to censor those. The rest of it is a lark.
13 Or a nightingale.
14 I had forgotten what a fun film it was.
15 It stunned the students. They talked and chatted through parts, but the entire second half had them on the edge of their seats.
16 There's a fight scene midway through in which feathers fly and a trap door is used. It occurred to me that the director, whose name is John Madden, was saluting Franco Zefferelli's "wasp" scene from Taming of the Shrew. I have yet to release Shrew, but they will be getting that in a week or so.
17 Neither Shakespeare in Love nor Taming of the Shrew are anywhere in the district standards. Neither then is Romeo and Juliet, which a student pointed out to me right before the STAR.
18 He was nervous about the STAR test, which has questions like this:
Which sentence is correct?
a. One of, the girls is going to the prom.
b. One, of the girls is going to the prom.
c. one of the Girls is going to the prom.
d. One of the girls is going to the prom.
19 The answer is (d) for those of you slow of study.
20 You don't put a comma after "of".
21 Aha!
22 This guy was upset that I taught Romeo and Juliet instead of pouring a ton of grammar lessons his way.
23 It's pretty hard to teach a bunch of grammar when the district threw away all the grammar books. I taught as much of it as I could anyway and had plenty of time for Romeo and Juliet.
24 Anyway, Shakespeare in Love worked, and was a great warm-up to Taming of the Shrew.
25 And it's looking like I'll probably have English 2A next year, which means I'll be able at long last to bring Midsummer into the mix. Let's face it: Julius Caesar is pretty used. I never thought it was a great play, just a tradition. I'll probably tie Caesar in with a JFK unit next year, which oughta blow the socks off everyone.
26 Well, that's about it for life in the land of the English professore. It's so fun, because several kids are now heading their papers "Professor Harrington", a handle I haven't quite earned yet, but it is pretty fun. I'm thinking of staying online until I become a professor anywho. Probably too lazy, but yeesh. I'm two-thirds through my third class and still maintaining a 97.5% (I did the wrong assignment last week and got "docked". I thought I did it the right way, but evidently I did something wrong, not sure what).
27 So that's about it here on Friday morning at 3 a.m. I don't have to get in until 9:30 (at least that's when my first class comes in) so it's fun being awake in my usual insomniacal fashion.
28 Moving on: The ESUHSD is having a 5K run to "Save or Sports" on Sunday. It begins at 9 a.m. at Mt. Pleasant High School. I don't know if it's too late to go and register and all but if you're not doing anything, come down and donate. Our school has raised over $21,000 already. It would be worth donating a buck just to watch me waddle around the neighborhood in big ol' shorts. Horrid. But it's for sports, and I think sports are pretty darned cool.
29 I think that's it. I'm wide awake and wishing to write way more, but I had better get rested for our last day of testing. It gets pretty weary watching kids bubble things in using number two pencils.
30 Vicky Ponticelli deserves major props for organizing our APED's on all of this. This year's test was the most organized we've had since I arrived at the Chill. I have to assume she had a hand in it, because she's a genius.
31 Of course, she's also married to Professor Ponticelli, so how could she not be a genius with him around all the time? It rubs off, don'tcha know.
32 And one last thing: I got an e-mail from Shawna Fleming yesterday, and it was awesome. She concurred about YB. Thanks Shawna.
33 Glory days.
34 Peace.
~H~
www.xanga.com/bharrington
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOpIfbneeHg
Recent Comments