February 15, 2011
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1 I got serenaded with Jason Mraz's I'm Yours yesterday, DURING class! AND they gave me a flower.
2 Ya gotta love Valentine's Day.
3 Or ya gotta hate Valentine's Day.
4 'Twas ever thus.
5 I annually use the day to officially launch my Romeo and Juliet lesson. Great fun, since I pretty much preface the entire thing by pointing out Shakespeare's clear belief that love turns people stupid.
6 I also began my lesson yesterday with these words of wisdom: "Happy Valentine's Day! Or...Unhappy Valentine's Day. Or...SCREW Valentine's Day! Just hope you have a great day!"
7 What that does is it immediately makes the day for people who don't have Valentine's, and it doesn't insult those who do at all, because they're too happy to care.
8 Works like a charm.
9 Nobody is offended, and everybody feels good.
10 I even do a brief lesson on Love. It's great fun, because I have the students write a five-minute journal entry on this theme: in 25 words or fewer, define love.
11 I time it perfectly, exactly five minutes.
12 While they write, I put on Michael Buble's Crazy Little Thing Called Love cover. There's a live one on You Tube that gets kids not only writing, but dancing as well.
13 If you're going to succeed as a teacher on Valentine's Day, you have to work the sugar rushes. And the students love writing about love. Some roll their eyes, others are dazzled by its brightness, still others are ridiculously cynical. And you will always have the Scientist.
14 He's the one who breaks it down hormonally.
15 They enjoy it, but also receive Socratic learnings about all the various sorts of "love" there is.
16 And someone inevitably brings up the love of chocolate.
17 One student yesterday said, "Love is a disease".
18 Well, yes, I suppose. Sort of like a cold. Three days coming, three days here, and three days going.
19 It is an interesting lesson.The beauty of this sort of seminar is that somewhere, Truth will out.
20 If thirty students are asked that question, then they will all hear something about which they have never really given any sort of thought.
21 And I avoid being cynical. It's fun watching the romantics clash with those who have been burnt. Or the Scientists v. the Romantics.
22 And even the most hard core kids will put in their thoughts.
23 One girl blurted out, "I'm only fourteen! What the Hell do I know about love?"
24 The Anti-Valentine's Day students feel relieved and able to chime in because of my semi-sarcastic intro to the day.
25 But 'tis the season of Romeo and Juliet, or Gnomeo and Juliet this year (Shakespeare must be turning in his bony grave!) which I just may make required viewing.
26 One of the first things I do is put Romeo and Juliet on the couch.
27 This guy's character is established instantly with a guy who is crushing so deeply on Rosalynne that he locks himself up in a dark room all day, cries 'til evening, and then when it is really late, sneaks out to the sycamore grove to cry all night about having been turned down by her.
28 Love, love love!
29 And thirteen-year old Juliet, whose mom clearly got married and pregnant WAY too early in life, wants her out of the house and married to a guy she and her child-beating, overbearing father believe will take care of her.
30 It gives all of my students a rather global look at this crazy little thing called love.
31 They write metaphors.
32 I get things that are grand. Things like, "Love is the last slice of pizza in a box", or "Love is shattered glass". There are literally hundreds.
33 And each metaphor teaches them a little more about this crazy little thing called love.
34 And all of its questions and limitless issues.
35 So I'm glad that we surfed through that red sea of madness yesterday. It is such a part of living, and sometimes it just needs to be addressed, even on its own day.
36 I had great fun, and even got serenaded.
37 And that's the rest of the story.
38 Have a great Tuesday, if there is such a thing.
39 Keep loving.
40 Peace.
~H~
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