December 19, 2012
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Think You.
The Daily News1 Yesterday I had time to give finals and to grade finals.2 My prediction from last week magically materialized.
3 My students’ wrote like their hair was on fire.
4 That’s this new, hip teaching expression.
5 I never quite got it.
6 It’s from some fancy book or other.
7 It is irrelevant to me, because I have spent my entire career teaching as if my hair was on fire.
8 The results?
9 I have gone bald, but in an illustrious American-eagle-sort-of way.
10 Personally, I think it’s dashing.
11 But I digress.
12 Last week I mentioned that I give a plus, a check, and a minus on the finals. A plus is a rare thing; last year I gave perhaps eight out of total of approximately 150 students.
13 Yesterday I graded my first batch of finals and gave around five. Some of the writing was absolutely brilliant. That was in one class.
14 What was particularly amazing was some of the poetry the students produced.
15 Traditionally, high school poetry works something like this: “I want to talk about our love.” Hmm. What rhymes with “love?”
16 “bove?” “cuv” “dove?” “fuv?” “Gov?”
17 In high school, all poems are love poems.
18 So what rhymes with “love?”
19 “Above!” So here goes:
20 I want to talk about our love
It is so beautiful, like the stars above…21 <basketball buzzer>
22 Kid. Do ya think you‘re the first kid ever to rhyme “love” with “above?”
23 Hallmark crap.
24 Their poetic method goes something like this: find a word. Find a word that rhymes with it. Ignore every other conceivable poetic device (imagery, alliteration, personification, etc.) and throw a bunch of crap up there until you achieve a rhyme.
25 Poetry.
26 I hate to break hearts out there, but that sort of poetry is cheaper than a Russian trinket.
27 On my written exam, I give a series of twelve writing prompts, all of which must reach 300 words. I have built into the prompts something for everybody: the organized, thesis-starved students can do everything they can to have a structured, secure paper.
28 The five-paragraph, just-tell-me-what-to-do-and-I-will-do it prompts work well for the A-team.
29 The dreamers love this prompt: “You are Edgar Allan Poe. At midnight, a strange knocking is heard in your chamber. The doors fly open, and Virginia, your wife and your life (and your niece!) floats into the room, hands you a letter, and then vanishes. Write the letter.”
30 And I always allow poetry, either one epic poem that is 300 words, or any series of poems that will reach that word count.
31 Over the years, “love” “stars above” and “dove” have appeared in over ten-thousand lousy poems.
32 This year, I tried to teach that poetry is much easier than that, and thoughtful words and wordplay can produce some lyrical poetry.
33 I don’t have the stuff at my fingertips because we are well into the 4 a.m. but one girl wrote some stuff that should already be published, and two other students produced absolutely intoxicating pieces of writing.
34 The writing that came in from that class was astounding, and no state test is going to understand that, ever.
35 Even my students who don’t ordinarily do all their work gave it their all yesterday.
36 I knew that would happen, but I never expected three high-quality poets in one class.
37 One girl wrote a marvelous review of James Hurst’s The Scarlet Ibis, one of the most beautiful short stories ever written. I should have thought that she was a reviewer for the Book-of-the-Month Club.
38 After the nightmares of last week, my students came prepared.
39 They are high achievers, and everybody wanted to get a plus.
40 In my second class of the day, three girls asked if they could write about the same characters with different stories.
41 I said, “That would be awesome!” They immediately began chirping, sharing, and imagining.
42 The workshop was on. Finals in my class are amazing to watch. Thirty young minds trying to produce the best writing of their lives. That is the real assignment, and they were all over it.
43 Contrast to last week’s Benchmark disaster.
44 Today my Disney class comes in. My Disney class is charming. The name says it all. When they say “Thank you” they say what sounds like “Think you!” and it is adorably cute. They hold doors for you, and are probably one of the kindest, most thoughtful classes I have ever taught.
45 Their Benchmark was the one that was rushed and ridiculous. Their scores were around ten points lower than they should have been because of that ridiculous program.
46 I don’t care. They are coming in today and will charm me, as they always do. They will write some of the best stuff I will ever see from high school students. They will worry at first, and then put everything they can into their writing, because I expect no less.
47 And when they leave, they will say, “Think you!” And I will look at them go off for the holidays, and sigh about the last day of school when they will again depart.
48 It’s a livin’.
49 Hope you guys have a wonderful day. Mine is already wonderful, and I’m going back under the covers for another hour.
50 See you again.
51 Peace.
~H~
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