The Daily News
1 In my haste to get the evening over with last night, I speared a potato chip into my gums. It swelled up in the night and is now painful, albeit untragic.
2 I may need to schedule a dentist appointment.
3 What’s a good time for a dentist appointment?
4 Why, tooth hurty.
5 Anybody looking?
6 Moving on, Part the First: So how’s the day so far?
7 Tuesday going into Spring Break. This party animal wishes the end of Tuesdays, as most of you by now know.
8 If there were no Tuesdays, today would be Wednesday. Our teachers voted to eliminate this Friday as a day of the week. Can you just imagine if we had no Tuesdays? Learning would be pointless.
9 Of course the nerd in me sees all of this as an opportunity to do more planning, get more organized, and catch up on my grading.
10 Party animal, indeed.
11 The cupboards are filled with Crystal Light and Nutella.
12 Oh, and party hats and birthday blowers.
13 Whoopie.
14 Moving On, Part the Second: Day-um.
15 I had another of those dreams where this thing was already written.
16 I awakened, went to see if I had written anything yesterday, and it was an empty cabinet.
17 I have people over, so I’m in the living room with a pen-flashlight in my mouth, swollen gums, and no ideas.
18 I think it is all tied into Spring Break.
19 I am gonna par-tay.
20 With school stuff.
21 Moving On, Part the Thoid: One thing I did do yesterday was haul my guitar and a couple amps up to the school. I am in the process of turning my classroom into the Cafe Verona, an open-mic jazz/poetry place with ambient lighting, guitars, keyboards, amps, and microphones.
22 It’s a slow morph, but it eventually looks like some Bohemian Starbuck’s, a perfect combination of past and present.
23 Many readers of the DN are Shakespeare aficionados, so they take most of Shakespeare for granted.
24 If many of you travel back through the mists of time, you may recall when you didn’t even know the plot of Romeo and Juliet.
25 Yesterday I pulled out all stops. On a Monday going into Spring Break, I got us all the way from the prologue to the Romeo/Benvolio scene where we discover after the fray that Romeo is gaga over Rosaline. The lesson had it all: the iambic de-dum, de-dum, de-dum, de-dum, de-dum, the Samson/Gregory “Do you bite your thumb at me?” scene, the fights, the introduction of Benvolio and Tybalt, and the passion of the Prince. “Three civil brawls bred of an airy word, By thee O Capulet, and Montague, Have thrice disturb’d the quiet of our streets!” The iambicly perfect ending, “…have thrice disturb’d the quiet of our streets!” had students patting their hearts.
26 The majority of my students have no idea how this will all go down, but they clearly were getting it. I put them in a large circle, gave each a script, introduced it all, and then I read it to them. It might sound vain, but any other technique simply doesn’t work. Having them read it silently would result in more corpses in my class than there are in the story.
27 Giving different students parts would result in some guy reading so quietly and so slowly that most would want him put up on charges for attempted murder. He would then be tried by a jury of his peers, the Bored of Education. <groan.>
28 I do have these CD’s put out by our textbook publishers, but the voices are so wussy and tepid that nobody is going to believe that this play has any passion whatsoever.
29 Nope.
30 Here’s a unique concept: teacher does all the work, and the students learn. Maybe we should hire a committee to see if that’s a good formula. Maybe the state should do studies, hold seminars, pay teachers, pay committees, and do case studies to see if a teacher actually teaching is a good idea.
31 Moving on, Part Four: I know that I had somehow engaged the students yesterday. They were proud that they understood the language, but more importantly, they began enjoying the rhythms, rhymes and music of the language.
32 I also knew that they didn’t need the WPC to come in with their glasses and clipboards, and shake their heads.
33 Moving on, Part Five: My sophomores were a bit more of a challenge. For the second year in a row I chose Much Ado as my main squeeze. I have Julius Caesar on hold, but I find that they enjoy Much Ado About Nothing much more.
34 I was on pins and needles, because with Much Ado, I need my updated Folger copy. Their copies they have lousier notations. I need to use a different book, and lining the two up became a little challenging. I made a few early mistakes, but got them going on it slowly at first, but once the plot took off, they were looking like they were watching a Disney cartoon, especially with the villainous Don John and his ruffians. Perfect Disney villains. Evil for the sake of evil, and double entendres everywhere. Mr. Censor was poised and ready, just for the record.
35 Mr. Censor is this stick-figure guy that during any butt scenes in the movies I put up on my teevee screen. The static from the teevee makes Mr. Censor cling to the screen. I had to make copies of Mr. Censor with Much Ado because of the opening scene, when all the men coming home from the wars take off their pants and dive into fountains. I showed them the opening a couple of weeks ago, just as a sampler.
36 I had to pay Mr. Censor overtime on that one, which prompted one kid to make a Mr. Censor, Jr. to aid in the conquest of immorality.
37 Sometime when I think of it I’ll take a picture of Mr. Censor and post it here. He and his colleagues are at school making sure nothing immoral happens.
38 Ah, sweet sanctity.
39 The nice thing about doing both R and J and Much Ado is that it was all text and reading, no film yet. I did give a few quick-peek samplers, yes, but we won’t go to the films until Thursday, which this week is our Friday.
40 I fully intend to spring Midsummer on all my classes when we get back, go through a poetry unit that involves the Cafe Verona, and end with Taming of the Shrew in the theater, in full stereo. Oh, somewhere in there we are going to have testing and other interruptions, but meanwhile, it is officially Spring!
41 It is especially nice when everything is planned. My entire philosophy about Shakespeare and poetry is that I don’t want them just to learn it. It isn’t going to get them a job, unless they go into teaching or acting, both of which only a lunatic would do for a living.
42 My philosophy is that they should embrace Shakespeare and poetry as lifelong gifts to themselves and to their children.
43 I place great emphasis on the arts in my classroom. We prepare students for the working world, but if that’s all we do, then we develop drones. Bringing culture, art, poetry, and music into their lives trains them for the days when they aren’t working, or when they are cursing the jobs they worked so hard in school to get. I emphasize art, especially in the Spring.
44 No data will tell me that I shouldn’t be doing that. No state committee nor state test is going to measure any of that.
45 And nobody on this planet is going to tell me that what I am doing is anything but enrichment, and that you can teach with music, drama, art, poetry, and laughter.
46 Whew. What a rant.
47 Going to bed now.
48 Have a beautiful Tuesday, and I hope many of you are looking forward to some sort of Spring Break.
49 I sure am.
50 And yes, I will bring Shakespeaere with me, even if I get to the beach. I’ll give homie a pair of Ray Bans, and we’ll rock to the sounds of the booming waves, and to the occasional squawk of a gull.
51 And my heart will go de-dum, de-dum, de-dum, de-dum, de-dum.
52 Gottago.
53 See you again.
54 Peace and sunscreen.
~H~
www.xanga.com/bharrington
The Daily News1 In my haste to get the evening over with last night, I speared a potato chip into my gums. It swelled up in the night and is now painful, albeit untragic.2 I may need to schedule a dentist appointment.3 What’s a good time for a dentist appointment?4 Why, tooth hurty.5 Anybody looking?6 Moving on, Part the First: So how’s the day so far?7 Tuesday going into Spring Break. This party animal wishes the end of Tuesdays, as most of you by now know.8 If there were no Tuesdays, today would be Wednesday. Our teachers voted to eliminate this Friday as a day of the week. Can you just imagine if we had no Tuesdays? Learning would be pointless.9 Of course the nerd in me sees all of this as an opportunity to do more planning, get more organized, and catch up on my grading.10 Party animal, indeed.11 The cupboards are filled with Crystal Light and Nutella.12 Oh, and party hats and birthday blowers.13 Whoopie.14 Moving On, Part the Second: Day-um.15 I had another of those dreams where this thing was already written.16 I awakened, went to see if I had written anything yesterday, and it was an empty cabinet.17 I have people over, so I’m in the living room with a pen-flashlight in my mouth, swollen gums, and no ideas.18 I think it is all tied into Spring Break.19 I am gonna par-tay.20 With school stuff.21 Moving On, Part the Thoid: One thing I did do yesterday was haul my guitar and a couple amps up to the school. I am in the process of turning my classroom into the Cafe Verona, an open-mic jazz/poetry place with ambient lighting, guitars, keyboards, amps, and microphones.22 It’s a slow morph, but it eventually looks like some Bohemian Starbuck’s, a perfect combination of past and present.23 Many readers of the DN are Shakespeare aficionados, so they take most of Shakespeare for granted.24 If many of you travel back through the mists of time, you may recall when you didn’t even know the plot of Romeo and Juliet.25 Yesterday I pulled out all stops. On a Monday going into Spring Break, I got us all the way from the prologue to the Romeo/Benvolio scene where we discover after the fray that Romeo is gaga over Rosaline. The lesson had it all: the iambic de-dum, de-dum, de-dum, de-dum, de-dum, the Samson/Gregory “Do you bite your thumb at me?” scene, the fights, the introduction of Benvolio and Tybalt, and the passion of the Prince. “Three civil brawls bred of an airy word, By thee O Capulet, and Montague, Have thrice disturb’d the quiet of our streets!” The iambicly perfect ending, “…have thrice disturb’d the quiet of our streets!” had students patting their hearts.26 The majority of my students have no idea how this will all go down, but they clearly were getting it. I put them in a large circle, gave each a script, introduced it all, and then I read it to them. It might sound vain, but any other technique simply doesn’t work. Having them read it silently would result in more corpses in my class than there are in the story.27 Giving different students parts would result in some guy reading so quietly and so slowly that most would want him put up on charges for attempted murder. He would then be tried by a jury of his peers, the Bored of Education. <groan.>28 I do have these CD’s put out by our textbook publishers, but the voices are so wussy and tepid that nobody is going to believe that this play has any passion whatsoever.29 Nope.30 Here’s a unique concept: teacher does all the work, and the students learn. Maybe we should hire a committee to see if that’s a good formula. Maybe the state should do studies, hold seminars, pay teachers, pay committees, and do case studies to see if a teacher actually teaching is a good idea.31 Moving on, Part Four: I know that I had somehow engaged the students yesterday. They were proud that they understood the language, but more importantly, they began enjoying the rhythms, rhymes and music of the language.32 I also knew that they didn’t need the WPC to come in with their glasses and clipboards, and shake their heads.33 Moving on, Part Five: My sophomores were a bit more of a challenge. For the second year in a row I chose Much Ado as my main squeeze. I have Julius Caesar on hold, but I find that they enjoy Much Ado About Nothing much more.34 I was on pins and needles, because with Much Ado, I need my updated Folger copy. Their copies they have lousier notations. I need to use a different book, and lining the two up became a little challenging. I made a few early mistakes, but got them going on it slowly at first, but once the plot took off, they were looking like they were watching a Disney cartoon, especially with the villainous Don John and his ruffians. Perfect Disney villains. Evil for the sake of evil, and double entendres everywhere. Mr. Censor was poised and ready, just for the record.35 Mr. Censor is this stick-figure guy that during any butt scenes in the movies I put up on my teevee screen. The static from the teevee makes Mr. Censor cling to the screen. I had to make copies of Mr. Censor with Much Ado because of the opening scene, when all the men coming home from the wars take off their pants and dive into fountains. I showed them the opening a couple of weeks ago, just as a sampler.36 I had to pay Mr. Censor overtime on that one, which prompted one kid to make a Mr. Censor, Jr. to aid in the conquest of immorality.37 Sometime when I think of it I’ll take a picture of Mr. Censor and post it here. He and his colleagues are at school making sure nothing immoral happens.38 Ah, sweet sanctity.39 The nice thing about doing both R and J and Much Ado is that it was all text and reading, no film yet. I did give a few quick-peek samplers, yes, but we won’t go to the films until Thursday, which this week is our Friday.40 I fully intend to spring Midsummer on all my classes when we get back, go through a poetry unit that involves the Cafe Verona, and end with Taming of the Shrew in the theater, in full stereo. Oh, somewhere in there we are going to have testing and other interruptions, but meanwhile, it is officially Spring!41 It is especially nice when everything is planned. My entire philosophy about Shakespeare and poetry is that I don’t want them just to learn it. It isn’t going to get them a job, unless they go into teaching or acting, both of which only a lunatic would do for a living.42 My philosophy is that they should embrace Shakespeare and poetry as lifelong gifts to themselves and to their children.43 I place great emphasis on the arts in my classroom. We prepare students for the working world, but if that’s all we do, then we develop drones. Bringing culture, art, poetry, and music into their lives trains them for the days when they aren’t working, or when they are cursing the jobs they worked so hard in school to get. I emphasize art, especially in the Spring.44 No data will tell me that I shouldn’t be doing that. No state committee nor state test is going to measure any of that.45 And nobody on this planet is going to tell me that what I am doing is anything but enrichment, and that you can teach with music, drama, art, poetry, and laughter.46 Whew. What a rant.47 Going to bed now.48 Have a beautiful Tuesday, and I hope many of you are looking forward to some sort of Spring Break.49 I sure am.50 And yes, I will bring Shakespeaere with me, even if I get to the beach. I’ll give homie a pair of Ray Bans, and we’ll rock to the sounds of the booming waves, and to the occasional squawk of a gull.51 And my heart will go de-dum, de-dum, de-dum, de-dum, de-dum.52 Gottago.53 See you again.54 Peace and sunscreen.~H~
www.xanga.com/bharrington
