Last night I didn’t bring any work home. How nice it was. I think it was the second or third night this week I didn’t bring work home.
In years past I would try to take one night off from correcting or prepping. Those days are over now.
And the odd thing is that my classes are harder now than ever. I just assign less busy work.
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Yesterday to prepare students for “The Crucible” we discussed two selections from the web site, eyewitnesshistory.com. It’s a great site that selects pivotal moments in history and offers a brief summary of them and then offers some - you guessed it - eye witness reports - namely, primary sources - offering students an inside look at the event.
The two selections we looked at involved the Salem Witch Trials themselves and a shorter chronicle entitled “The Price of Adultery in Puritan Society.” In the latter piece, a young woman is scorned by a young man. As a result, she marries the oldest man she can find. Well, soon she is dissatisfied and is enticed by some of the local gentlemen, married and not, with wine and song to sleep with them. Soon the affairs are witnessed and the woman and one man are apprehended. The others who took part deny it - and despite the woman’s accusations of the other guilty parties - remain free. The woman and man are both sentenced to death. The primary document selected in this piece notes how the woman repented at the end and faced her death bravely. The man, on the other hand, never accepts his fate and dies bitterly cursing the Puritans.
I use this to illustrate the rules of Puritan society and the dire consequences for breaking them. We noted how most of us would not have lasted very long in Puritan society given some of our actions or dress or behavior. If we weren’t found guilty of some sin, many of us would go to the gallows as witches.
After that we watched a documentary of the Salem Witch Trials from The History Channel. It was quite good and the students were interested. I just need to find more ways to connect the ideas of using a scape goat and ‘herd’ behavior to connect to our lives today.
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In English 11 we are watching an old Twilight Zone episode entitled “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street.” I used to show this years ago. In fact, the students used to read it as a play in the middle school. But it’s a great way to introduce the paranoia and ‘herd’ behavior inherent in “The Crucible.”
The story is simple enough - and for any of you who have ever seen the Twilight Zone, you know this too well - the residents of Maple Street notice something strange pass over head. They at first think it’s a meteor. However, there is a young boy - with a wild imagination from reading too much sci-fi and watching too many freak movies (gotta love the irony!) talks about how this is how the alien invasion begins.
Next the power goes out. The kid says this is the next step in the invasion. Of course, everyone doubts him, but soon someone's car starts suddenly when no one else’s will. Then they single the car’s owner out. One neighbor notices he is often up at night in his back yard staring up at the sky. Turns out he’s an insomniac.
Then another learns that one neighbor has spent plenty of time in his basement building an odd project. Turns out he is a HAM radio operator. But under the circumstances, it seems like he is a link to the supposed invasion.
Next a strange figure is seen approaching out of the looming dark of early evening. A paranoid neighbor grabs his gun and opens fire. The figure drops. As they rush to see the dead alien, they learn it is Pete Vanhorn, a neighbor from down the street
Suddenly the lights in the murderer’s house flash on. Then everyone suspects him. He was quick to kill a neighbor. Maybe this is how the invasion starts.
Soon neighbor turns on neighbor. The odd occurrences continue to happen and quickly things devolve into anarchy and chaos. The monsters, we learn, are not due on Maple Street; they have been there all along.
And in typical Twilight Zone fashion, as the camera fades back, we see two aliens standing on a hill next to their flying saucer. One says to the other, “Understand the procedure now? Take away their machines. Turn off the power. Keep them in darkness. They pick out the most dangerous and turn on them. We will go from one to the other and let them destroy themselves.” Now the invasion can begin in earnest.
What a modern version of the Salem witch trials!
After that it’s on to Act one of “The Crucible.” And I’m going to read it right along with the students. I’m only about 10 pages ahead of them, but that won’t last for long.
To break up the reading, I downloaded an audio version of the play from itunes. I also have the film version.
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In English 12 I offhandedly used a simile some of my students - mostly the boys who - big shock - sit in back -- could relate to. I was introducing the Renaissance, particularly all the religious strife created by Henry VIII creating the Church of England and then Mary trying to bring Catholicism back after Henry and his son, Edward, die.
Most didn’t see what the big deal was. I tried to get them to imagine what it was like switching from being forced to abandoned Catholicism and become Protestant only to have to go back to Catholicism (and back again to Protestantism when Elizabeth takes the throne). I tried comparing it to changing from our democracy to communism. That didn’t make much of an impression.
So I tried to make them understand just how seriously the people of that time took their religion. I said, “Today we have kind of a watered down brand of religion. Most of our denominations are like the 3.2 versions compared to the 100 proof religions practice back in the middle ages. Those would burn your lips right off!” I heard several snickers so I know the connection was made. It might not last, but they saw the connection. Sometimes, that’s all you can ask.
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“I think you have too many similes in here.”
“Is ‘abyss’ the right word? What does ‘abyss’ mean anyway? I think it relates to the sea.”
“Do I start a new paragraph when I changes speakers?”
“What ending do you like better?”
“Does the punctuation always go inside the quotes when using dialogue?”
“You say, ‘I thought’ too many times in here. Just italicize your thoughts. That way you don’t have to say ‘I thought’ so often.”
“I suck at commas, so help me out.”
“He’s going to hate that introduction. Don’t start your paper that way.”
“Is this a run on?”
“But I like the word ‘abyss,’ Mr. Reynolds, what do you think?”
These are just a few of the comments I caught during the peer editing stage of my College Comp class today.
For a composition teacher, it doesn’t get much better.
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This is how perfect Kristie is for me -- after dinner we like to relax, this means usually watching a design show on HTV or maybe even an SVU or Trading Spaces or reading. During dinner, I channel surfed the menu guide on our DirecTV. Since it was a Thursday, I had a hunch there would be a college game on ESPN.
Since I hadn’t really warmed up from getting drenched at practice, I decided to take a quick shower before relaxing. When I finished and came upstairs, what do I find Kristie watching? Texas A&M vs. Miami on ESPN. How perfect!
What is even better is that Kristie is quite knowledgeable in football. The fact that she played four sports in high school and coached elementary basketball for several years naturally aids in her understanding of sports. However, she truly loves football. So when I sat down, she immediately began to fill me in.
“You should have seen this pass of a reverse Miami tried to run,” she began. “The quarterback faked it to the receiver coming around, but he just hung the ball out there. He never tucked it in. But he was standing there like he didn’t have the ball. The defense didn’t buy it and crushed him.” Again, how perfect is that?
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