Wednesday

Some good news finally - after gaining two pounds last week, I dropped one pound this week. Given how terribly much I ate over the holiday, that’s not bad at all. I finally got my rear in grea and went running - 20 minutes last night. I just have to get back into my routine. My really fat pants are at the bottom of my closet and I don’t want to have to dig them out. Yet, I don’t want to split my current slacks in class either.

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I think this class of juniors is enjoying TKM more than any I have had in awhile. This morning while taking attendance I overheard one kid wondering about the title. “I want to know what is up with the mockingird. They haven’t killed anything in the novel yet. That’s the worst title I’ve ever heard.” And this was before I had even started class. It’s the little things like that that can pick my day up.

This too is the first class that is getting the subtle humor in the novel. I actually had a few students chuckle when Scout asks Jack to “pass the damn ham” (my favorite line in all of literature). Others laughed when she beat the snot out of Francis. A few laughed even when Scout roared at Jack - when he was spanking her - that she hated him and hoped he died tomorrow.

However, I have several students who miss large chunks of time - some up to three days per week. They are behind on the reading, and because of their absences - are frustrated because we are so far ahead. The solution - come to damn school.

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Today we finished “The Picture of Dorian Gray” in 12th grade English. The kids have had it with the novel, and I have had it with them having had it with the novel. I passed it out and my OCD student (see the post somewhere below) lamented how boring it was and how it was never going to make a difference in her life. She is the type who if you let them whine, she will whine forever.

So I nipped it in the bud.

“You think you’re going to last a week at Concordia with that effort?” I asked. A few weeks ago I finished writing a brief letter of recommendation for her. “At the very least, reading makes you smarter. You don’t want to be dumb all your life do you?”

“You’re mean!” she said.

I smilled and continued to hand out the final two chapters of the novel.

She came around and began asking questions to make up for her foolishness earlier. After then years of this, I have no time for whining or apathy. I used to launch into a diatribe about the benefits of learning and how important it is to students to love reading and to develop higher order thinking skills. I still believe that. I just don’t waste my breath on it anymore.

I just insult them. It has a better effect. When I used to lecture them on the benefits of learning, the eyes gloss over and they mentally dose off. Insulting them pisses them off. I can work with that. At least it gets their blood flowing.

Soon they realize their whining and apathy will only result in their ridicule. Eventually, they keep their mouths shut and do the work. Maybe I should try and reason with them, but when a teenager starts to whine, all my diplomatic ability vanishes.

I don’t bother with the lecture anymore because, hey, most won’t read another novel in their lives. I’ve resigned myself to that realization. Some will just squander their years at a job and going home to watch TV. No more higher order thinking skills. I can only present the knowledge and skills in as appetizing fashion as possible. They have to decide to grab something off the tray. If not, maybe I can shame them into it somehow.

I’m not above that.


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The day is done and it’s time to go home and shovel some snow. I’m actually looking forward to it. I doubt that I’ll think the same way come February.