First of all, shout outs to Catie (boooyaa!) and S.Northrop (huzzah!) for giving me wonderful write-ups for their own respective amazons...I'm finally represented in Canada, and since I've had sort of a crush on the country since they served us take-out pizza in a phone booth during our school trip to Victoria, I'm pretty psyched! In fact, these two things have pretty much gotten me through a couple of days so horrible, I'm not even going to blog about...well, ALL of them, because I love you all and I want you to sustain the will to live.
Have you all seen Fight Club? I hadn't. I let a kid talk me into showing it for class--they all had R rated permission slips--what the hell?
Now honestly, it could be one of the most worthwhile literary experiences they've had all year--they've talked animatedly about it, we've touched upon personification, unreliable narrator, foreshadowing, imagery, diction, and metaphor--and because it was all about Fight Club? My Juniors may actually remember it.
Today we did the "I Am Jack's..." exercise that I made up when I saw the movie--those of you who have seen it may remember that this was a catchline...whenever the Narrator felt something strongly, he would personify the feeling with the metaphor, "I am Jack's...cold sweat," or "I am Jack's...smirking revenge."
What I was making the kids do was describe a scene (imagery) in which they felt so very much emotion that this feeling took over their entire body--they BECAME the emotion, and when they were done describing the scene, they would write, "I am Jack's..." The best one I got was from a dancer who emerged from the prom victorious and happy, and she was "Jack's sense of style."
Pretty cool, huh?
Yeah...while they did that, I continued doggedly at my grades, refusing to look at my 6th period. Why you ask? Because I came back on Monday morning (late because of some ugly traffic) and pulled up my grades, hoping for the best. There was a tag next to my computer that said, "I have replaced your grades with the ones from the server. I hope it worked." For the most part, it did, except for my 6th period--yes, THE 6th period. Every grade in every category had been replaced with an EX, which is Demonic Grading Computerese for "EXCUSED". Everybody's grades had completely disappeared.
Today, while my 4th period worked on the "I Am Jack's..." I pulled out my post-its, and wrote, "I am Jack's Bleeding Ulcer." Then I left it on my computer.
I'm pretty sure my tech has watched Fight Club--but if not, I get the joke.
4 comments:
Fight Club is pretty awesome. If you watch the opening sequences of the support groups, you can see Brad Pitt in most of them. (Just an FYI.)
Glad school is better? The Youngest has three weeks left and is jittery as your students.
My word: cuqoe. Isn't that when you're up a creek with no paddle or canoe?
My second word: amwsz. What the blogger dieties feel when I try and type my password for the 14th time.
And I forgot!!
Thank you for being a teacher!! I may be a day late and a dollar short, but I'm there. :]
Sixth period class carries a curse. Obviously. They are creating a miasma, a perfect storm of crap that surrounds them. Sometimes, all the details fall into place and a class will be blessed and win prizes and succeed beyond your wildest dreams. Sometimes, you get 6th period. The whole is larger than the sum of the parts. Each element augments and amplifies every other element. 6th period is a craptastic confluence of evil, concatenating toward it's own demise. Stand out of the way and let that snowball roll downhill.
Thanks Roxie!!!!!
"6th period is a craptastic confluence of evil, concatenating toward it's own demise."
I'm going to frame that!!!!!!!
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