My new motto for my second period English I class comes from Thoreau: "We may not arrive at our port within a calculable period, but we would preserve the true course."
We're reading The Odyssey, and they say it's hard. Well, of course it's hard. They were supposed to read the first three books over the break, but that didn't happen: they were generally confused about what happened on the first two pages, so we've taken a step back and are making our way through slowly. In fact, I told them that I don't care how slowly we need to go...as long as we're heading in the right direction.
So today, three things happened. One, we had a pretty good discussion of the problems facing Odysseus and the back stories of Poseidon, Polyphemous, and Aegisthus. Two, they're absolutely convinced of my stature as a nerd (as if they weren't convinced already...and I prefer "scholar" to "nerd," but I'm sure they mean the same thing to most of my students). And three, they've decided that it'd be fun to quote Zeus when he tells Athena, "What word has passed the barrier of your teeth?" They say they're going to be using that expression outside of class today. I hope they do...how fun will it be when I have a bunch of ninth graders running around quoting The Odyssey?
1 comment:
That's excellent. I think I almost have my 5th period class convinced that you can impress people at parties with terms like "thermal equilibrium" and "stoichiometry". Oddly, this gets me branded a nerd, too. I however, embrace my inner nerd. Er, scholar.
I'll let you know if I hear Zeus being quoted around town.
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