This is who I want to be on the great days:

Found this quote on Andrew Sullivan's DAILY DISH: 11/1/09

 To the extent that the Internet and the proliferation of long distance learning deprive us of being in the presence of charismatic, kind, scholarly people, it will be a tremendous loss. When a Hasid said that he traveled miles just to see how his master tied his shoes, he was expressing this beautiful idea. What we learn from a great teacher cannot be put into a book, because it is in a look, an inflection, a quirk of personality or a tossed off comment. The greatest human lessons are found in the power of presence. david wolpe

I have been doing it "old school" for the past three weeks. Somehow I just don't want to repackage myself and my subject right now. Though I am a great missionary for teachers to recognize that new methods are necessary to prepare new students for the new world, I can't help but feel that my subject matter deserves attention as well. My age tells me that the old ways do the job too. There are so many  advantages to reading Chaucer, no disadvantages. It seems to me that my students will be correlating past, present and future on a moment to moment basis every single day as they live the next 80 years. The connections between the present, past and future are real, they are vibrant, and they are meaningful. It matters that students read, and that they read the unfamiliar and as well as the familiar.  Multitasking is not only about doing many things at once, it is also about linking many tasks, many knowledges and many experiences. Some of that does not happen in 140 characters, or in 4 open windows or or in 4 genres flashing at once. I am thrilled with 17-year-old speed, spark, opinions. I am also appalled at the ignorance, their lack of curiosity, the dismissal of so many new things with so little experience.
"Old school" in an old school is right just now: trust Ms. Healey.  Shakespeare IS your past, your present and your future.

CAUTION: smoking brain!

   I have reached the portion of the year in which I question my skills, my purpose and my expectations. Third quarter is always tough, especially in British Literature (juniors). They have learned my tricks, as I have learned theirs, and it becomes difficult to engage those who resist it on principle. Frankenstein, so full of ideas and feeling, so modern, leaves some of them COLD. I always remember at this juncture advice from an old boss in another career long ago: she told me that my enthusiasm intimidated others, that toning it down a bit would earn me the good will of my team mates. Was this an awful thing to say to a 24-year-old out to change the world? Sure. But... was there some truth in it? Absolutely. My enthusiasm for my subject can be tiring, and I need to refocus on my kids.
   Here's what I have noticed during this Frankenstein cycle. Since many of them have not read on their own since middle school, they seem unable to recognize plot, characterization, metaphor, and themes of classic works or even contemporary adult novels. I have noticed that some are no longer doing my "Readers Write" extra credit projects for each quarter. I generally offer a short list of novels as extra credit opportunities each quarter. So for British Lit, they could read and review The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh or The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett, or even a William Monk mystery by Anne Perry. Should I be backing off to young adult books--maybe just for extra credit choices? I do not want to, but need to work through my purpose in offering extra credit projects--to spark reading. To be fair (to me), those who do participate usually like the book they choose. But they are a tiny group, this year.
   This generation of students is so isolated from general knowledge in some ways--for some kids in my parochial high school, their parents make enough to buy them cars, but don't have the time to teach them how to change a tire (really!). They can buy fundraiser T-shirts for $20, but can't do their own wash. They know all about the opposite sex, but little about themselves.  Does this mean that this most technologically savvy, worldly generation of American teens is actually not mature enough to handle adult themes, though they partake of adult behavior?????????? I won't really give up treating them as if they are ready for my content, but the nagging question of whether or not I serve them as they need to be served will not go away. I think there is smoke coming out of my ears!