Teaching is NOT just a job.
Teaching is NOT just another job.
Teaching is not JUST a job.
Teaching is not JUST ANOTHER job.
The spousal unit thinks it is just a job or the same as any other job; it is not. Most jobs would not expect and entrust me with teaching people how to read, write and think critically.
Teaching has been the most important thing in my life along with my family.
Emptying my room was like throwing my life away and he thought that day was fun because Dora came and they were laughing and joking around while I was crying and my student Michael did a lot of the work and was worried about me.
Michael's were the kindest words that day, "Are you going to be okay, Ms. Peters? I know this is unimaginably difficult for you."
I was not really okay that day and he knew that; I am not really okay yet with not teaching and I am not sure I ever will be.
The spousal unit will continue to lack comprehension and compassion on the subject-despite his many virtues and despite all the physical help he gives me and all the extra work he has taken on around the house since I have become disabled. He is a good man but he doesn't get it.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Planning your classes
My biggest advice about class planning is to plan the whole unit before you teach it and if possible make the test then too. That way you always are sure of where you are going and what points you are making. I think thinking in units is one of the best ways for kids to understand material. I think if tests are given because you need to give one or you give one every three weeks they may not be as meaningful and it may make it harder on the kids.
They need you to be clearly organized. Someone told me earlier on or I read it--teaching a class is like writing an essay. The class has a thesis or point you are making and it has support with the activities you are doing.
I know it can be easier , especially at first, to go one day at a time, but new teachers often run out of material that way. I never run out of material ; there is always something I can think of to do.
I think when you think of the work in units, you think of what is important, what to stress and why, you have the tests and projects done and in the end, I think you will find it easier to do marathon a unit, then to sit up night after night trying to figure out what next and losing the why of what you are teaching.
Think not just of content but of critical thinking skills. Anytime you can improve reading skills, writing or thinking skills I think you are on track. Even when I lectured I stopped and asked a million questions. Socrates had it right all those years ago with the Socratic question.\
They need you to be clearly organized. Someone told me earlier on or I read it--teaching a class is like writing an essay. The class has a thesis or point you are making and it has support with the activities you are doing.
I know it can be easier , especially at first, to go one day at a time, but new teachers often run out of material that way. I never run out of material ; there is always something I can think of to do.
I think when you think of the work in units, you think of what is important, what to stress and why, you have the tests and projects done and in the end, I think you will find it easier to do marathon a unit, then to sit up night after night trying to figure out what next and losing the why of what you are teaching.
Think not just of content but of critical thinking skills. Anytime you can improve reading skills, writing or thinking skills I think you are on track. Even when I lectured I stopped and asked a million questions. Socrates had it right all those years ago with the Socratic question.\
Teaching with a Class of Students with Computers
Too often state governors and other people want to be able to do away with seniority in order to make way for new more innovative teachers and move out the older ones. I abhor the idea because I was older (or my friends) that we weren't keeping up and we weren't innovation. To me these people want younger because it is cheaper.
Nevertheless, I spent several years with all my students but seniors having a laptop (or tablet PC, if you prefer). It is a different way of teaching. You can do it at 54 as easily as at 22, maybe easier.
I know you have to teach the phrase, "Lids down" and enforce it immediately. When you want those lids down you want them to be in the habit of slapping them down as soon as you say it. Since I taught in a Catholic school, I started class with prayer and when I was ready, I said, Prayers , lids down." You could hear them click down. You have to start it asap and you have to keep up with it and you have to call out their name if it isn't down in a reasonable time. I wanted them down during presentations, so they were paying attention to their classmates.
I was willing to detain kids if they were on sites that had nothing to do with my class. People had all sorts of ways of catching or proving this. Some people yelled, "hands up" because they can minimize or close so quickly. I decided that I wasn't doing that. If you were laughing or fooling around during "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" then you were on facebook or something else. I would say, "Put your name on a post-it on my desk and I will see you for flex detention." Did this stop it? No but it had consequences at least.
You have to be willing to walk around constantly to see what they are doing; you can't just stand in front of the room. You have to walk and snoop. You can do this by sitting down in an empty chair and looking at computers nearby. I would sit there, on the sofas, the file cabinets and the window sills (on the first floor, I had to give that up in 212). I moved around a lot and sat everywhere. That way I could see more of what was going on, computers or not. That's why in the 2010 yearbook there is a photo of me sitting cross legged on top of the sofa. Like many women, I didn't like my hair in the photo when I accidentally got a glimpse of it before it went to press. I was told it was the perfect photo because I was the only one who moved around that much and sat on everything. Now you know why I did it. I also just don't like being up in front the whole time.
You have to learn to have them do more than take notes on them. I tried to work them in as much as possible.They can look up and unknown word and hear its pronunciation. They can look up background information.
I had them copy and paste poems we were doing that were online into their notebooks so they could take their notes with the poems right there. When we did "Huswifery" which uses the process of making clothes using a spinning wheel, loom, and seamstress/tailor to the process of salvation, I had them find photos of spinning wheels with the parts labeled so the poem would make more sense.
With "The Crucible" we looked up who was on the HUAC list to see if they recognized any names.Point out Burl Ives was the singing snowman in Rudolph. We could read Pete Seeger's testimony and see that they couldn't even get him to take the 5th amendment because he thought doing that meant what they were doing was constitutional and he was sure it wasn't so he refused to answer. Then we could see how times had changed when we watched his birthday in front of the Lincoln Memorial with everyone including Obama and George Lucas singing "This Land Is Your Land."
I could go on and on. Don't be afraid to tell them to shut the lid. Don't use it just for notes. The computer in the class can be very valuable. Will it be wrought with frustrations with things locked out and things not working all the time, sure, but you just need a back up plan.
Nevertheless, I spent several years with all my students but seniors having a laptop (or tablet PC, if you prefer). It is a different way of teaching. You can do it at 54 as easily as at 22, maybe easier.
I know you have to teach the phrase, "Lids down" and enforce it immediately. When you want those lids down you want them to be in the habit of slapping them down as soon as you say it. Since I taught in a Catholic school, I started class with prayer and when I was ready, I said, Prayers , lids down." You could hear them click down. You have to start it asap and you have to keep up with it and you have to call out their name if it isn't down in a reasonable time. I wanted them down during presentations, so they were paying attention to their classmates.
I was willing to detain kids if they were on sites that had nothing to do with my class. People had all sorts of ways of catching or proving this. Some people yelled, "hands up" because they can minimize or close so quickly. I decided that I wasn't doing that. If you were laughing or fooling around during "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" then you were on facebook or something else. I would say, "Put your name on a post-it on my desk and I will see you for flex detention." Did this stop it? No but it had consequences at least.
You have to be willing to walk around constantly to see what they are doing; you can't just stand in front of the room. You have to walk and snoop. You can do this by sitting down in an empty chair and looking at computers nearby. I would sit there, on the sofas, the file cabinets and the window sills (on the first floor, I had to give that up in 212). I moved around a lot and sat everywhere. That way I could see more of what was going on, computers or not. That's why in the 2010 yearbook there is a photo of me sitting cross legged on top of the sofa. Like many women, I didn't like my hair in the photo when I accidentally got a glimpse of it before it went to press. I was told it was the perfect photo because I was the only one who moved around that much and sat on everything. Now you know why I did it. I also just don't like being up in front the whole time.
You have to learn to have them do more than take notes on them. I tried to work them in as much as possible.They can look up and unknown word and hear its pronunciation. They can look up background information.
I had them copy and paste poems we were doing that were online into their notebooks so they could take their notes with the poems right there. When we did "Huswifery" which uses the process of making clothes using a spinning wheel, loom, and seamstress/tailor to the process of salvation, I had them find photos of spinning wheels with the parts labeled so the poem would make more sense.
With "The Crucible" we looked up who was on the HUAC list to see if they recognized any names.Point out Burl Ives was the singing snowman in Rudolph. We could read Pete Seeger's testimony and see that they couldn't even get him to take the 5th amendment because he thought doing that meant what they were doing was constitutional and he was sure it wasn't so he refused to answer. Then we could see how times had changed when we watched his birthday in front of the Lincoln Memorial with everyone including Obama and George Lucas singing "This Land Is Your Land."
I could go on and on. Don't be afraid to tell them to shut the lid. Don't use it just for notes. The computer in the class can be very valuable. Will it be wrought with frustrations with things locked out and things not working all the time, sure, but you just need a back up plan.
Friday, October 26, 2012
College teaching assistants, stray dogs, and schizophrenic men on campus
It is 1980 or maybe 1981 and Carl and are teaching at the University of Louisville and being professional academics working on our MA degrees in English. One afternoon we found a German shepherd on campus with a huge gash in his neck and he was quite thin; he was also very friendly. We got him to come into the Humanities Building where our offices were and it was late afternoon and the building very empty. We got him some food and called the shelter. They said he had probably been chained outside and possibly starved and he had pulled free from the chain which caused the gash. They took him. Not much of a success story but it was more interesting if you were actually in it.
We used to eat lunch on the third floor of the Humanities building. Several other friends ate with us depending on the day and their schedules. We started seeing an young Asian man in our building and he was putting trash in a bag and also eating from it. The second day we saw him we put on our Superhero capes to try to help him. He kept putting in trash and picking out food from the bag he carried, so we asked his name and he gave it. He followed us downstairs while we got him a sandwich and the window and then he put it in the filthy bag.
He didn't make a lot of sense when we talked to him but he was cooperative and agreeable. At one point we thought maybe he had a head injury and he told us that we were right he did.
I had to go to class but we agreed it didn't seem safe for him to be wandering around, anyone could easily do anything to him since he was doing anything we suggested so I went off to teach and Carl took him to the medical facilities on campus; he was refused treatment because they could not determine if he were a student there. Not one to give up, Carl decided to take him farther downtown to one of the hospitals. While walking with him to the parking lot, the guy fell over in a complete 180 board like fall and then got up.
Carl took him to the hospital where he was recognized by the staff. His name was not the one he gave us, but he was a regular because he was a mentally challenged schizophrenic; his family had to work and he often wandered and ended up there. His family was called.
Carl left.
The next day our guy was back picking up cigarette butts and trash and putting them in with food into his bag and eating from it.
So much for Superhero capes.
We used to eat lunch on the third floor of the Humanities building. Several other friends ate with us depending on the day and their schedules. We started seeing an young Asian man in our building and he was putting trash in a bag and also eating from it. The second day we saw him we put on our Superhero capes to try to help him. He kept putting in trash and picking out food from the bag he carried, so we asked his name and he gave it. He followed us downstairs while we got him a sandwich and the window and then he put it in the filthy bag.
He didn't make a lot of sense when we talked to him but he was cooperative and agreeable. At one point we thought maybe he had a head injury and he told us that we were right he did.
I had to go to class but we agreed it didn't seem safe for him to be wandering around, anyone could easily do anything to him since he was doing anything we suggested so I went off to teach and Carl took him to the medical facilities on campus; he was refused treatment because they could not determine if he were a student there. Not one to give up, Carl decided to take him farther downtown to one of the hospitals. While walking with him to the parking lot, the guy fell over in a complete 180 board like fall and then got up.
Carl took him to the hospital where he was recognized by the staff. His name was not the one he gave us, but he was a regular because he was a mentally challenged schizophrenic; his family had to work and he often wandered and ended up there. His family was called.
Carl left.
The next day our guy was back picking up cigarette butts and trash and putting them in with food into his bag and eating from it.
So much for Superhero capes.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Aristotle's Poetics Found on a Desk but not in Ancient Greece
There was a student who I knew was cheating, but I couldn't catch or prove it. I was not the best at that but I used to give each student a test personally so I could check the desk for notes and also so someone couldn't say there weren't enough tests in the row and then take an extra one with him or her for someone who was absent.
This happened in the 90s when I was in 103B. We were having a test on Aristotle's Poetics and Oedipus and in second period the class was full (first period was half full) and I went to hand the test to someone when she yelled out, "That is not mine, I swear it is not mine! I looked at the writing and agreed it was not in her handwriting and I commented on the fact that I recognized the person's writing. When the maintenance people cleaned the room, the desks got moved around and Jill in first period didn't get the desk with the writing. She obviously had spent time outlining the Poetics on her desk and then when she came in, her desk had been moved and she had to go it alone. She got a 46.
I said nothing to her.
We started Dante a few weeks later, and I began to talk about contrapasso, where the punishment fits the crime in Dante. Then I gave them the following "hypothetical" example:
If you were in my class and Dante wrote about you in hell. He might have a level for those who cheat on tests. The contrapasso there would be you would write the notes for Aristotle's Poetics and Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus on your desk. Then hell's maintenance workers, drawn from mythology, would come along and move the desks. Then the next day the sinner would come in for the test and find an empty desk, her desk would have been moved, she would have to take the test without notes, and she would get a 46. This would happen over and over again throughout eternity with her always getting a 46.
Some of the kids were laughing at this example. The guilty person slid down a bit and the person next to her said very quietly, "Is she talking about you?"
She replied, "Be quiet."
I thought it was the best kind of confrontation--what I call the non-confrontation confrontation. She knew I knew she cheated and that was enough for the rest of the year.
This happened in the 90s when I was in 103B. We were having a test on Aristotle's Poetics and Oedipus and in second period the class was full (first period was half full) and I went to hand the test to someone when she yelled out, "That is not mine, I swear it is not mine! I looked at the writing and agreed it was not in her handwriting and I commented on the fact that I recognized the person's writing. When the maintenance people cleaned the room, the desks got moved around and Jill in first period didn't get the desk with the writing. She obviously had spent time outlining the Poetics on her desk and then when she came in, her desk had been moved and she had to go it alone. She got a 46.
I said nothing to her.
We started Dante a few weeks later, and I began to talk about contrapasso, where the punishment fits the crime in Dante. Then I gave them the following "hypothetical" example:
If you were in my class and Dante wrote about you in hell. He might have a level for those who cheat on tests. The contrapasso there would be you would write the notes for Aristotle's Poetics and Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus on your desk. Then hell's maintenance workers, drawn from mythology, would come along and move the desks. Then the next day the sinner would come in for the test and find an empty desk, her desk would have been moved, she would have to take the test without notes, and she would get a 46. This would happen over and over again throughout eternity with her always getting a 46.
Some of the kids were laughing at this example. The guilty person slid down a bit and the person next to her said very quietly, "Is she talking about you?"
She replied, "Be quiet."
I thought it was the best kind of confrontation--what I call the non-confrontation confrontation. She knew I knew she cheated and that was enough for the rest of the year.
Yet another Carl story --Carl and this blog
Carl loves this blog, despite the fact he has only looked at it if I have showed it to him. Moreover, he has only read a few posts or has had them read to him. He THINKS he can get on the blog without me, but I personally don't believe he has a chance. He tried to insinuate he had actually been on but,as it turns out, he has only been on under the circumstances mentioned above.BUT he means to get on and read the rest of them.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Technology and New Ways of Cheating
Back somewhere around the Middle Ages when I was in school cheating generally meant copying off another person's test or homework. Occasionally someone had a cheat sheet. As time went on cheat sheets back smaller and more innovative. Girls wrote them on their legs so they could just flip their skirt up a bit. People put them in their shoes but I don't see how they could see them. Guys put them in watch faces and on the underside of their ties.
Plagiarizing an essay generally meant copying from the encyclopedia, Cliff's Notes or another person. Sometimes people copies a textbook.
People whispered answers or coughed them to each other, haaaackk a or kkkkkkkks b. They still do that.
But today's technology has given students more innovative means of cheating. I have never been what I consider a gold medalist at catching cheating but I have caught all of the above at some point or another.
As of late, I caught people using their cell phones to text each other answers or to copy the test by taking photographs of it. In the Middle Ages, people announced there weren't enough tests in the row and asked for another which they took out of the room, which is why I handed each person his or her test personally. In the past people wrote outlines on their desks (more on that later in Aristotle in the classroom), another reason I handed each person his or her test personally. Cheat sheets became even smaller because of the availability of small fonts on the computer and one person could now generate multiple versions of the same cheat sheet. Therefore, you don't even have to make your own anymore.
People look for more obscure essays to copy from the Internet and they send them to each other and change the font size and the opening sentence. People also do things like put a title page on an essay and then copy over something like Sports Illustrated hoping the teacher only checked for length.
Information can also be hidden in calculators, so they can't be on the desk except in math classes. IPods have some of the same capabilities as well.
As technology grows so do the methods of cheating.
Plagiarizing an essay generally meant copying from the encyclopedia, Cliff's Notes or another person. Sometimes people copies a textbook.
People whispered answers or coughed them to each other, haaaackk a or kkkkkkkks b. They still do that.
But today's technology has given students more innovative means of cheating. I have never been what I consider a gold medalist at catching cheating but I have caught all of the above at some point or another.
As of late, I caught people using their cell phones to text each other answers or to copy the test by taking photographs of it. In the Middle Ages, people announced there weren't enough tests in the row and asked for another which they took out of the room, which is why I handed each person his or her test personally. In the past people wrote outlines on their desks (more on that later in Aristotle in the classroom), another reason I handed each person his or her test personally. Cheat sheets became even smaller because of the availability of small fonts on the computer and one person could now generate multiple versions of the same cheat sheet. Therefore, you don't even have to make your own anymore.
People look for more obscure essays to copy from the Internet and they send them to each other and change the font size and the opening sentence. People also do things like put a title page on an essay and then copy over something like Sports Illustrated hoping the teacher only checked for length.
Information can also be hidden in calculators, so they can't be on the desk except in math classes. IPods have some of the same capabilities as well.
As technology grows so do the methods of cheating.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
History knowledge in my lit classes
I have had many many amazing students over the years, but also over the years it is harder and harder to get students with a solid cultural grasp of many areas, whether it be art, lit, history, music, math. But they still exist.
To be honest most of the students seem to mention only three wars, Revolutionary, Civil and World War II. World War I is rarely guessed. I used to love it when we talked about the first few pages of To Kill a Mockingbird and Harper Lee ( who I have to tell many of them is a woman and yes, to their astonishment, she is still alive) and the traditon bound nature of the South. Lee writes something along the lines that the Finches had no one recorded as being on either side of Battle of 1066. When I ask this what war is this part of and how does it tie into the South, I usually got my usual three answers. Since they knew it was a Southern novel, they would start with the Civil War. Then one of my Hermione type students would point out that it was much later. Next someone would go to World War II another one of my students with a vast memory would announce, "Hadn't happened yet, book takes place earlier." Then they would try for the Revolutionary War, and my all round student would correct that. These students, such as Peter, Rhett, Cate Melissa ( who usually never said thingsto the classs just to a neighbor), Catherine (often same thing), Marleen and Mary, Allison or Jessica, Michael or Kate, or Stephen just to name a few by first name, knew it was the Norman Conquest and could explain that France conquered England. Some could even explain how that affected us linguistically. We could get the mention of Appamattox and it was these kids that knew there were not fighter pilots in the Civil War and this is where Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant. I would love looking for questions they didn't know because it was such a joy to have these kinds of kids and to hear what sponges they had been their whole lives and how much they loved learning. I could ask them to explain how there were more armies in the South than Lee's and more than the Army of the Potomac in the North.
It is hard, though, to explain that tradition bound nature of the South if you have not lived there. I used to have a Reader's Digest piece that explained if the North invented the true /false or multiple choice questionnaire then the South most certainly invented the essay. To paraphrase the piece, if you ask who that man is over there in the North, they would say, Joe Smith. In the South, they would say," Joe Smith is the neighbor down the road who is your third cousin's second wife's brother. He worked at the auto place that your uncle used to and has three children, one of whom went to college one of whom went to the miltiary and one who of whom was a good for nothing like this mother's side of the family" it could go on longer but you get the idea. This was somewhat of the point that was being made in the novel ; that families knew the other families in town and also knew their own entire family history by heart.
On more than one occasion I would have a student ask me who fought in the Civil War or what it was over and would invariably get "That's all it was about." I would point out that was massive understatement.
To be honest most of the students seem to mention only three wars, Revolutionary, Civil and World War II. World War I is rarely guessed. I used to love it when we talked about the first few pages of To Kill a Mockingbird and Harper Lee ( who I have to tell many of them is a woman and yes, to their astonishment, she is still alive) and the traditon bound nature of the South. Lee writes something along the lines that the Finches had no one recorded as being on either side of Battle of 1066. When I ask this what war is this part of and how does it tie into the South, I usually got my usual three answers. Since they knew it was a Southern novel, they would start with the Civil War. Then one of my Hermione type students would point out that it was much later. Next someone would go to World War II another one of my students with a vast memory would announce, "Hadn't happened yet, book takes place earlier." Then they would try for the Revolutionary War, and my all round student would correct that. These students, such as Peter, Rhett, Cate Melissa ( who usually never said thingsto the classs just to a neighbor), Catherine (often same thing), Marleen and Mary, Allison or Jessica, Michael or Kate, or Stephen just to name a few by first name, knew it was the Norman Conquest and could explain that France conquered England. Some could even explain how that affected us linguistically. We could get the mention of Appamattox and it was these kids that knew there were not fighter pilots in the Civil War and this is where Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant. I would love looking for questions they didn't know because it was such a joy to have these kinds of kids and to hear what sponges they had been their whole lives and how much they loved learning. I could ask them to explain how there were more armies in the South than Lee's and more than the Army of the Potomac in the North.
It is hard, though, to explain that tradition bound nature of the South if you have not lived there. I used to have a Reader's Digest piece that explained if the North invented the true /false or multiple choice questionnaire then the South most certainly invented the essay. To paraphrase the piece, if you ask who that man is over there in the North, they would say, Joe Smith. In the South, they would say," Joe Smith is the neighbor down the road who is your third cousin's second wife's brother. He worked at the auto place that your uncle used to and has three children, one of whom went to college one of whom went to the miltiary and one who of whom was a good for nothing like this mother's side of the family" it could go on longer but you get the idea. This was somewhat of the point that was being made in the novel ; that families knew the other families in town and also knew their own entire family history by heart.
On more than one occasion I would have a student ask me who fought in the Civil War or what it was over and would invariably get "That's all it was about." I would point out that was massive understatement.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
On playing Billie Holiday, Lisa and Percy and Eyes on the Prize
I used to play Billie Holiday singing "Strange Fruit" when we talked about the lynch mob that Atticus and the kids stopped from getting to Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird. I would also pass out the lyrics for us to discuss them and their relevance to the book and the time period in the book. Only a few of my students knew who she was (those kids like Peter, Rhett or Cate who seemed to something about almost everything) and fewer still had listened to her. I could tell they weren't sure if I had lost my sanity when I would insist to them she had a haunting beautiful voice that is really impossible to duplicate, in my opinion, by anyone else.
Years later I was out to dinner with Lisa, an attorney, and Percy,an engineer, who were laughing about it. I hadn't used it in Lisa's class but did in Percy 's and Percy was talking about how beautiful her voice was and how he got it but he knew most of the others didn't. Of course, they followed that up with their childhood memories of wanting to watch cartoons or Disney or a sitcom and instead having to watch Eyes on the Prize. In fact among the three of us in the multiple classes I had them and afterwards it became a running joke. If I asked if anyone had seen Lion King, so I could talk about the monomyth they would announce, "too busy watching Eyes on the Prize. If I used other Disney movies for stereotypes,I got, "No, Eyes on the Prize. If I asked what were you doing last night, "watching Eyes on the Prize." I always imagined if I had ever received late work which I didn't, I would hear, "it was time to watch Eyes on the Prize."
I am still hoping that someone besides this brother and sister duo got something out of "Strange Fruit." I also hope that someone remembered Billie Holiday and tried her later and found her to be as hauntingly beautiful in looks and voice as I have found her.
Her photographs were taken by everyone from that time period but I think two of the best are naturally Herman Leonard and Chuck Stewart.
Years later I was out to dinner with Lisa, an attorney, and Percy,an engineer, who were laughing about it. I hadn't used it in Lisa's class but did in Percy 's and Percy was talking about how beautiful her voice was and how he got it but he knew most of the others didn't. Of course, they followed that up with their childhood memories of wanting to watch cartoons or Disney or a sitcom and instead having to watch Eyes on the Prize. In fact among the three of us in the multiple classes I had them and afterwards it became a running joke. If I asked if anyone had seen Lion King, so I could talk about the monomyth they would announce, "too busy watching Eyes on the Prize. If I used other Disney movies for stereotypes,I got, "No, Eyes on the Prize. If I asked what were you doing last night, "watching Eyes on the Prize." I always imagined if I had ever received late work which I didn't, I would hear, "it was time to watch Eyes on the Prize."
I am still hoping that someone besides this brother and sister duo got something out of "Strange Fruit." I also hope that someone remembered Billie Holiday and tried her later and found her to be as hauntingly beautiful in looks and voice as I have found her.
Her photographs were taken by everyone from that time period but I think two of the best are naturally Herman Leonard and Chuck Stewart.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
When girls and women wore slips--still in the 1980s at OLMA
When I was at Our Lady of Mercy Academy in 1983 the girls were required to wear slips under their dresses. They had two uniforms; the winter one was a plaid skirt but the summer one was a striped shirt dress that came in a variety of pastels that was nicknamed the handiwipe dress. At that time just about any lady wore a slip under her dress or skirt. It was about 95 or higher in my room one day when I was teaching Algebra II and I looked up and Shauna and MaryAnne had their slips on their heads like the nuns' veils. I laughed until I cried.
Just a few short years later in 1991 I was teaching English 1 at Holy Cross and there was a poem with a slip mentioned in it. None of my students knew what a slip was because by that time the girls were all wearing boxer shorts under their uniforms. I tried explaining it as a piece of lingerie but that fell on uncomprehending ears. Finally I resorted to something like it was a prettier garment that went under skirts and dresses before boxer shorts did. I almost flipped up a corner of my dress to show the lace but had second thoughts about the propriety of that.
I continued to wear them and panty hose for years no matter how hot my room was and sometimes it was 100 by 9 in the morning,until one day at lunch Sister Gil and I were talking and I said that I couldn't get them back up if I took them down so I was stuck; they were just glued to me and she said, "Get in the bathroom and take those things off before you die of heatstroke you fool." I did. It made sense and I gave up my strict adherence to unfashionable pantyhose at that point; that was probably around 2002, so you can see how long it took.
Just a few short years later in 1991 I was teaching English 1 at Holy Cross and there was a poem with a slip mentioned in it. None of my students knew what a slip was because by that time the girls were all wearing boxer shorts under their uniforms. I tried explaining it as a piece of lingerie but that fell on uncomprehending ears. Finally I resorted to something like it was a prettier garment that went under skirts and dresses before boxer shorts did. I almost flipped up a corner of my dress to show the lace but had second thoughts about the propriety of that.
I continued to wear them and panty hose for years no matter how hot my room was and sometimes it was 100 by 9 in the morning,until one day at lunch Sister Gil and I were talking and I said that I couldn't get them back up if I took them down so I was stuck; they were just glued to me and she said, "Get in the bathroom and take those things off before you die of heatstroke you fool." I did. It made sense and I gave up my strict adherence to unfashionable pantyhose at that point; that was probably around 2002, so you can see how long it took.
How to get out of English 4--I don't know if it all posted before
- Some major reasons used to try to get out of having me for English 4 (people wanted in to Honors 2 etc):
1. I can't have her; she is too short. If I am going to fail, I want to fail from someone taller than my kneecaps (they gave him Sister Gilmary , a Nolan sized nun)
2. I don't know any English; she will expect me to know something and I am going to have to learn what I don't know as well as what she wants.
3. I am related to her (he wasn't) and it would make us both uncomfortable for me to have to grade his work (he was told the only thing we shared was breathing space). He was not moved.
4.I have a life.
5.I have her and Joe Seaman ; I can't have them both. I need a life.
6.I have a job.
7. I play football (that never worked bc Madiera liked me and made them stay and they had a pass to stay after school any day with me for extra help to come to practice late.)
8. I am scared of her (one parent laughed at her big kid for that one; she said, "I have seen her; she is five foot nothing and must not weigh 100, what is there to be scared of?")
9. i have her for class, homeroom and study hall; should I really have her for all three? She even makes us be quiet in homeroom and study hall.
Then there were the football players who spent a week carrying things for the nuns (Greg, Ryan, Ray, you know who you are) trying to get out and they made them stay. But they had fun and Greg went back and thanked the nun for making him stay. I think the main reason was I didn't mind explaining the dirty jokes in Shakespeare and they thought them hilarious.
Sister Sandy in guidance used to say tell me when you are going to give back your first English 4 test of the year because I am closing the door and going back to the convent early that day because they would take the test and beg. She would ignore them and occasionally a kid said, "She put me in your class on purpose. I am not allowed to complain about it." Once in 1990 I offered them the chance to read a book and take a test on it after school and replace that grade with their bad test grade and they complained it was too hard of an extra credit so I cancelled extra credit for the year. I remember saying now you have something to complain about.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Carl --Part 5 or 500 who can remember--Carl's lunch "friend"
We were dating in grad school but we were still not spending every lunch together. I went off with my group that I had and he went with someone else or knowing Carl he ate alone. He did eat with another grad assistant in our department. Carl said that we were invited to his plays. I was aghast because the guy totally creeped me out and I didn't even like his proximity to my carrel. Nevertheless off we went to see" Emperor Jones" and "No Exit" and "Waiting for Godot" (believe me I felt like I was in the Sartre play). The acting was not the best and I was relieved we were not expected to join him after the play.
A few days later Carl comes and says I think I am done having lunch with him. I ask why because even though this is fairly early in our relationship I already had the feeling he could eat lunch with Stalin or maybe Hitler and say, "It's only an hour out of my life. What does it matter?" With this idea I was shocked he had decided to abort the lunch time with this colleague of ours. He only went once or twice and he said they he sort of creeped him out by saying, "My wife and I only stay together because we hate each other less than the rest of the world." I said that does it for me having had some bad experiences when befriending people who I should not have. He did, however, get us interested in Par Lagervist.
A few months later we turn on the news and they are pulling a dead woman out of the Ohio River and she is strangled. She is a local teacher and she had been strangled. Her name happened to be the same as the colleague in question. We looked at each other and said at once, "They are going to arrest him. It has to be him."
We get to the university which is a buzz about the murder and everyone, I mean, everyone thinks he did it. People in our department; people who knew her , everyone. Before about 24 hours were up he was arrested. There was a history of domestic abuse and neighbors had called the police in the past. She never did anything. That night they heard her scream and didn't call. He killed her, folded her clothes by the river and threw her in the river. He got thirty years. I suggested not having the eat with anyone policy any longer.
A few days later Carl comes and says I think I am done having lunch with him. I ask why because even though this is fairly early in our relationship I already had the feeling he could eat lunch with Stalin or maybe Hitler and say, "It's only an hour out of my life. What does it matter?" With this idea I was shocked he had decided to abort the lunch time with this colleague of ours. He only went once or twice and he said they he sort of creeped him out by saying, "My wife and I only stay together because we hate each other less than the rest of the world." I said that does it for me having had some bad experiences when befriending people who I should not have. He did, however, get us interested in Par Lagervist.
A few months later we turn on the news and they are pulling a dead woman out of the Ohio River and she is strangled. She is a local teacher and she had been strangled. Her name happened to be the same as the colleague in question. We looked at each other and said at once, "They are going to arrest him. It has to be him."
We get to the university which is a buzz about the murder and everyone, I mean, everyone thinks he did it. People in our department; people who knew her , everyone. Before about 24 hours were up he was arrested. There was a history of domestic abuse and neighbors had called the police in the past. She never did anything. That night they heard her scream and didn't call. He killed her, folded her clothes by the river and threw her in the river. He got thirty years. I suggested not having the eat with anyone policy any longer.
Carl and the Revival--with apologies to the religous
When we were in grad school in 1981-2 Carl taught a couple who attended a sort of Pentecostal Church and we were invited to a revival. Let me say upfront this is not making fun of Penecostals or born agains since I grew up a born again Southern Baptist. This, like several other posts, is directed at my husband.
I came to use this story when we studied Langston Hughes' great essay "Salvation." I found that the Catholic students and most of my non-Catholic students had no idea what a revival was really like. I tried to get them to have the feel of it by watching Alvin Ailey's Revelation, one of the greatest dances ever created and that I have ever been privileged to see. Then I tried explaining when I was in high school I went to revivals that last a couple of hours and there was an invitation song, often "Just as I Am." We would sing it for as many verses as the revivalist wanted; it might be four or forty. I was not cut out for revivals, I soon realized, that despite being blessed with a ridiculous attention span, I just couldn't do it. Church services yes, revivals no. We would go with my choir to the inner city churches and they would ask our deacons to take over the service and they would say, "We don't do anything much but pass the collection plate."
Then I hit upon this story. I don't know if it made a difference in understanding Hughes but it did give Carl yet another claim to fame. Parents would come in and ask for the best Carl story and I would be confused . Did they know which one?Turkey? Darth Vader? Revivals? It was the revival , more than once.
We get to the church; I had already lodged a protest about spending an evening this way, but Carl, at that time, could spend a lunch or evening with practically anyone,arguing it was only one day, one hour, one whatever of his life. This leads by the way to another Carl story. But back to my point. I protested , pointing out that I know how this goes and it is not Southern Baptist which means it can go longer and be much more conservative. He insists; his students want us to come. I point out what happened with this idea earlier (see next story). We have to go.
We pull up. I see the church is rather small and has all the windows boarded up. I already can't breathe. I am claustrophobic and now realize much worse of one than I initially thought. I don't like boarded up windows but in we go. We sit through singing which I don't mind and a long sermon which I can manage. Then the invitation hymn starts, and unlike in my church, they come down and ask each and every person if he or she is personally saved. I tell them yes right away because I have made a public profession in the Baptist Church and been baptized even if I am now Catholic.
Then it happens.
They get to Carl and ask if he has been saved.
He replies , "I don't understand the concept."
They kneel around him and pray and he is the last one like poor Langston Hughes in "Revelation." But unlike Hughes he sticks to his guns with ,"I don't really understand the concept of this kind of salvation."
I point out under my breath that he will understand a great deal about it when and if we get to the car.
This does not deter his stubbornness. And it is sheer unadulterated stubbornness ; he had been to my Baptist Church, he had a theology minor and he still has more books than a preacher and a priest on theology (when we moved at one point he told me not to bother dragging up the boxes left in the basement that were filled with theology because they were the lesser ones in terms of importance and besides that there could not be more than 20--try 85).
I tried telling them he was saved; I am not sure they believed me but the service finally ended and I said that I would never do that with him again. It wasn't the church members praying over him; it was his unremitting stubbornness which is still a bone of contention today.
I say that he was just being stubborn then; he insists yet he didn't understand the theological concept-- and still doesn't. I still say he is just being a pain.
I came to use this story when we studied Langston Hughes' great essay "Salvation." I found that the Catholic students and most of my non-Catholic students had no idea what a revival was really like. I tried to get them to have the feel of it by watching Alvin Ailey's Revelation, one of the greatest dances ever created and that I have ever been privileged to see. Then I tried explaining when I was in high school I went to revivals that last a couple of hours and there was an invitation song, often "Just as I Am." We would sing it for as many verses as the revivalist wanted; it might be four or forty. I was not cut out for revivals, I soon realized, that despite being blessed with a ridiculous attention span, I just couldn't do it. Church services yes, revivals no. We would go with my choir to the inner city churches and they would ask our deacons to take over the service and they would say, "We don't do anything much but pass the collection plate."
Then I hit upon this story. I don't know if it made a difference in understanding Hughes but it did give Carl yet another claim to fame. Parents would come in and ask for the best Carl story and I would be confused . Did they know which one?Turkey? Darth Vader? Revivals? It was the revival , more than once.
We get to the church; I had already lodged a protest about spending an evening this way, but Carl, at that time, could spend a lunch or evening with practically anyone,arguing it was only one day, one hour, one whatever of his life. This leads by the way to another Carl story. But back to my point. I protested , pointing out that I know how this goes and it is not Southern Baptist which means it can go longer and be much more conservative. He insists; his students want us to come. I point out what happened with this idea earlier (see next story). We have to go.
We pull up. I see the church is rather small and has all the windows boarded up. I already can't breathe. I am claustrophobic and now realize much worse of one than I initially thought. I don't like boarded up windows but in we go. We sit through singing which I don't mind and a long sermon which I can manage. Then the invitation hymn starts, and unlike in my church, they come down and ask each and every person if he or she is personally saved. I tell them yes right away because I have made a public profession in the Baptist Church and been baptized even if I am now Catholic.
Then it happens.
They get to Carl and ask if he has been saved.
He replies , "I don't understand the concept."
They kneel around him and pray and he is the last one like poor Langston Hughes in "Revelation." But unlike Hughes he sticks to his guns with ,"I don't really understand the concept of this kind of salvation."
I point out under my breath that he will understand a great deal about it when and if we get to the car.
This does not deter his stubbornness. And it is sheer unadulterated stubbornness ; he had been to my Baptist Church, he had a theology minor and he still has more books than a preacher and a priest on theology (when we moved at one point he told me not to bother dragging up the boxes left in the basement that were filled with theology because they were the lesser ones in terms of importance and besides that there could not be more than 20--try 85).
I tried telling them he was saved; I am not sure they believed me but the service finally ended and I said that I would never do that with him again. It wasn't the church members praying over him; it was his unremitting stubbornness which is still a bone of contention today.
I say that he was just being stubborn then; he insists yet he didn't understand the theological concept-- and still doesn't. I still say he is just being a pain.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Lance, Al Jess, Jaimie, Brian, Tim , Ryan, etc I am just like a mom
Okay I admit it freely; do something important or artistic or anything positive i hear about it and I may as well be your Mom. This week Lance Bangs (HC90) outdid himself by doing a parody of Simon and Simon, a tv show some of us actually remember. He also made fun of awards ceremonies and filming in less than 15 minutes on adult swim; he had Adam Scott, Gus van Sant , Jon Hamm and of course who can make a film of any sort without Paul Rudd.
http://andy.saturn9.ws/Photo%20Albums/sidewalk/
I am also proud of having Patrick Maley's (2002? or 2001) dissertation on tragedy dedicated in part to me.
Allison and Jessica Hayes Conroy(1999) dedicated their book, South Jersey Under the Stars.
Catherine Buck (2010) has done do gooding work for two years in Africa and also two in Mississippi.
More students than I can possibly name from memory have put in two years of work in Mississippi for Katrina victims.
Dr. Brian Zanoni (1993) has spent at least 5 years in South Africa working with pediatric AIDS patients.
Jamie Moffett has made a film narrated by Martin Sheen called Return to El Salvador and also had been doing documentaries and revitalizations of the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia.
Timothy Kolesk(2000) is a production assistant on Community.
Ryan Cummings (2003) is as assistant at ABC.
I am sure I am leaving out many and I will keep adding things to this list.
http://andy.saturn9.ws/Photo%20Albums/sidewalk/
I am also proud of having Patrick Maley's (2002? or 2001) dissertation on tragedy dedicated in part to me.
Allison and Jessica Hayes Conroy(1999) dedicated their book, South Jersey Under the Stars.
Catherine Buck (2010) has done do gooding work for two years in Africa and also two in Mississippi.
More students than I can possibly name from memory have put in two years of work in Mississippi for Katrina victims.
Dr. Brian Zanoni (1993) has spent at least 5 years in South Africa working with pediatric AIDS patients.
Jamie Moffett has made a film narrated by Martin Sheen called Return to El Salvador and also had been doing documentaries and revitalizations of the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia.
Timothy Kolesk(2000) is a production assistant on Community.
Ryan Cummings (2003) is as assistant at ABC.
I am sure I am leaving out many and I will keep adding things to this list.
What is Art? Discussion possibilities
Twombly naturally came up, even if he had already and most certainly if he hadn't. Then the zip guy as I call him since I can't ever remember his name and Carl is not here to ask. One of my favorites on the subject of what is art (I used to have them write papers on this subject) was the artist who painted the iceberg red. Evarisitti, the artist, also put goldfish in blenders and indicated they could turn them on ( see article link below).
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4602285/ns/world_news-weird_news/t/red-iceberg-causes-stir-greenland/#.UHrK18WHLng
Others discussed were Marla a young artist who may or may or not had help from her dad and if she did should it matter?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marla_Olmstead
Then there were the 3d sidewalk artists:
http://andy.saturn9.ws/Photo%20Albums/sidewalk/
My AP classes could discuss this topic almost endlessly as they could why we read literature...another topic, another day.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4602285/ns/world_news-weird_news/t/red-iceberg-causes-stir-greenland/#.UHrK18WHLng
Others discussed were Marla a young artist who may or may or not had help from her dad and if she did should it matter?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marla_Olmstead
Then there were the 3d sidewalk artists:
http://andy.saturn9.ws/Photo%20Albums/sidewalk/
My AP classes could discuss this topic almost endlessly as they could why we read literature...another topic, another day.
Cy Twombly
Carl and I started looking more and more at the non-traditional art in museums and less and less at the earlier conventional works. Carl was interested in what we call the "zip guy." We saw the room of 100,000 where the artist got his endowment grant and got it in one dollar bills and papered the museum with it. We saw the film of the man who filmed every minute of the last year of his life. We saw about 30 tv monitors showing him taking out the trash, writing, reading eating and sleeping. Sort of like what you thought Keifer Sutherland should have been doing at least one of those days on 24. We saw postmodernists and deconstructionists and abstract expressionists and then we spent time in the Cy Twombly room.
To appreciate this piece you have to look at the Twombly room , 50 Days of Ilium, at the museum or at least online. Whether you hate it or love it , I can assure you that , as a teacher, they will talk about the pictures and their feelings and their connections to the story of Troy. They will also remember his name. They will remember that a few years ago in Europe a woman was overcome at the enormous artistic beauty of the painting and kissed it, defacing it with her lipstick which, I believe led to an arrest, and also to much discussion about how to fix it. It was finally decided,the last I read, it would be sent here for restoration.
I can't believe how many people facebooked me the day Twombly died,and for the Twombly lovers out there, his family is considering an entire museum or gallery dedicated to him.
http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/85709.html
To appreciate this piece you have to look at the Twombly room , 50 Days of Ilium, at the museum or at least online. Whether you hate it or love it , I can assure you that , as a teacher, they will talk about the pictures and their feelings and their connections to the story of Troy. They will also remember his name. They will remember that a few years ago in Europe a woman was overcome at the enormous artistic beauty of the painting and kissed it, defacing it with her lipstick which, I believe led to an arrest, and also to much discussion about how to fix it. It was finally decided,the last I read, it would be sent here for restoration.
I can't believe how many people facebooked me the day Twombly died,and for the Twombly lovers out there, his family is considering an entire museum or gallery dedicated to him.
http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/85709.html
Monday, October 8, 2012
Carl and the Turkey-part 3 of the carl stories
Carl goes off to the Butcher to pick up the turkey. We do get a fresh one and not a frozen one that has additives, so they do cost more.
Carl returns with the turkey and a few items and says, "The turkey cost a bit more than I thought." Now what would "a bit more" mean to you? A dollar? Two? Maybe 5 at a stretch?
A few hours later, the butcher is at the door (it is a good thing we have known him for over two decades)and has an envelope for Carl with a refund in it. It seems that the butcher who is also male, not the presence of 2 y chromosomes in this story, accidentally failed to close out the previous order. As Carl drove off , Mom (the butcher's mom is called Mom by everyone) realizes what happened.The Butcher then has arrived with the difference between the two orders.
Carl takes the envelope and looks inside.
I say, "How much is it? Two? Five? Ten?"
The answer, "Fifty."
My response, "FIFTY! WHAT KIND OF TURKEY DID YOU GET? IT MUST BE THE SIZE OF A SHERMAN TANK. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING " (HE DOES THE SHOPPING AND OFTEN USES A FEW COUPONS)
Carl replies, "I got fresh parsley too."
When queried about the exorbitant sum he paid for said turkey and fresh parsley I got blamed because after all he told me, "it cost a bit more."
Carl returns with the turkey and a few items and says, "The turkey cost a bit more than I thought." Now what would "a bit more" mean to you? A dollar? Two? Maybe 5 at a stretch?
A few hours later, the butcher is at the door (it is a good thing we have known him for over two decades)and has an envelope for Carl with a refund in it. It seems that the butcher who is also male, not the presence of 2 y chromosomes in this story, accidentally failed to close out the previous order. As Carl drove off , Mom (the butcher's mom is called Mom by everyone) realizes what happened.The Butcher then has arrived with the difference between the two orders.
Carl takes the envelope and looks inside.
I say, "How much is it? Two? Five? Ten?"
The answer, "Fifty."
My response, "FIFTY! WHAT KIND OF TURKEY DID YOU GET? IT MUST BE THE SIZE OF A SHERMAN TANK. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING " (HE DOES THE SHOPPING AND OFTEN USES A FEW COUPONS)
Carl replies, "I got fresh parsley too."
When queried about the exorbitant sum he paid for said turkey and fresh parsley I got blamed because after all he told me, "it cost a bit more."
Friday, September 28, 2012
first days
I am really waxing nostalgic when I say I miss the smell of a high school. They all have that high school smell. I also love when I used to buy all the new markers, tacks, paper clips, bags of candy and new items to start the year. I never felt ready until the bulletin boards were up and everyone's name was learned at the end of the first day. I figure I might have a week before everyone starts
yelling enough already at me.
Once I wasn't going to learn all the names the first day because I was sick and we weren't on block and we still had homeroom and study hall (so 150 students , plus 30 ish homeroom and 25 or so in study) and fortunately there is my repeat business so they all were not new but most were and I thought to myself I am too sick to do this and they came in first period saying, "you got to do the names, we hear you do all the names the first day, you have to see her do this." I did the names. No one probably realizes that's the hardest day of the year for me. I hate not knowing names and doing them all and connecting them to all those people requires a lot of concentrating and thinking. Besides that names are power and miscreants would run to guidance after the first day of English 4 , if they hadn't been there already , trying to get out with the argument that they couldn't have me bc I already knew their names. Maybe tomorrow's post will be ways people tried to get out of my class and maybe even how a few actually got out.
Once I wasn't going to learn all the names the first day because I was sick and we weren't on block and we still had homeroom and study hall (so 150 students , plus 30 ish homeroom and 25 or so in study) and fortunately there is my repeat business so they all were not new but most were and I thought to myself I am too sick to do this and they came in first period saying, "you got to do the names, we hear you do all the names the first day, you have to see her do this." I did the names. No one probably realizes that's the hardest day of the year for me. I hate not knowing names and doing them all and connecting them to all those people requires a lot of concentrating and thinking. Besides that names are power and miscreants would run to guidance after the first day of English 4 , if they hadn't been there already , trying to get out with the argument that they couldn't have me bc I already knew their names. Maybe tomorrow's post will be ways people tried to get out of my class and maybe even how a few actually got out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)