October 4, 2005

O Captain! My Captain!

It is strange how every class you teach has its own personality (classinality?). I think this class will be a good one in spite of the 8 a.m. meeting time. Things went very well yesterday morning and the students actually got involved! It was a little Oprah like when they introduced themselves and why they are taking this class. In general, they all want to learn how to write more clearly and "do grammar." :)

They got fired up over a Washington Times article on prices after Katrina. They fell right in to my trap; it was great! The class had an overwhelmingly emotional reaction to the article, then slowly began to realize that the article didn't make emotional claims. It was a perfect example of reading closely and analyzing your own reaction to a text.

I did not make anyone yawp while standing on my desk, (a shout out here to all "Dead Poets Society" fans), and no, they didn't stand together on desks and call out "O Captain! My Captain!" It was just the first day. There is time.

1 comment:

Bronwyn said...

Sounds like you had an exciting first day... while I wouldn't wish a "barbaric yawp" on any English class, it still sounds like you will have lots of fun with them. Congrats on a great start!