I'm not sure what happened today, but class was awesome. And it was only one part me. Actually, it was a big part me, and I will now explain that statement.
I've blogged before about the roles we play, and specifically about the roles I play. I act a certain way around certain people. I put on different personas, attitudes, vocabularies, etc. I talk about different parts of my life with different people--and feel awkward and guilty when I cross the boundaries I've set up. I am never really myself because I am never really completely me. This was part of the "Me in Monogamy" post. Showing all of me lets a person see, well, all of me and makes me vulnerable to the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" (apologies if I misquoted).
But today in class--I was still the teacher, but it was me being the teacher, if that makes sense. And if it doesn't, I don't know how else to say it.
We talked about summary vs. analysis. I showed a clip from the "Mormon" Pride and Prejudice (when Elizabeth throws the hymnal at Collins) and then summarized it for the class. I pointed out that I didn't need to tell them what had happened because they had watched it themselves. So what should you tell people/your reader about the text? And they started to analyze the clip--the music, the camera angles, the details, etc. They did an excellent job. But what came next was even better. I had the desk speech from DPS, which made me excited just to be watching it, which I told the students. And then we watched it. I told them I wasn't going to summarize it again--they were spared that pain. And I also told them I had been thinking about saying "In addition to your essays I want to compose a poem of your own" but I didn't. What I did do was play the clip again. Students could--and did--call "Stop" when something happened they wanted to analyze. And the whole class got into the discussion. It was fantastic. I was so into it that I was surprised and sad when the bell rang.
Other things happened at the beginning of class, and during class, that allowed me to be me. I wish I could explain it better. No, that would take to long. Let me summarize.
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3 comments:
Cool. My best classes are the ones where I let myself be me as the teacher. Actually, I've been making a conscious effort over the past year or two to be me all the time. When I manage to do so, I find that I'm more comfortable with who I am and that people are surprisingly accepting when you give them a chance. I'll shut up now before I turn into an after-school special.
Lucky....
I love those classes.
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