Monday, January 5, 2009

First Day Back

  • The first day back at school after a long break is a whipping.
  • Getting the kids to refocus on Romeo and Juliet after 16 days off is a HUGE whipping. But, Tybalt and Mercutio died in sword fights, R&J had their wedding night, and Juliet's father yelled at her "Hang thee young baggage! Thou disobedient wretch!" That livens the discussions.
  • R&J meet on Sunday, marry on Monday, on Tuesday Juliet is told she will marry Paris, Wednesday she fakes her death, and, by early Thursday morning, R&J are both dead.
  • The Reduced Shakespeare Company has a dvd of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare-Abridged. The kids howl over the 15 minute Romeo and Juliet. It's an easy way to bring home to them that literate people find life to be a great deal more amusing than those who are not well read.
  • I've discovered that elementary schools no longer teach Roman numerals. I have to do a lesson in those before we read The Odyssey (Books I-XXIV), and Romeo and Juliet (Acts I-V). No wonder the children don't laugh at the Hercules cartoon when the little character runs from a fire yelling "Call IXII, call IXII".

5 comments:

Collectionsite said...

Why did the stop teaching Roman Numerals. I have had times in my adult life I needed that education?

And on another note .... How do you do it? I had only one child and he drove me nuts. May the Lord be with you ;)

Epic_Life said...

Aww...You're sweet. I can do this because it is my passion. I truly wake up every day happy to go to work. That's not to say that there are not moments in the day that I want to bang my head against the wall, but nothing gives me a thrill like seeing the light of understanding dawn on a kid's face!

I do not know why Roman numerals are no longer taught. I can only assume that it is because kids are not held accountable for that knowledge on the TAKS tests. In addition, many of them have not a clue how to read an analog clock. I do a mini lesson at the start of every term to teach my ninth graders how to read the clock in my room.

LandShark 5150 said...

I truely feel for you. Thanks to 'no kid left behind' all are falling behind. The Odyessy has been a favorite of mine for XXX+ yrs. Sorry I just had to.

Denney Crane said...

YOU CAN SHARE WITH US AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK! First time I've used all caps in one sentence.

If you're gonna be that happy, please share your escapades... regularly

Please forgive me if I'm too forward,

DC

Epic_Life said...

Geez, DC, sorry! I'll try to do better.