There Art Thou Happy

One of my least favorite Shakespeare plays is Romeo and Juliet.  The last year that I taught the play I swore that the next time I did, I was going to start in Act V with Romeo stepping over Paris's body and reaching for the poison.

However, a former colleague of mine had a killer lesson idea for Act III scene iii.  Romeo is whining about how awful his life is and the Friar, speaking for us, I guess, has had enough of it.  He lists off a few things that Romeo should be grateful for and ends with this line:

A pack of blessings lights upon thy back: Happiness courts thee in her best array; but, like a misbehav'd and sullen wench, thou pout'st upon they fortune and thy love.  Take heed, for such die miserable.

 Not wanting her students to "die miserable", she has them as a homework assignment, list out their "pack of blessings".  Puts a bit of a positive spin to her class.

How Do I Love Thee?

Today is Elizabeth Barrett Browning's birthday.  She is known almost as much for love letters as she is for her poetry.  For those of you who need a refresher, Elizabeth (and her ten siblings) was forbidden by her father to ever marry and have children.  When Robert Browning read her poetry, he fell in love with her and began to write her.  Between the two of them, they wrote 570 letters to each other before they ran away and eloped.  They both kept all the love letters and the door to the Barrett house which half of those letters came through, was saved before the house was torn down.  I believe it is kept at Wellesley College Library and was a popular place for college students to slip Valentine cards until it was sealed shut.

So why did Elizabeth's father want to stop his bloodline?  Well, according to one scholar, Julia Markus, in her book Dared and Done, It might be because either her grandfather or great grandfather has a child with a Jamaican slave. Either he was such a racist that he did not want his bloodline tainted or, being an abolitionist, he was ashamed of his white bloodline and wished to end it.

Either way, it was the reason for Elizabeth and Robert's secrecy.  Her father never forgave her for running off and getting married and having a child.  She wrote to him often and he always returned her letters unopened.

Here is a reading comprehension practice for her poem "How Do I Love Thee?"

Turdsworth

 

So I ran across this in an article by Olivia Rutigliano on Literary Hub.  It was just too funny not to pass on to you guys to check out!  So if you want to read the article and find out what Samuel Taylor Coleridge called him, please do over at: https://lithub.com/lord-byron-used-to-call-william-wordsworth-turdsworth-and-yes-this-is-a-real-historical-fact/

Friday Film Festival: The Lord of the Flies - Modern Classics Summarized

Overly Sarcastic Productions breaks down literature classics in a rather sharp manner!  Watch their take on Lord of the Flies:

Check out my Lord of the Flies survival game you can play in class (if we ever safely get back to a classroom setting, that is). http://lordalford.com/lotf/lotfframeset.htm

Do you do anything special for Lord of the Flies when you teach it?  Let us know in the comments section!

Why You Should Be Teaching _The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time_ to Your High Schoolers

This book is so great for seniors on so many levels.

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If you are not aware of what the book is about, it is a story told from the perspective of a fifteen year-old boy who is on the spectrum.  He is investigating the murder of a neighbor's dog, but there is another story going on that he doesn't see.  It  is this other story that is so captivating for students.

So why should you teach it?

1. Students who HATE to read LOVE this book.  I often teach regular ed and EC inclusion students who have a strong dislike to reading.  It may be for many reasons that they hate reading in general, but no matter the cause, they almost all love this book.  I have experienced many non-readers reading ahead on their own.  Many students tell me it is the only book they've read cover to cover since they can remember.  

On my web site, I have a poll that students can take anonymously.  Here is the break down as of now:

Loved it - 32%
It was pretty good - 47%
It was OK - 17%
It's pretty bad - 1%
Hated it - 3%

I challenge you to find a book with better approval ratings for students who hate to read.

Why is this?  Well, the book is written on both a simple and complex level.  Just reading the words is simple.  You are not going to pair this book up with an SAT vocabulary unit.  However, the story is very complex, so students can understand and follow, but do not feel liked it is "dumbed down".

2. Students who LOVE to read LOVE this book.  My colleagues who teach honors have terrific success with this book.  Despite not having a high vocabulary level, the story has layers of complexity that make you forget the word choice level.

3. It is a great book to use to teach:

• Perspective - The narrator here is unreliable, not that in he lies (like I am sure Van Helsing is when he records what he does while alone with Mina Harker), but because he doesn't fully understand what is happening.  
• Prediction - There are so many clues and red herrings that it is fun to watch the students try and figure out what the "real" story is, as well as trying to figure out who killed the dog.  When one of my nonreaders make a prediction that later comes true, they get so excited.
• Dramatic Irony - Since we know, at least half way through the book, what is happening while the narrator is trying to figure it out, there is a certain amount of suspense created.

4. It promotes autism awareness.  You have students on the spectrum in your class.  Your students interact with people on the spectrum every day and may not even realize it.  This book will show how Christopher processes information.  The students relate to him and are completely invested in what happens.  Students will also want to share stories of their sisters, cousins, nephews, etc. that are on the spectrum.  Students who are on the spectrum, at least in the last decade I've been teaching this, like having a protagonist they can identify with.  Sometimes I will have a student identify themselves as autistic and other times they do not, but the book handles it so well, that I have yet to have a student on the spectrum not like that we read it.

For that matter, it also brings to the forefront disability awareness.  My inclusion teacher hosts the EC Spring Games for the district where the more severe and profound students in all the schools from elementary to high school come and compete in various events.  After reading this book, my students want to volunteer to help host.

5. It is easy to be creative with it.  There are so many off topic chapters that it provides several opportunities to do something different with your students.  From getting them to fake photographs to playing Monty Hall to searching for constellations - there are so many ways to bring this book to life.

6. It is flexible.  The chapters are generally short, so that allow the freedom to stop and start in a variety of places.  This makes it easy to allow conversation to develop in class as well as each chapter ending provides an organic opportunity to let kids express what they are thinking.


If you teach this book, leave a comment and tell me a success story.  If you want to teach this book, keep your eyes open.  I am currently putting together everything I use in my class and plan on putting it up on Teachers Pay Teachers soon.