Sunday, June 11, 2006
End-of-Year Fun
Fun is pretty hard to come by this tie of year, so you take it pretty much where you can find it.
For example, I'm grading personal essays written by my 10th-grade English class, and I come across one about one of my favorite topics: music. The kid writing it is pretty cool by 10th-grade standards and we've had many short conversations about AC/DC, Zeppelin, etc. I was heartened as I read that he also likes bluegrass and his dad gave him an old Rickenbacker guitar.
OK, so he's writing this time about his flirtation with grunge music, which I think is pretty funny for someone who's 16 years old. In other words, he was in diapers the first time Eddie Vedder rolled his eyes back in his head. So I'm reading along and I come upon the following phrase:
"Me and my friends would just sit around and listen to Temple of the Dog, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees and Sonic Youth. We used to go around with long hair, plaid shits (sic) and Converse All-Stars."
Now, I never met any of those bands, but in pictures they all LOOKED like they smelled a little funky. Now I know for sure.
I've also had a good time recently reading student evaluations of my teaching. Some of my more senior colleagues have apparently given up doing this because when I asked for samples of a form I could use, they just shrugged their shoulders. Kudos to my history and English peeps who came through for me.
Notable responses thus far:
Q: What should your teacher do LESS of?
A: Look funny
Q: Did you find this class challenging and/or interesting?
A: No, because it was to (sic) easy.
Apparently a little TOO easy!
Q: What should your teacher do MORE of?
A: Sit down and take a chill pill.
Same question, but different response from another student...
A: Tell unfunny jokes
Note to self: make sure to break out A-list material next year. I'll start with "The Aristocrats"
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It's the damn 24th of June and this jank still has not been updated.