2 I said "good ol' " yesterday because it represents stability.
3 Weird things have been happening lately, which is why I embrace stability.
4 I don't mind the weird things, since they happen to everybody all the time.
5 I just don't understand the source: is it the Man, or is it ghosts?
6
7 Ha!
8 Just playing.
9 How delightfully odd.
10 Let's take yesterday, for example.
11 I got to school, figured out this AMAZINGLY fun lesson plan, but it included showing a video.
12
13 I've had my students engaged in a CBS doc about 9/11 since 9/10. I've played it on and off for just about a week now, always allowing for magazine projects and other fine frills to complement the lessons.
14 In the morning I figured the students had about five more minz of the film, and then we could group up and go Socratic.
15
16 I popped the video into the computer, and lit up the LCD.
17 It should have been the LSD.
18 The video came on with a frozen picture, but the sound of the film ran while the still stayed still.
19 I knew I was a professional.
20 I knew scientific method.
21 I applied all.
22 I rebooted.
23 I changed from Google to Mozilla to Bleh-Bleh to...
24 Nothing.
25 First class of the morning.
26 Film.Doesn't.Work. No.Matter.What.
27 I did everything anyone anywhere would do, with the same result.
28 Einstein once said...
29 Bleh.
30 THAT'S what he said.
31 Isn't there evidence that Einstein once tried to woo a girl, arrived at her balcony with flowers only to discover he had forgotten to put on his pants?
32 Urban myth.
33 Sidetrail: There is a fun website called Mental Floss that tells all about the slovenly genius. Here's the link; it's pretty fun if it is all true. I wouldn't know. It works for a Friday morn:
34 AND...We're back. If you recall, I stood at a lectern staring at a laptop screen that was frozen, while the sound worked perfectly. The sound played; the film didn't.
35 Hands stiff on the lectern, I kept staring down, head bowed, but not bloodied.
36 Yet...
37 Suddenly it came to me.
38 There existed gooblies on my DVD!
39 GOOBLIES.
40 Anybody lookin'?
41 In teaching terms, too little, ALMOST too late. I knew my first class would go filmless, but I also knew that the bits and chunks of whatever on the DVD would be carefully cleaned, and that it would probably be perfecto by the next period.
42 I had already given up on my first class though, so I instantly grouped the students, brought in some amazing music from Ancient Mesopotatoes, and grabbed my mystical Socratic Seminar keys, a set of ancient skeleton keys from my pirate days.
43 I have these seemingly rusty piratesque keys that hang on the whiteboard in front of the room.
44 I insist they are magic. The film idea was now gone. It was never in the stars to begin with. It was time to open the Doors of Wisdom.
45 The only way to enter the Doors of Wisdom in my classroom is to offer up inspirational quotations.
46 I gave the students one minute. We always need four quotes in order to open the Doors of Wisdom <DOW>.
47 I gave the order. "When the second hand on the clock passes the twelve, we shall seek entrance through the Doors of Wisdom. I need four inspirational quotes." The music became more mysterious. Wisdom rose like incense. At first they hesitated, but within seconds, they understood.
48 I'm pretty sure this was from Gandhi:
"You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind."
49 Within seconds I had more hands going up.
50 It rollicked and rolled the remainder of the period. I wish I had taken notes, but I simply couldn't. When kids get motivated, a true teacher steps back.
51 Despite that, I stepped back anyway.
52 To be honest, I didn't write the quotes down. I do recall that they got shy after three quotes. I intervened.
53 "We have three quotes. We need four quotes in order to enter the Doors of Wisdom! And we need one more quote, because if we get four quotes we have a gallon."
54
55 <crickets>
57 The students entered the realm. Some classes worked, others didn't. So it goes.
58 My last class of the day got it. Students who never talked jumped in, and I stood amazed at how much they could teach each other. Intelligent questions were asked. Poetic discussions ensued, and a LOT of learning happened in a short period of time.
59 Those are the successes. They walked out of the room talking about the lesson. There is no better feeling than those sorts of moments.
60 I think I can say that I'm officially over summer.
61 Time to roll up the sleeves.
62 Gottago.
63 Have a GREAT weekend.
64 Peace.
~H~
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