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I’m the training director at the radio station where I work ( http://www.kuci.org ), and last night was the final exam. One of the bonus questions I gave was “Who wrote The Simpsons theme?” Thankfully, some people did get it correct, but one person answered Randy Newman (and was rather confident about it). The funniest was ‘Alan Groening.’ never heard of the guy ; }
–Rachel
Too bad we weren’t in your class, for we would have gotten bonus points
-Em
“…I think I’m going to kill you.” Rozencrantz talking to Gildenstern, ‘Rozencrantz and Gildenstern Are Dead’Teaching, eh? Man, I need to get paid more for this job! I hope yours pays better than mine
70+ hour weeks and $9 an hour (yep, I calculated it out…that’s what a master’s will get you in the great state o’ Nebraska): teaching kids who think Humbert Humbert is “gross and old…” no matter HOW much I try to convince them of the literary merit. I let them watch the freakin’ Jeremy Irons film, for god’s sake! I told them that it was about SEX, and they didn’t even bat an eye. (I figured that they’re hormonally charged and that any mention of that word would pique their interests…not so, not so…but hey, this is the age of internet porn, so why would reading about a nympho in a high school US Lit class phase any of ’em)? That’s why I love Elfman: I can listen to any of his work (Boingo or film scores) and instantaneously feel much better…much less on the verge of saying “screw it!” and going into welding instead…that would be a cool job; blowtorch! Yeah!!!-E (whom everybody is now “ignoring” per Lexi, but still feels the need to be on the internet WAY past her bedtime…oh wait, she doesn’t have one…all the same, she’s wondering if there’s any way to turn her fluorescent (sp?) light above her bed into a light saber? *grins as she goes to make more coffee*)
Hey Erika,
Just thank God that you can make somewhat of a living at teaching right now. I teach piano and get about $10 a student a week, and I only have 6 students right now, so I have to take another 2 part time jobs. Actually I’m thinking about substitution teaching as another part time job (and here that pays $50 a day). I know I could make more with piano lessons, but right now I’m helping out a friend who just opened up a small Music Institution – and remember, it is in the middle of Mississippi. But hey, better pay is on the horizon as I move into doing the advertising for the Institution – I smell some of that sell-out commercial money coming my way.
I just wanted to say, you are smart enough to creatively alter you student’s thinking habits – that’s a nice way to say manipulate or brainwash. So the S-E-X word didn’t work, move to more subliminal tactics. You’re a smart girl.
Manipulation is the most important tool you can have when you are dealing with kids.
Nat who hopes he didn’t freak you out with all of this “Dead Poets Society” talk
Yes, I am grateful that I get paid more than minimum wage. However, I’ve got some expenses that are probably outside the average’s American’s sphere of existence. I’m not going to go into them here, because I turn this into my own personal psychiatric forum far too often (sorry Ryan!), but they’re really damned expensive. (I’m lucky if I literally have $5 left in my checking account at the end of every month). I have a couple of part-time jobs myself, and I do have to say that I love what I do in each of them. For that, and for the fact that I’m not in debt…yet…I’m very grateful. (Anybody else getting “Bambi-esque” visions of butterflies and springtime picnics after that last paragraph? Ha!)
I was extremely frustrated with my students at my last post on this thread. To make a long story short(er): I only teach literature about which I’m very passionate. I figure this benefits both parties: I get to be selfish and read, as well as dissect, my favorite books and short stories and revel in their “greatness” once more; the students get to read something *other* than their “usual high school lit” selections (you know, Hemingway, Twain, Hawthorne…although all of those authors do have literary merit, it seems rather difficult for the students to get into the material, much less appreciate it, so I choose other things). I have them read the “more neglected” books (at least in high schools), that focus on issues I imagine they can relate to (Lolita, Love Medicine, White Noise, I give them a choice on reading Poe or Plath…they usually choose Plath’s “The Bell Jar”). Last year, as well as this one, the kids have HATED Lolita…for the simple fact that “Humbert’s gross and old.” When they do this, they inevitably ask me, “why did you pick this?” I always try to be as honest as possible with my students, within decency, because I figure they won’t have any chance of liking the material if you feed them a load of **** and lie to ’em…so, without fail, I go into my very long, very emotional story of how I came to adore that book. I don’t start crying in class or anything, because that just gives them more ammunition, and I simply don’t cry, but I do essentially bare my soul for one of the very few times in my life…in front of a bunch of very immature 15-year-olds to boot (Why? I don’t know. I guess I want them to see that literature can change you in ways that you never thought possible…dear god that was cheesy…but hey, I’m an emotional wreck whenever I talk about that book). Last week, they asked the “why” question, I told them the aforementioned anecdote, and they LAUGHED…not just laughed, more like howled. Inwardly, I was already in shambles, and the last thing I needed was to start getting pissed off…which would cause more problems than it would solve…so I told them to leave, because I wasn’t going to be able to teach them any more that day. They went to the library for the rest of the period – about half an hour – and I turned on some Black Beauty, wrote the next bit of my microfiction, stared at the wall, and felt better. (I know, that was ANYTHING but a good approach…but if they’d have stayed, I would not have been productive in the least…and I’m not going to keep them in class to just do time…and also, this is the first time I’ve done this in two years of teaching).
My colleagues have been telling the students that I shouldn’t be teaching “Lolita”, because it’s “indecent.” They’ve also been telling the students (not on record, that’s for sure), that I’m a lesbian, and thus – in their opinion – the reason I like that work. (Obviously they haven’t read “Lolita,” because if they had, they’d realize it’s rampant with heterosexual love). Later that same day, I confronted one of them about that comment, with my reasoning that “the world itself is indecent. Come into my classroom one day, and you’ll see that I’m not encouraging pedophilia or rampant sexual activity in any way. In fact, I do just the opposite: we discuss the psychological decline of Humbert, etc, etc.” Her reply? *This is rich, let me tell you!* “Well, you’re a lesbian, so what would you know about decency?” (A note on this woman, and the majority of my colleagues at school: she’s one of those who went into teaching because “high school was the greatest time of my life,” yeah, she’s looking to relive her glory days by befriending her students, and she’s an uber-conservative Christian…this school’s run by ’em, despite the fact that it’s public…needless to say, we don’t mix very well). Oh god, did I have a laugh at that one!
I asked her why she thought that, and she replied, “You look like one. You don’t have a boyfriend, and really show no interest in having one, either. You don’t have very many friends, and those you do have are all 35 and older. You don’t go to church, and you listen to strange music (meaning Elfman and film scores in general). Barb (another teacher) saw you down at the Q (a local bar frequented by homosexuals) last week…she was just passing by.” I thought it was so narrow-minded, that it was downright hilarious! I replied that I like men, have no interest in hooking up with women, but also don’t feel the need for a boyfriend right now. I explained that I do have homosexual friends, and do go out to have a drink or two with them at the Q every so often, and if that made me “indecent” in her eyes, then so be it.
Therefore, and to get to the point, because the other teachers are subverting students to their own ways of thinking – about me and the material – I’m not sure what I can do to change the students’ minds. It’s one against a large opposition, and it’s inordinately frustrating. Workplace politics can kiss my ass! (And that was a very long, drawn-out explanation…sorry…couldn’t think of any other way to explain my reasoning).
Nat – I’m not a “smart girl,” trust me on this one. Really, I’m just a self-centered ass. However, thanks for the compliment.
Only lesbians like strange music? . . . I NEVER knew . . . Sounds like a real bi***!
Actually, I think the modern day music like the Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilarilialila, Britany Spears and . . . others (you get the point, I hope) are much weirder than the music of Danny Elfman, just because it boggles the mind to think of anyone that actually LISTENS to that crap daily! My sister does, and it DRIVES ME MAD just to listen to it on the other side of the house!
I listen to “weird” music, don’t have a boyfriend, and don’t go to church, and I didn’t know I was a lesbian, either….always the last to know, I suppose!
(Beware of lesbians who listen to Elfman and such–we just may be heterosexuals in disguise)!
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