Tracks to Clementine

Gallop apace

Whenever I teach a class, I tell my students I have just one rule: No Blood.

Secretly, my rule is No Cats.

The outloud version is all about students taking care of themselves even though our activities are sometimes danger-making. The secret version is all about challenging the students to make choices beyond the typical. For little kids, this tends to mean that they can't act like a cat because when they act like cats they just crawl around on their hands and knees and lick my pants. For slightly older kids this means that they can't just choose to insert Harry Potter into the story we're creating. For even older kids, it means that they can't solve every scene with random sex, violence, or scatological humor. It's about dramaturgy and it's about new choices.

But sometimes I break my own rules. So far, I haven't caused anyone to bleed, but today at 7:53am when I asked what "fiery-footed" meant and a student mentioned Rapidash, well, I used it. I actually said that the people in Shakespeare's time were as familiar with the characters in Greek mythology as we might be with the characters in Pokemon. From then on it kinda turned into a geometric proof involving the weightiness of different allusions and their ability to transform what could have been a page full of "I really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really wish it were dark so Romeo would come fuck me."

Considering that we first had to figure out what "steed" meant, I think today was a success. (And, no, I didn't actually say "fuck". At least not out loud.)

Posted by Ida at March 5, 2003 12:57 PM