At lunch I got to overhear some interesting discussion about book acquisition and I talked with some of the teachers about the venting they do when they talk crap about students. They seemed pretty defensive when I pointed it out, but I really wasn't accusing them of anything. Making fun of the children seems like a perfectly natural thing to do. They piss you off and you can't take your frustrations out on them, so you make fun of them when they aren't around. I just want to know what my teachers said about me.
After lunch I sat in with Art, a man who has been teaching 9th grade English for the last 30 or 40 years. He did lots of grammar work with them, which is something that I don't think anyone can do enough of. Art makes a big deal about his students retaining the information they learn in this class. He has an infectious, but subtle enthusiasm that think is the reason his students seem (on average) more engaged than Schultz's 9th graders do. Maybe age has something to do with that too.
I hope that these kids remember their grammar and that they keep learning it throughout high school. It may not be the most important life skill, but it seems like most of my English major friends know any grammar at all, myself included. I do know what direct and indirect objects are though.
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