Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Slide Whistle - Teaching Shakespeare (Day 8)

The last of my parent conferences are tomorrow, so I won't be teaching Shakespeare. Well, I'll be on campus, which means I'll pop in and eavesdrop to make sure the substitute has no idea what he or she is doing. Because if a sub knows what he's doing, then that is a sure sign of the Apocalypse. They're usually bad, real bad. And I like it that way. When I return, my students thank me for coming back and beg to never have (insert name here) as a substitute again. Appreciation breeds respect.

But today was innovative. For the first time, we had a slide whistle (for sound effects) in class. It was ten degrees of coolness times twelve, which equals a good portion of 100 percent of reverse global warming.

We used the slide whistle for the part when Puck and Oberon put the flower's "love" juice on the eyes of Lysander and Titania. As I mentioned, it was cooler than a Midsummer's Eve in Antarctica.

Hey, there's a few boy names! Lysander. Oberon. Puck. What about Starveling? Now that's original.

BTW - I was driving home the other day. Blondie was in her car seat behind me. I said, "We need to find a man to fix your bike helmet. Well, maybe I can fix it."

Blondie said, "You're not a man, you're a boy!" And then she started laughing.

That's another sign of the Apocalypse. (I've stolen this category of events from Sports Illustrated. I am guilty. Seize the thief of these noble words!)

At the plate: The Maze Runner, by James Dashner
On Deck: The Order of Odd-Fish, by James Kennedy
In the hole: No idea, but I'm really into Jameses right now. Any other suggestions written by James _________.

Running: Too cold. ;-)

Writing: MG novel. Writing in Scrivener for Macs and loving it.

8 comments:

  1. Scrivener is awesome. Cold? Hmmm...
    Blondie is funny!
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  2. There's always James Patterson.
    And hey, I'm a substitute teacher now! I used to teach full time until I had kids and now I sub occasionally. And the teachers request me, so there really are some good subs out there!!! (Though when I was teaching full time I do have to admit to having a few doozies!)
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  3. Oh, Kelly, you should see some of them.
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  4. I subbed for a few weeks in a very small OK Air Force town. I was a HORRIBLE sub. I got elementary school gym (I think I was the only one who would accept it). Husband laughed every time the phone rang at 5:30 AM.
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  5. The only decent sub is a former teacher, who taught there for several years. She comes every once in a while. Otherwise, it's like they come from Hades, where knowledge is forbidden. I made that up.
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  6. Try his series The 13th Reality. They aren't as intense as Maze, but they are pretty good, too. My son and I enjoyed them.

    I have an award for you at my blog, Tracy. Bring your testosterone over for a bit and check it out! ;-)
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  7. Your class sounds fun, Tracy. I bet the kids love having you as a teacher!
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  8. The fun stuff is for me too. If I didn't try to make the material entertaining or stimulating, I'd fall asleep in Act I. And then there wouldn't be anyone to zip spitballs at me because all the students would also be sleeping.
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