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2003-03-31 ~ 10:27 p.m.
Listening to: Listening to IIIIII nev-ar had to KNOCK ON WOOD! But I know someone who has...which makes me wonder if I should...hmmm.... "You know the world is off tilt when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest basketball player is chinese, and Germany doesn't want to go to war." -Charles Barkley Eeeee hee hee. That comment is so not-PC, and yet so poignant. It captures my generation perfectly. This is what I'll be able to share with my grandkids, folks. Wish I had something more to talk about. Let's see if I can get a good rant going. I was just discussing what makes a good English teacher with Lindsay online today. To refresh your memory, I want to be an English teacher, and that has been my profession of choice for about 2 1/2 years now. Before that I wanted to be a whole slew of things: A journalist, a child psychologist, and a food critic to name a few. But I have always wanted to work in a profession that involved either a) writing or b) involving myself with kids. Not elementary school kids so much, but the older, more challenging age groups like junior high kids and high school freshman. I really feel like high school kids are much more complex than people make us out to be. We're like--and excuse the total obviousness--miniature adults. Just because we don't have to work or pay taxes, doesn't mean we haven't got problems of our own. You can't say our problems are worth any less than yours just because we're younger. And I've always identified with that, I even identify with 13- and 12-year-olds now, when I should be finding them truly annoying. For instance with Julie's younger sister Ren�e and Justin, and even Lindsay's little brother Teddy--I don't have a problem conversing and getting to know them. Most kids my age find 13 year olds to be completely obnoxious and pretentious. Most people in general find 13 year olds to be completely obnoxious and pretentious. But I won't ever forget what I and my friends were like at 13, and that's why I identify. I don't even know if I'm explaining this correctly. It's just something I do, I guess. Call me crazy, I know a lot of people have. I tell people I want to teach Freshman English and they're like, "WHY?!?!?" I don't know. Something draws me to that age group. I know I'm not going to be changing my mind anytime soon. But you should all at least be happy that when your future 14 year old starts high school 10 years from now, he/she's in good hands (MINE, ya dummy! Hee hee) Also people ask me why the hell I would want to teach English of all things. I don't know. I think it all started in 8th grade when I had the first and only truly good English teacher I've had so far: Mr. Swaney. I know I've talked about him before, and the people who were in his class with me probably don't agree, but I totally understood his teaching method. He wasn't all about line-by-line analysis or character development. Sure, he knew all about that stuff and we did use it in class, but he didn't put so much weight into that stuff as he did the actual concept of the books we read. He sort of used the book as a tool to teach a life skill or an important lesson. Sure, no one else except for me seemed to be privy to that, but at least we all had a lot of fun and dare I say we had a little respect for him. I mean the guy got up in front of twenty-six 13 year olds every day and tried to teach them about imagery and metaphor. You had to love him. Anyway, his style of teaching English is what drew me to love the subject so much. Books take me away, what can I say, and literature is a reflection of humankind. To me, English is just a life skills course reinforced by literature. That's why I'm looking forward to teaching it. Also I'm a huge grammar freak and I had an uncanny and sort of obsessive understanding of grammar in the English language. Granted I don't always follow the rules, but ask me what an appositive phrase is and I can rattle off the definition plus draw you the diagram plus give you three examples. Not going to do it right now, though, I'm already boring you all enough. Yeah I just scrolled back up and saw how much space I had taken up rambling about this topic. Well in any case, that was a pretty good rant if I do say so myself. I'll be on my way now. Goodnight, D-land.
Falling Upward ~ Falling Downward
Miss Anything? i'm portable - 2005-02-16 busy making big mistakes - 2004-06-12 i'm sorry I know that's a strange way to tell you - 2004-03-21 hello darkness - 2004-03-17 another night slips away - 2004-03-15
All words � MM 2001-03 |
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