Archive for the ‘storytelling’ Category

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The classics

March 31, 2010

I’m about to order ten sets of books for my class. I can’t believe the list I get to choose from, it’s like I’m ordering for middle school in the 1920s. Count of Monte Cristo, oh my. I call one of my students over who I trust to help me.

“Anita, what do you think of Oliver Twist? It has pickpockets. Or Robin Hood? He stole from the rich and gave to the poor.” I read down the list on the web site. There’s Mark Twain, lots of truancy, or my favorite, Treasure Island, the glorification of all things pirate. “How about this one, Anita? The Scarlet Letter. You think my crew would like a book about adultery?”

“Maybe, Ms. P.”

I’d love my students to read these books and clearly the themes would resonate for them, but they wouldn’t get past the first page  —  the antiquated language, the formal English. When some of my students are reading books like Thugs and the Women Who Love Them and Chicken Soup for the Prisoner’s Soul, dare I order Silas Marner?

Posted in adult education, parolees, storytelling, teacher | Leave a Comment »

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Duck and cover

March 25, 2010

I like to read to my students. Because most of them come and go, I try to choose books with short, self-contained chapters, vignettes that can be repeated — books like The House on Mango Street or Who Moved My Cheese? Storytelling is contagious. Suddenly someone else’s story becomes my own and I start adding to the narrative. Like today when I told my students I used to teach in the boys’ camps outside Juvenile Hall. On my first day, in Biology class, a boy threw a chair at me right over my desk. I ducked and calmly proceeded to introduce myself. Of course, I got a little respect after that, because I didn’t leave like the other summer subs.

Posted in education, Juvenile Hall, storytelling, teacher, The House on Mango Street, Who Moved My Cheese? | Leave a Comment »