{solsc} 4/31 #sol18 . Harry, Work Your Magic

"I need you to walk into the room, so it magically starts working."

Those were my words to "Harry, the Tech God" on Friday. Because isn't that what always happens when you give up and finally go to the tech guy? They walk in the room and it works.

I'd shown Romeo and Juliet for two days to the freshmen English classes I was subbing in. Everything worked perfectly. But, of course, Friday, the last day I'm in class, I can't get the stupid movie to show up on the Promethean board.

I tried EVERYTHING in my tech arsenal.

• I turned off the board.
• I took the DVD out of the player and put it back in again.
• I restarted the computer.
• I checked all the connections

Zip. Nada. Nothing.

There was only one thing left to do. Get Harry.

I begin class and Harry works his magic. Oh. It doesn't just magically work. He repeats everything I had already done. Nothing. 

And then he reaches behind the Promethean board and does something. I'm not sure what, but we have LIGHTS. CAMERA. ACTION.

28/31 You Only Understand if You Teach Freshmen

We have been reading Romeo and Juliet in English 9.  It can be a tough sell.  The girls think they will like it because it's a love story. The boys think they will hate it because it's a love story.  As John Green says in his Crash Course, "....one off screen sex scene and seven on screen fatalities." Watch the first twenty seconds for this quote. But the rest is quite awesome....

I've talked about the Baz Luhrman version, but we haven't watched any of it. The kids don't really want to. I try not to be biased and there are a lot of things I really like about that version. My kids just can't imagine Romeo and Juliet  with guns and cars. They do like the Zeferelli version.

So here's how it goes. We read out loud. They take turns, reading whatever part they want.I have one boy who loves the Nurse. He's a funny kid, and he does a great job.  Sometimes we get up and act it out. They all love to sword fight! We talk about what happening, examine character motivation, plot devices, figurative language, etc.

And then we watch the movie portion of whatever act we are reading.

This week was Act 3.

It starts with a fight scene. But after that, is the "honeymoon scene".

And that's the part of the movie that always gets the biggest reaction--sometimes from me.  I love to sit back and watch how they deal with it, even when they know it's coming.

Today's groups were no different. They giggled. They closed their eyes. They commented about what was going on onscreen. And they giggled some more.

One girl took a picture on her phone of what was onscreen.

Silly.

And you only understand this if you teach Freshman English....