Poem #435 by that strange duck (really) Emily Dickinson is a pretty good intro for Bradbury’s “The Earth Men.” And the idea that the majority decides who’s normal and who’s not (and everything else) really gets some of the kids angry. Seventh graders are strange ducks as well. They like to think of themselves as unique (If I ask, “How many of you are weird?” every hand will go up), but their biggest fear is not fitting in. And they all like think of themselves as rugged individualists. “The majority doesn’t decide EVERYTHING!” “Like what do they not decide?” Lots of hemming and hawing. “Coolness? Weirdness? Lameness? What?” More hemming and hawing. “How about things like murder and child abuse and racism?” “Racism is an easy one. Even in the time Tom Sawyer is set, you would hear sermons in churches about how slavery was God’s will. But, hmmm. You might be right about the murder one; some things are probably built into us. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just that the majority of us think that now. Hmmm. But…well, let’s talk about Romeo and Juliet again (we talked about it before when we had soliloquy as a vocabulary word
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We’re picking and choosing our way through Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles. We just finished the story “The Earth Men.” Even when we read the whole thing like a novel (which we’re not doing this time: I think we’ll only read 4 or 5 this time – and this time we’re doing all the reading in class), I always start with this story. The kids always wonder why we start on p16, but EMen, as we call it, has much more of a hook than “Ylla,” the jealous husband story that begins the book (after the scientifically implausible 1-pager, “Rocket Summer”). And since most of the short stories weren’t originally intended to be connected in a novel, we have some wiggle room on the selection and the order. Now of course telepathy – the key element of the story – is just as scientifically implausible as a rocket changing the weather, but it’s a lot more fun to speculate upon. After Mrs. Ttt (which we shorten to Mrs. T – some of them even chuckle when we meet Mr.T – “I pity the fool”) says, “I not speaking, I’m thinking. Telepathy,” I stop and ask, “How many of you would
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First off: Ok, Ok. I’m starting to find my happy place with research. Thank you for the comments and suggestions; I think next year will be better. You guys gave me some good ideas. We’re working on outlines this week, prepping for research. Among other activities, I give them partially completed outlines and word banks to fill them in with. I strategically place a few clues in the outline, and they have to determine the hierarchy of the various entries I provide, and fill in the blanks. Like this (the stats are kinda dated, but it’s a topic near to my heart): Topic: The automobile has become the American Nightmare kills 265,000 and injures millions annually, road rage and reckless driving have increased, better city design to decrease auto dependence, leading source of air pollution, alternatives to the automobile, main means of transportation, too many people dependent on the car, large SUV’s: rollovers and danger to smaller cars, more cars and more roads mean more traffic congestion, average car: 5 tons of carbon dioxide each year, contributes to acid rain and smog, leading cause of death and injury, new dangers with 2 recent developments, public transportation I. Main means of [...]
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That reminds me of those great SNL skits about the Sofa King. You know, how the prices are "Sofa King" low, the deals are "Sofa King" great, etc. (You obviously have to say those phrases out loud to get the joke.)