New Stuff Since Last Year
I have a few new things to lay on the kids this year when we read The Outsiders. I found a groovy audio file that demonstrates the use of the word dig as a slang term. It comes from an old vinyl record called How to Speak Hip, and although it came out in 1959 (about 8 years before The Outsiders is set), it is still a very groovy way to show the kids how versatile and expressive the word dig is to Pony and the rest.
The Meaning of the Word “Dig”
So now I’m going to combine this with the poem “Motto” by Langston Hughes (that I already use as one of the intro pieces for The Outsiders), and then I’ll be busting a new let’s-see-how-they-write-at-the-beginning-of-the-year assignment on them. Go here for that.
I also added a few new outside links to the Outsiders page. One is to the primetime TV lineup for 1967, another goes to the top music of the time, and another gives some good pop culture and technology references.
Random Featured Post
This afternoon, I asked my friend and colleague, in his experiences with junior high, how many times he could remember seeing two seventh grade boys hugging. Sincerely. “Like a man-hug, or a real one?” “What’s a man hug?” “You know, you start out with the soul shake, and then you pull in and sorta bump chests, and then the other hand sorta slaps the back.” “Not that kind.” “Ummm. None.” “I knew it. It was a first for me too!” Milk and Cheese, the “True That” boys, were at it again. They were moving their desks closer together (again), like they like to do, and jabbering nonsense. Nothing major, and technically it was before class, but I said, “Well the quarter does end Friday, and I change up the seating chart every quarter, so next week I get to move you guys far, far apart.” One of our recent vocabulary words was crestfallen. I should have taken a picture of them to use as an example. Milk holds out both arms pleadingly (and it if it wasn’t sincere, he should be an actor) and says, “But…But…But… What about The Team?” OMG. The class is dying. Half of them are happy [...]
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