Posts Tagged ‘ The Outsiders ’

OMG! Haircut!

January 5, 2009
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I’m going to dispense with the “oh noes, vacation is over, and I didn’t do anything except sleep in, install a toilet, and play Wii” in one sentence and be done with it. There. Also, before I get back to 120 Seconds tomorrow, I have another first to share. (That’s another beautiful thing about this job; even after almost 20 years, I still get surprised.) I have this thing about haircuts. I don’t like them, never have. I didn’t like getting clipped by my dad, I didn’t like going to the barber shop, I don’t like going to the salon. I always had to stuff my hair up into my headgear for wrestling, back in the day. I was a long hair (rock and roll stylie – middle of the back) for many years in the 80′s. I even did my first student teaching with hair like that. (Parent conferences were a beauty; parents with whom I had had fine phone conversations reacted quite differently sometimes when meeting me in person. I like to tell those stories during The Outsiders.) My wife has cut me now and then, but after a slip of the clip once, she has begged off.

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Oh, of course!

October 27, 2008
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As we have seen, the seventh grade mind works in mysterious ways. Last week left us pondering seventh grade translations for the euphemism, “vertically challenged.” In addition to the correct response, short, and many silly ones (retarded? stupid?), we also received three sincere, mystery responses: hard, clumsy, and gay. Here are the kids’ explanations: Hard – “Well, if something is vertical, it’s high, so it’s hard to get over. So it’s hard. So, see…” Hmmm. Why do all explanations like this begin with the word well, and have lots of so’s in them? Clumsy – “Well, you know, if you have a hard time staying vertical, you’re clumsy right? Always falling down? Not vertical any more.” This one isn’t bad. I think I gave it to her. Gay – “Well, if you’re not straight…you’re gay, right?” Who am I to argue with logic like that? I asked the girl in the afternoon who had also said gay. She said that was what she was thinking too. Of course. More follow up and suchlike. And some actual talk about the namesake of this blog. We finished The Outsiders. We read chapter 12 together, and there are almost as many tears during

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“Who is this Jhonny?”

October 16, 2008
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Most of them have gotten past chapter 10, and the answers to my question, “Why is Dally’s death somehow sadder than Johnny’s?” are starting to trickle in. I’ll share some of those soon, when we talk about chapter 12, but I want to talk about this guy Jhonny. (me, reading the first responses to the question, while they read silently) “‘Cal,’ how do you spell Johnny?” “J-o-h-n-n-y.” Sort of puzzled. “So, who’s this Jhonny guy?” I pronounce it like I’m clearing my throat, “Jah-Honny.” Everybody laughs. Of course, as you know, 7th graders are like parrots; they have to repeat everything they hear that catches their attention. So now I have half the class sounding like they have a 2 pack-a-day habit. “I figure I have at least 6 or 8 of you, in this class, who did the same thing. Who is this Jhonny guy? Some of you went even back and forth between Johnny and Jah-Honny.” Every year is the same. Jhonny. “Where does this come from? Who knows someone who spells his name that way? Where, in English, do we ever see the jh combo!?” Of course, some try to claim that, “I knew a guy in

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I hate “make-up” work requests. Also, silence.

October 14, 2008
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I was going to talk about the absolute silence that reigned when I turned them loose to read silently today. OK I will anyway, then I’ll rant about make-up work requests. I told them today I was going to read aloud up to the bottom of page 146, and then they were going to read silently until the end of chapter 11. I told them I wanted to watch them read (you’d be surprised at what you see – or maybe you wouldn’t), and see how well they could do on a quiz on their own. (Most of the Outsiders quizzes have been open-mouth stylie.) “But we don’t read as good as you! Or as fast!” “Well, not good. Adverb, remember? You’ll be fine. You don’t all have to be finished at the same time. You’ll get time each day this week.” I gave them a 20 question quiz to finish along the way. (Question 20: Why is Dally’s death somehow sadder than Johnny’s? Be sure to use an example from the book.) I read up to Dally saying, “Sucker,” to the cop. I left them laughing, and told them they were on their own. Instant, absolute silence. I was

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Chapter Nine – Part I (Also, sarcastic comedy.)

October 13, 2008
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Admittedly, chapter 9 has some filler. I still don’t get Pony’s little poll about why each of them fights. I finally eliminated questions about that from my quizzes. Unlike almost everything else in the novel, this feels tacked on, maybe just to build tension for the rumble. There are a few laughs. Soda trying to cheat at poker (I always have to stop a beat, and let them catch it), Steve catching him, and of course, the horseplay and Two-Bit’s Soc imitation. “Get thee hence…” They are quick to see that they are trying to get themselves fired up for the rumble. I point out that they do it by using the insults others hurl at them. Soda sticking his tongue out at Darry is a fine image. And Dally’s line when he shows up is a classic. Tomorrow, we’ll read aloud up to where Dally jukes the cop on the way to the hospital. I let (make) them read from there to the end of chapter 10 on their own. Part of it is like they figure, part of it is that they need to experience this for themselves. This is what makes them have a connection to a

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Random Featured Post

A First!

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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Mr. Coward has been teaching on the beautiful central coast of California since 1989.

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