Here are the latest teaching highlights from this week. The first is extremely embarrassing, and the second is just bewildering and a little awkwardness-inducing.
Scene #1 (red because I was soooo embarrassed):
So I've been pretty sick for about a week. On Tuesday I made it back to USD, and I was teaching when I felt the biggest accumulation of mucus in my nose coming on. What to do? I was in the middle of talking and had no kleenex handy. I kept talking. Then I bent over the overhead projector to point to a spot in the poem we were discussing. The accumulation descended further. In an attempt to be covert, I quickly brushed my hand against my nose (gross, I know, but I was desperate). Instead of whisking away the accumulation, it pulled it out of my nose. I can't even describe this scene any further because I just wanted to disappear into the floor and hide forever. Dangling snot. How sophisticated.
Scene #2 (green for the stem of a rose):
We were talking about symbolism today, so I said, "Let's take the most classic example of a symbol: a red rose. What does a red rose typically symbolize?" So I got the expected answers: love, passion, beauty, death. Then I said, "And what if you add thorns onto the stem of the red rose? How does that change the symbol?"
Student who raises his hand: "It would symbolize being horny?"
Sarah: "Thorny?"
Student: "No, horny."
Sarah: Silence. [mind is working furiously--how do I deal with this? ask him to explain this bewildering interpretation and risk further awkwardness, or just ignore him? is he trying to be a smart-ass, or does he actually believe this?] "Umm... thorny?"
Student: "No, horny."
Sarah: [how many times do we have to hear the word "horny"?] "Uh. Maybe. But I'm not sure how you made that connection in your brain? Don't answer. Moving on...."
Thursday, February 16, 2006
highlights of teaching
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7 comments:
ay yay yay. But at least all your clothes stayed on, right? Right? Right? There were no wardrobe malfunctions, right?
Did you really say "Don't answer."? You are a brave teacher.
I always wear a handkerchief.
I am now ALWAYS going to carry a kleenex in my pocket. ALWAYS.
Good deflection, though wouldn't it have been illuminating (or at least mildly entertaining) to hear how he made the connection? Although if he's an 18-year-old boy, you probably don't want to know. Good deflection.
I liked the "don't answer" part, I think you handled that well. Your mind must've been whirring. Horny? Oh dear. Dangling snot will probably keep the students from placing you on too high a pedestal - they (pedestals) can be pretty rough to fall off of, so maybe avoiding them altogether is a good idea.
Aimee
HAhahahaha, Oh sarah how I love you!
Here in Moldova, they just blow snot-rockets everywhere. It's such a common and disgusting sight. The kids probably wouldn't have thought twice if it happened here. So, don't feel too bad. In the last six months that I've been here, I've seen way more than a lifetime's worth of flying snot!:)
hey Sarah. You're on spring break. Should that not equal a post? We're shriveling from a lack of Sarah's-blogging induced hilarity here!
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