Current/Recent Reading List

20 August 2007

Yes, I Survived...

...Day 1.

Yes, I did feel tiny and insignificant when I saw that my old faculty would have fit on 1 1/2 of the 12 full tables my new faculty needed for a mass assembly.

No, I wasn't feeling too sure of myself for most of the day.

Yes, I'm still in shock over the volumes of information fed to me as we were processed through seven separate break-out sessions to hear various asst. principals on various portions of The Complete Novels of Victor Hugo the faculty handbook.

No, I don't like the morning parking lot duty I've been given.

Yes, the day ended on a high note after I got to talk shop with some fellow English teachers, and they were friendly with me.

Yes, I love the World Lit. textbook we have - even though Shakespeare is usually bypassed in 10th grade books, this one includes The Tempest!

No, I don't have much time to fix my room, plan, etc., b/c of highly structured workday schedules (re: meetings, meetings, meetings).

Yes, I guess I'll show back up tomorrow.

4 comments:

Fred said...

Who publishes the textbook?

School Master P said...

Fred,

This is the Holt Rinehardt "Elements of Literature" book, and this version is probably from about five years ago or so. Last year at my old school we adopted the latest version of the same book, but it no longer had Shakespeare or Metamorphosis.

Both versions have some selections from Inferno, though they don't have as many of the graphic cantos as I would prefer.

Here's the thing: the department already has a semester syllabus in place, and it is full of nice stuff. There is some overlap with what I would teach, but not all. But everyone tells me I can teach anything I want with no pressure, and I believe them. Still, how bold should I be first time out? No one wants to be the new guy that they whisper about ("He wants to do Shakespeare with non-Honors kids!"), but maybe they wouldn't see it that way.

Fred said...

It's nice to have a textbook and syllabus in place. It gives you the option of gradually varying something here or there. It's good that your edition has Metamorphosis, especially considering that you're doing the Inferno.

By the way, I'll be volunteer co-teaching 7th grade confirmation (it goes 7th-8th) here. I want to bring in some classical music and paintings and do some choral reading of some psalms...

Fred said...

If your textbook has The Tempest already, I say go for it! But keep it simple. The Tempest is perfect for high school, honors or not.

What I don't like is seeing college level world lit texts including the Tempest as a specimen of the construction of ethnicity. Yawn.