my tues/thurs class bonds....finally
Jul. 15th, 2003 08:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coffeesnob318My Tuesday/Thursday class has been a real struggle for me. It's at 6:30 pm, when I've already been up since 5:30 am and had a full day, so I'm not motivated. And they've all had long days, so they're not motivated. So it really hasn't clicked.
Until tonight.
They did their first speeches. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, because classes generally do badly when they're random and get distracted as easily as this class does. Their first speech was an oral interpretation speech, where they had to choose a poem, part of a short story, a song, etc., that means something to them, share it with the class and explain its significance. They actually took the assignment seriously, and we got a lot of really good speeches out of it.
People shared poems written about family members or friends that had died, talked about past drug problems and how they overcame them, and all sorts of very personal information. One guy shared his faith, openly and honestly, without all the trite apology that usually accompanies such speeches.
One girl in particular wasn't going to do her speech because she didn't think she could get through it. She'd had a really rough day - had just broken up with her boyfriend of three years - and her speech was a poem that a guy's mother had given her when she found out that her son had raped her. She decided to do it, because the poem was "After a While" (I'll look for a copy and post it if I find it), which is about learning from bad experiences and becoming a strong woman in spite of them, and she thought that to not do her speech would be to cop out. Well, she broke down and couldn't make it through, but another student stood up and read it for her while she regained her composure so that she could finish her speech.
My heart! That was the sweetest thing I have seen in a long time. Kinda renews hope.
Until tonight.
They did their first speeches. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, because classes generally do badly when they're random and get distracted as easily as this class does. Their first speech was an oral interpretation speech, where they had to choose a poem, part of a short story, a song, etc., that means something to them, share it with the class and explain its significance. They actually took the assignment seriously, and we got a lot of really good speeches out of it.
People shared poems written about family members or friends that had died, talked about past drug problems and how they overcame them, and all sorts of very personal information. One guy shared his faith, openly and honestly, without all the trite apology that usually accompanies such speeches.
One girl in particular wasn't going to do her speech because she didn't think she could get through it. She'd had a really rough day - had just broken up with her boyfriend of three years - and her speech was a poem that a guy's mother had given her when she found out that her son had raped her. She decided to do it, because the poem was "After a While" (I'll look for a copy and post it if I find it), which is about learning from bad experiences and becoming a strong woman in spite of them, and she thought that to not do her speech would be to cop out. Well, she broke down and couldn't make it through, but another student stood up and read it for her while she regained her composure so that she could finish her speech.
My heart! That was the sweetest thing I have seen in a long time. Kinda renews hope.
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Date: 2003-07-15 08:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-16 02:10 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-07-16 05:48 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-07-16 05:50 am (UTC)How do you grade something like that?