A Shrewdness of Apes

An Okie teacher banished to the Midwest. "Education is not the filling a bucket but the lighting of a fire."-- William Butler Yeats

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Each moment an adventure...

You've heard the old saw about if a monkey sat down at a keyboard and typed for a million years, it would reproduce the works of Shakespeare?

I have a student whose brain works the same way.

You just never know what's going to come out of his mouth. I could say the strangest of words, like, say, I don't know, "effervescent," and out will come some strange mishmash of ideas and imagery-- kind of like a John Dos Passos novel, but drawn completely from pop culture and in particular Nick at Nite.

Frustrating? Fascinating? Entertaining? Endearing?

Depends on how well rested I am on any particular day.

Today? I was tired.

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5 Comments:

At 2/20/08, 9:16 PM, Blogger Smithie said...

Nick at night huh. Didn't I just click a "Horshack" Reference in order to make this comment?

 
At 2/21/08, 12:54 PM, Blogger "Ms. Cornelius" said...

Why yes you did! But I actually saw the show when it was new.....

That makes it part of my childhood, not a pose!

 
At 2/21/08, 1:13 PM, Blogger Smithie said...

Right, Right me too, believe it or not. I'm not questioning your "O.G.-ness" just being...well one of my students I guess.

 
At 2/21/08, 10:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

And how old is this kid?!

 
At 2/22/08, 11:00 AM, Blogger "Ms. Cornelius" said...

15, I guess. I just wonder at the task of following his train of thought.

Perhaps the best metaphor for his train would be the train in The Polar Express when it hits the ice and isn't on the tracks anymore. THAT kind of train-- all over the place and out of control.

It's exhausting to even try to figure where he's going next. And he really can't seem to help himself.

 

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