This is my fourth year as a teacher. If I remember correctly, a staggering number of new teachers quit after three years. Do you know what that means? I have beaten the odds. I am a survivor!
I said before that I had no idea how the students would react when they found out what the class was about. I have two Creative Reading classes, and they reacted differently. When I explained to the first one that I had been asked to come up with a new elective, and I had suggested a class about comics, there were sudden gasps of delight and cheers. There was also disbelief, and at least a couple of sad faces, but mostly delight. After that word got out, so the other Creative Reading class was not so surprised. They didn't seem too excited or upset about it. That class was at the end of the day, though, and we were all tired by then.
As I mentioned before, I had students write down thoughts. The specific prompt was:
What do you think of when you hear the word "comics"? What are your thoughts and feelings about comics? Answer in complete sentences. Write at least 100 words.
That second paragraph up there is over 100 words. In the grand scheme of things, 100 words is not much at all, unless you are a high school student, in which case it is apparently a treacherous ordeal. They all suffered through it, though, counting the words as they went. The responses covered the whole range, from "Comics are amazing!" to "Comics are lame kid stuff," from Garfield to Watchmen. Only a few people expressed outright contempt for comics. Hopefully they'll change their minds before the semester is over.
some people just don't like anything, i swear. some of the best classes i had in high school were the ones that took the curriculum out of normality and bent it into a different shape. my personal favorites were Writing/Responding and British Literature. i would've killed to have a comic book class in High School. Read comics for a grade?...WIN!
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