Thanks for the suggestion about using humor. My 8th graders haven't
developed a sense of humor. Their "humor" relies on mostly odd things.
There is no understanding of wordplay, inference, etc. If it isn't along
the lines of NAPOLEON DYNAMITE or something hurtful, it isn't "funny". A
few loved BORAT, but it was mostly because of the parts where the humor was
spiteful and mean. A few might read CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS, but they don't see
the humor. I played the Three Stooges, and they just watch. No response.
I know they aren't for everyone, but usually I get a lot of laughs. Some
just put their heads on the desk and refuse to watch a black and white
film....
they will laugh at someone getting hurt, though....
We've read stories like "The Ransom of Red Chief" and I thought they might
make connections to movies like BABY'S DAY OUT or HOME ALONE, but they
thought the story was "stupid" and couldn't understand why the men in the
story acted so dumb. "Why would they pay the father to take Red Chief back
if they kidnapped him to make money? Makes more sense to keep him until the
father pays..."
Read a fascinating article on Extreme Sports, but most turned their noses up
when we discussed it. "It was boring." I tried to point out that these
were dangerous, EXTREME, sports, but they had no reaction. It was a reading
assignment, and they only wanted to answer the questions and be done...class
or group discussions don't happen, they just sit. I've tried think alouds,
and they instead of gleaming any techniques or ideas, they question my
thoughts. "Why would you think that?"
I've tried to get them to understand that their reading and writing reflects
their personalities, but the reading is mostly on an easy level and
non-challenging. A student will read a book and tell me how good it is, I
suggest another book by the author, and they will put the book on the shelf.
"Why didn't you read it? I thought you liked the author?" and they will
tell me, "It looked too big. Too much work."
Their writing is formulaic and stuck in 3rd and 4th grade cliches ("I'm
going to tell you about..." "First..., second,...." "In conclusion,...."
"Now that you've read my essay, what do you think?" I've tried topics where
I thought they would have an opinion, but nothing....I've even tried
introducing new ideas that might make them sit up and think, but the best I
can get from them is "How do they know that's true?" When I tell them
because they have proof, people have seen it, there are records from
history, etc., their only comment is "That doesn't mean it's true. They
could be lying."
Very egocentric view of life and the world....
Bill
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Mosaic" <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, December 25, 2006 12:33 AM
Subject: [MOSAIC] To Bill
> Bill,
> The following is a response that came up on the Real Writing Teachers'
discussion, and I thought it might give you something to think about. Tena
gave me permission to forward it here.
>
> Lisanne,
> A couple of years ago I put together a sort of unit I
> titled "Humor in Writing." I had a young man who was
> so good at humor writing that every piece of work he
> did became humorous. To help balance that out and to
> still allow for learning in various other writing
> genres, I simply told him once he had shown
> understanding of a particular writing genre ( say a
> well written research paper) he could then create an
> additional piece in his favorite format...Humor. I
> laughed my way through his wonderful three years with
> our multi-age class. To honor him and because I saw
> little out there I began unearthing humor for our
> class. ( Lots of Dave Barry, Ted Nancy or (Jerry
> Seinfeld's) "Letters from a Nut" come to mind. We
> researched various formats and played around with
> limericks, parodies, comedies and the like. It was a
> great lot of fun and all genders were equally
> enthusiastic. Perhaps this could work for you?
>
> Tena
>
>
> .
>
>
>
> Joy/NC/4
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> How children learn is as important as what they learn: process and
content go hand in hand. http://www.responsiveclassroom.org
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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