HS English renews faith in youth
With all the [well-deserved] pissing and moaning that goes on here, I felt compelled to share a positive and uplifting story that renews my faith in some of the youth.
We just finished our reading of *A Tale of Two Cities* in my class, and I always conclude a novel study with a Socratic seminar. For starters, it was the most thorough, in-depth, and robust discussion we’ve had all year.
Moreover, the following developments elevated the whole experience:
—a group of girls who stayed in my class for 20 minutes after the bell to continue discussing the finer points of the novel and ask who I agreed with most
—a girl who was sobbed so hard as she read the final chapter in the car her mother, so concerned for her well-being, committed a traffic infraction in her distraction, resulting in a ticket (sorry Mom)
—a girl who was so incensed Dickens never wrote a sequel that she asked me for something else to read that would engender the same emotional stirrup as the the novel (I recommended *A Far Better Rest* and *A Farewell to Arms*)
—A boy who apologized for his year-long lackluster performance and promised he was going to do better for his English teacher next year because Sydney Carton’s transformation inspired him to better himself (whether or not this promise manifests remains to be seen; but, the sentiment is nice given that he gained absolutely nothing from making this declaration)
I have never had this positive of a student reaction to a novel that I teach under the supposition that students will hate slogging through it due to its length and difficult prose, and it all happened organically, without any probing on my part besides the initial discussion prompt.
Tldr: there is hope for these kids. They can be taught to appreciate things that don’t seem relevant to them at first glance. They can make meaningful connections to things that exist beyond the realm of Tik-tok.
This is probably the peak of my career as a teacher. I should probably start looking for other jobs because, like Miss Pross’s hearing after defeating Madame Defarge, such joy will never again be audible.