A Tale of Two Cities can bite my ass
So now that I have reviewed the novel on my own and actually understand it as an adult, it makes it that much worse to remember what it was like as a teenager. My students are so completely befuddled by the novel that I spent six hours today (3 separate periods) reading three chapters out loud. I would interrupt myself every few paragraphs to review the events for them. After an entire class period (and three chapters) I asked if anybody was still lost. Two students raised their hands. Dammit! I thought you were supposed to be gifted! After I walk you through the damn novel step by step, how can you still be confused? In my first period, when I asked if anyone was still confused and then I asked why, I had a student tell me, "We're good at math, not English." I have been getting that fuckin excuse since school started. That is the one downfall to working for a science and engineering magnet. The students think since they are good at science and math, then that means they don't need English. So, I lost my temper and said, "Fine, then you can be ignorant math students." Do they not understand that even if you are good at math or science, that you need to be able to express yourself intelligently? Do they always want to take everything literally? Aaagh.