The King

I read Stephen King's 11/22/63. The first half was a page turner and the second half dragged along with cyclical raising action.

Jake, the main character, was a teacher and a sub. So I could relate, and enjoyed his perspective. There were two things that ignited a strong response from me. The first, in the beginning of the story, Jake described one of the only times he cried in his life. It was from a student's tragic story about his family. The writing was grammatically terrible, but because the story sparked such an emotional response and the writer wrote it from the heart, that made it great writing. (Maybe I will find the story and include it here. Stand by.)

The second response was Jake describing a day subbing. He talked about the book The Catcher in the Rye, a banned book at the time, and afterwards one of the students told him, "I wish you could teach us everyday." (That quote may be incorrect. Stand by on that too.) The student appreciated Jake because he was real and honest with them.

I read King's On Writing. It was okay, but I gained a couple valuable insights. Good writing is honest. I want to take this message a step further, good teaching is honest. That doesn't mean do not tell lies although that is a good idea too. It means teach/write what you know and who you are; and encourage students to do the same.

Even in grad school, my future teaching peers tell the professors what they think the professor wants to hear. It is so annoying. Every class I feel like Holden Caulfield. What type of teachers are my peers going to make? Yes there may be a time and place where you have to be phony, but hopefully not in my classroom. If you tell a teacher what they want to hear by expressing your real thoughts that is outstanding. But when you regurgitate crap from a text to show your teacher you did the reading, it is so phony! and boring. I hope my classroom is a warm, open, environment for students to ask real questions and throw out wild ideas. Don't tell me what I want to hear. Tell me what you think and feel.

Peace, love, and do good things

Mr. Teacher Dude