A Tale of Two Cities- check!

Yet another unit finished up! My time at the high school is just flying by! Last week my Honors 10 students finished up reading A Tale of Two Cities. I can honestly say that most, if not all, of them actually read it, and those that did at least respect it even if it's not necessarily their favorite book. We read the last two chapters out loud together in class, and it was fabulously fun to watch their reactions! The AHA and OHHH moments were aplenty.

On the last day (reading chapter fifteen of book three), we had a large number of students gone for Solo and Ensemble Contest. After school one of these students happened to stop in on an unrelated errand, and I asked him to put the word out to all his band friends to come see me before school the next day to debrief (for those of you who don't know, the last chapter is absolutely AMAZING, and chalk full of symbolism and themes). Lo and behold, the following morning at 7:15am I had a whole hoard of students at my desk with the books ready to chat!! I love having students who are so studious and committed to their education, and it was fun to watch their reactions in a smaller setting! Another boy that I have in Spanish was also gone and asked to come at the end of my lunch period to get caught up- again, how inspiring that so many students really want to learn and do well! :)

If you're an English nerd (as I suspect you must be to read through all of my blog posts), take a minute to look up and re-read the last couple pages of A Tale of Two Cities. Disclaimer: ONLY DO SO IF YOU'VE READ THE WHOLE BOOK! I don't want to spoil it for anyone! Next, watch this youtube clip. Now, have a meltdown because of the amazing-ness!!!!!! :) After their test was finished, I popped The Dark Knight Rises in and watched them have yet another WOW moment! Being able to make something so old and "classic" accessible and relevant to their lives is a wonderful moment to witness :)