First Day of my First Unit

Tomorrow will be my first day of teaching two reluctant and sleepy classes of seniors. One period in particular is hesitant to have me take over. They are afraid I will give them a lot of work. I think it is a fair fear. Afterall, I do want them to think and learn.

To say I have been obsessing over how I will set the tone for the class is an understatement. Teachers often advise me not to worry about whether they like me or not and to start things off firm. I think that is sound advice, but I am less worried about how they feel about me and more concerned about the classroom environment. I want to make their English class more than a place for worksheets, as well as uninspired and forced conversations. They are at such an exciting age--they are shedding, questioning, and gaining ideas and identities. I want to find a way to foster that and celebrate it. I want to feed their curiosity and make them the focus of the class.

Reading The Stranger is providing me with a great opportunity to do something fun and different. I have spent hours creating this unit. Students will look at existentialism and question how that fits into their belief systems. They will reevaluate the judicial system in terms of society's treatment of Meursault. They will listen to The Cure's "Killing an Arab" and question why popular music would be inspired by the novel. They will read a political commentary on President Bush reading the novel, and determine the use of a novel as a weapon or measure of intellectual status. I even have a clip of Talladega Nights that incorporates the novel.

So as I prepare for tomorrow's lesson, I have feelings of anxiety and anticipation. I am ready to get going and excited to share all of these cool resources I have slaved over. Now I just need to put things into practice. As I said, there is some resistance. After tomorrow's discussion and questionnaire, I will be able to better establish what I need to do to create this dream classroom environment. This is a class that will force me to go back to the drawing board and Fallbrook Library time and time again, and I am okay with that. Every time I scratch something out and find something new, my lessons are getting better and I am learning more about my teaching style.

This unit already looks great on paper, but I have yet to breathe some life into it. I will update as to how it shifts, stutters, and swaggers in motion. More to come.