December
17
ELA 20: Dec 17 Review / discussion qualities of Mr. Hundert…
- We had a very small class today, but finished watching the last five or so minutes of the film. Students were asked to write their immediate responses down on paper after having seen the whole film. The majority of comments were positive.
- We compiled a list of the qualities or characteristics Mr. Hundert (the teacher in the film) exhibited. The discussion was fairly good with consideration whether he deserved some qualities because of slight infractions, like giving away Martin Blythe’s spot in the competition.
We also talked about the background of the two boys, Martin and Sedgwick, and whether it seemed they were equally supported by parents. Sedgewick’s father gave little to his son in the way of encouragement, but instead gave only pressure. It seemed to make sense, then, that Mr. Hundert recognizes the potential Sedgewick shows and decides to give him the spot, believing that Martin would not be damaged by the loss of the position. We agreed with the decision, for the most part. - We discussed and wrote out the “perspective” of the Mr. Hundert, Sedgewick, and also the other boys. While Mr. Hundert may have believed he failed Sedgewick in the end, and Sedgewick as an adult unfortunately does not recognize or value Mr. Hundert’s influence, it is clear the other boys from the class held him in high esteem and his contribution was great. I shared with students my own experience with teachers making a contribution in my life and my aim (hope) to do the same for at least a few in my career.
- I read out to the students here an “introduction” that a student wrote for me during a farewell party the class had planned. It was nearly a year ago in Goodsoil where my homeroom class, the Grade tens, surprised me with one boy having even written out this introduction. I kept the paper it was written on, as tattered and crumpled as it was. It meant a lot to me. The students here now have the assignment of writing an Introduction for Mr. Hundert. They are to imagine he is coming to our school to speak to our class, his topic something along the lines of our unit on Perspectives or Anticipation, and they have to orally give a two minute minimum introduction to him. (The specifics are detailed in the PDF of the notes. I cannot get it to upload into this blog but will give a copy to students who were missing when they return.)
- Tomorrow, they will have a short figurative language quiz and some time to work on the introduction speech.