Baby picture

Yesterday I started my pre-WWII unit with a focus on the rise of Hitler and how he came to power and all that. To begin the lesson, I showed yong Adolf's baby picture to kind of throw off the kids as to what we were studying.

Right away, I got two very different sorts of reactions. All the guys said it was the ugliest baby they've ever seen and all the girls collectively said "awwww". After I told them it was Hitler, everyone switched to the more negative reaction except one girl - who still insisted it was a "wicked cute baby"

Little known fact

Did you know that people from the United States of America are called "United Statesians?" According to my student's essay on the Great Depression, the United Statesians had a great amount of faith in FDR.

Videos

This week, my class' video projects were due. Some highlights:

• a PSA by Brian Scalabrine
• a PSA by Billy Cundiff
• The Real Housewives of Hooverville
• FDR's Brain Trust made up of Steven Hawking, Dr. Sheldon Cooper, Dr. Leonard Hoffstatter, and Batman

Some lowpoints:

• "Thirty Thursday" comment
• End of Prohibition celebratory shots of Apple Juice

Otherwise, Valentine's Day in a coed highschool is craziness.

Apparently, February 14th is the day to ask people to go to Prom

• Flashmob in the third floor
• a ten foot span of lockers on the first floor spelled out "PROM?"
• at least a dozen bouquets of roses

MAIDS!

While talking about escapism in the 1930s, we started to talk about the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, so I asked the students what they knew about Snow White and the basic plot already? Then, I kept asking other questions:

Me: What do you know the Queen from the movie?
Student 1: She has maids!
Student 2: Wait! What? The Queen had AIDS?
Student 1: Who said she had AIDS? Did she really have AIDS?
Student 3: Hold up, is that why she was so angry?
Student 4: Was Disney trying to make some political statement?
Student 2: How did I not know about this before?

23

Somehow a clue about my age came out in class the other day. Right away one kid's hand shoots up, "Wait! You said you were 48 that totally goes against what you just said."

So I figured I should just tell them the truth, I've lied to my classes enough this year, "Yeah, I lied. I'm 23."

This caused the class to go into shock. Some kids looked absolutely confused, some were trying to figure out math in their heads, and others just starred at me asking if I was lying again.

Eventually, one kid raises his hand. "You should date Joe's sister. You two are the same age!" Right then, a different kid yells, "Everyone knows that Mr. [my last name] is taken!" I told the kid he needed to stop and to not go down that road about my personal life, and he just responds, "No. You're just so good looking, you obviously have a girlfriend. Duh."

Escapism

Today we began talking about escapism during the Great Depression - mentally removing yourself from reality into an imaginative state. We talked about a bunch of different forms of escapism but focused mostly on famous movies of the 1930s.

To help organize their thoughts on the movies, I made a handout/worksheet that had columns for setting, characters, plot, year released and so on. We talked about Gone with the Wind, It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Wizard of Oz, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Before we started talking about escapism, I passed out the worksheet with "Escapism of the Great Depression" written on the top.

Right away:
Student: You spelled escapade wrong.
Me: No, it says escapism.
S: I see that, but you spelled escapade wrong - it's supposed to say escapade.
M: Sorry, but no. It says escapism for a reason. It's supposed to.
S: Escapade and escapism are the same thing. You should have written escapade. Escapade is like escape - getting whisked away somewhere. So that's supposed to say escapade. You did it wrong.
M: The two aren't the same thing. We're going to be talking about escapism today and what that really means.
S: Escapism isn't a word - it sounds like something that you made up. It should say escapade.
M: Escapism is different from escapade, and it is a real word.
S: Oh, then what is escapism? Why was it part of the Great Depression?
M: That's what we're doing today.
-- then the class started.

it really happened

All week, we've been watching "Cinderella Man" in class - a movie about the Great Depression based on a true story.

In class today, one girl turned to me and asked, "is this a real story?" I told her it was and that the movie was based on a true story. Actually, one of the actresses in the movie is the granddaughter of the real Jim Braddock (the main character). She responds, "no but it is true?" I explained it was. "So that just makes it all so much sadder. It's true? That's so sad." I didn't know what to say to her comment, just as her classmate turned to her, "Gen, the Great Depression really happened." She thought for a second then said, "wait, really? Oh, right. Ok then - that's fine."

Glad to see it took a movie based on a true story for my students to realize the Great Depression really happened after we've spent a week learning about it in class before we started the movie.