This is topic Boring Children Into Submission and Sedation in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


To visit this topic, use this URL:
http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/main/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=020292

---

Posted by Krankykat (Member # 2410) on :
 
Just passing through and thought I would say Merry Christmas and hello to all of my old Hatrack friends.

I am sitting at my desk killing time surfing the net and waiting for the end of the school day. All of my grades have been submitted, but there are two more days of school until the Christmas break.

I have discovered how to keep kids very quiet during an hour and a half blocked period of 8th grade ELA. After reading The Christmas Carol in class, rent the 1930s movie “classic” starring Alastair Sim. Tell the students that the movie is a “reward” but if they talk they are going to be tested on the video. Considering the movie is in b&w and the actors have heavy British accents, most of the students loose interest in the first five minutes, put their heads on their desks and saw Zs. The “reward” for the teacher is peace and quiet for the whole day.

I will see you all sometime in the Christmas Future & concluding with Tiny Tim's words:

"God bless us, everyone."
Krank
 

---

Posted by David Bowles (Member # 1021) on :
 
Ah, the joys of being part of a normal public school.

IDEA Academy allows no such useless down time, Andrew, so I'm stuck entertaining the kiddoes with my wit and wisdom.
 

---

Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
 
And thoroughly entertained they must be, David.

God bless, Krank.
 

---

Posted by Tresopax (Member # 1063) on :
 
The best was back in Intro to Business in 9th grade when our teacher told us we would watch a Christmas movie the last two days before break, and ended up bringing in Hoosiers for us to watch. This was particularly amusing considering he'd already spent two periods showing Hoosiers once earlier in the year. The man must've liked Hoosiers.
 

---

Posted by Krankykat (Member # 2410) on :
 
Hello David,
Someone actually read my post. I keep the kiddos busy all of the time. This is the first movie I have shown all year.

I hope all is going well with you. School is so much better here. The kids are great, but most of them lack drive. The kids think I am mean. I am a lot easier on these kids than I used to be in Donna. I think our old team could really make the kids cry here.

Andrew
 

---

Posted by Krankykat (Member # 2410) on :
 
Hello Tres and Belle
 

---

Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
 
Goodness, I wish my teachers would "bore" me like you, KrankyKat.

*sigh*
 

---

Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
 
Hey Krankykat! Welcome back!

The closest public school experience I have to what you're talking about was when my 7th grade Spanish Teacher showed us West Side Story as a reward. She made the mistake of not going the "talk and I'll quiz you" route, and instead, mistakenly assuming that the class would really be into the movie, said that each time someone spoke she'd turn down the volume. Soon the volume was completely off, and the class was chatting happily. This annoyed me, because I was one of the few who actually had wanted to watch the movie.
 

---

Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
 
That movie's a total and complete classic. Those children should be tarred and feathered for falling asleep.

In other news, good to see you!
 

---

Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
 
*waves at KrankyKat*

Great to see you!

Ryuko: We rented "West Side Story" right after my daughter had studied "Romeo and Juliet" in school, and she spent the whole movie making analogies between the movie scenes/characters and the play scenes and characters.
 

---

Posted by Black Mage (Member # 5800) on :
 
Hah. When I was a freshman, high school, my composition teacher was laways getting movies, like the Odyssey, etc. We were the "gifted" class(IB, ya'll), and we were all movie talkers. But a lot of good ones. Was like mystery science theater.
 

---

Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
 
Oops. Sorry, Ela, I mean the Alastair Sim Christmas Carol...

I didn't really love West Side Story... It could be because I hated Romeo and Juliet so much.
 

---

Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
 
I like West Side Story mainly because the dancing was so good. I love dancing.
 

---

Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
 
Two random anecdotes:

#1: My friend Abby and I were discussing the origin of a theme from Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet". She said it was definitely from the scene where the Sharks throw garbage at the Jets and I maintained it was from the scene with Leo and his buddies at the gas station.

#2: We had a subsitute teacher in high school named Mr. Thacker. Mr. Thacker was about 120 years old and rode around town on a motorscooter and fell asleep during every class he substitute taught. We were in shop one day and the teacher had left us with a "shop safety" video to watch. Mr. Thacker put the movie in and then promptly fell asleep at the desk. We fast forwarded through the video to the credits. He awoke when we all started talking loudly, but, seeing that the video was over, told us we could do whatever we wanted for the rest of the period.

[ December 18, 2003, 09:22 PM: Message edited by: Annie ]
 

---

Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
 
I'm always aghast at the showing of movies in English classes. You don't look at paintings of famous movies in film class.
 

---

Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
 
The best thing we ever got was "film strips." Anyone else remember these? You had to manually synchronize the filmstrip with the record that came with it. The record would beep to tell you to crank to the next slide.

We used to pray to God to make the record skip.

[ December 19, 2003, 12:06 AM: Message edited by: Bob_Scopatz ]
 

---

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
Does it count if I remember them with cassettes rather than records? I do remember the infernal BEEP.
 

---

Posted by Tresopax (Member # 1063) on :
 

quote:

---

I'm always aghast at the showing of movies in English classes. You don't look at paintings of famous movies in film class.

---