Students will be able to analyze persuasive arguments in “Miracle on 34th Street.”
First thing this morning I found a student in my room, asking that I tutor her in “communication skills”. This is all well and good, but we are currently studying how to write persuasive essays and, well…people get degrees in communications; I can’t teach it in 22 minutes before first bell. It was an odd request for first thing on a Monday morning. Turns out she wants to prepare for the ASVAB to try to enlist in the marines post-graduation (2 years from now – she’s a sophomore), and “communication skills” must have been something she read in the stuff the recruiter gave her. Since it took the better part of ten minutes to get to this point, yes, she does need work in communication skills…I assured her that the ASVAB really doesn’t cover much material beyond middle school math and science, and she told me she “stopped paying attention in 4th grade.” We’ll see how this goes.
Continuing in the Christmas spirit, we watched the court scene from “Miracle on 34th Street” today and analyzed the persuasive techniques used by the prosecution attempting to declare Kris Kringle insane, and by defense attorney Bryan Bedford who works to prove that Santa Claus is real. Sadly, only 2 or 3 kids in every class had ever seen Miracle – old or new version.
On my way back from lunch, the teacher who runs our in-school suspension stopped me to tell me how one of her hard-to-reach students loves my class. I’m not sure WHY he loves my class – he’s quiet as a mouse, and I’m sorry to say I’ve had very few conversations with him of meaning – but I guess that’s the point: we often have no idea who we reach. I was glad to hear that; I think I can make it until Christmas break 🙂
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