This year, I really tried to engage my student with the books, asking questions (especially with the Goosebumps series) about what she thought would happen next, sharing my own theories, etc. But she was reluctant to express an opinion on most topics, and I found myself wondering if I'd somehow left her with the impression that there was a "right" answer to any of my questions - I kept trying so hard to avoid that.
Honestly, I think what she liked best was when I told her about times I'd goofed up one way or another. For example, today, I told her about my ill-fated effort to save an elevator trip at work by taking the stairs from the 12th floor to the 10th floor. There's no real internal staircase except the fire stairs, so I saunter in, no problem. When I get to floor 10, it's locked. No way to get back in. I go down a level. Locked and alarmed. Down another level. Locked. Down another level. Unlocked, but alarmed. I keep going. Finally, I get down to the 4th floor. At last! A re-entry floor, and no sign of an alarm!! I gingerly try the door, and it opens... to the sound of WAUGH, WAUGH, WAUGH, WAUGH... Mortified, I head over to the security guard and explain what happened. I apologize profusely. ...WAUGH, WAUGH, WAUGH... I call the elevator (oh, bitter irony) to go back up to the 10th floor. ...WAUGH, WAUGH, WAUGH... The elevator is full of people who are wondering what's wrong, why is the alarm blaring. I tell them. I cringe. ...WAUGH, WAUGH, WAUGH... We can still hear the alarm up at the 7th floor, when most of my fellow elevator travelers exit. My "green" gesture has only extended my elevator ride - and left me green with embarrassment. My only consolation is that the alarm is not audible above the 7th floor....
Yeah, I think she actually liked that story better than any of the ones we've read together all year. Oh well.
2 comments:
Argh, that's frustrating on both counts. I was fortunately warned before trying to do that where I worked in Chicago (going from 52nd to 51st floor), or else I would have had to walk all the way down. I found that Lee went through a stage that she only wanted to hear made up or personal stories, so there's some precedent. You might try retelling a story in your own words (as opposed to rehashing embarrassing true tales) and see if that grabs more attention.
Wow - I'm glad you were spared a 52-floor descent! The scenery would not have been very good.
As for retelling stories, I've tried that once so far - with the opening scene of The Hobbit. Lee and Clara seemed to like it a lot - very gratifying!!
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