...how we get through this last week in my classes

Either this week will rocket by or it will drag along like a reluctant toddler. I hope to keep order in my classroom-- we'll see how that goes. 

It's quite fortunate that I have British Lit this term; we get to read Dickens' Hard Times leading up to Christmas, and I am (of course) showing the Patrick Stewart version of A Christmas Carol. It's surprising just how many kids have never seen it, or if they have, it's been some weirdly warped version. My other class, College Comp, is going to watch two films this week, only because they have rocked through APA7 stuff a little early (yay), and we are transitioning to a short couple of weeks after break, in which we will be working on literary analysis of a short story. I want to focus on character development and tropes found in literature. So-- Dead Poets Society (I'm gonna bawl again), and then, a gem of a little movie titled The Man Who Invented Christmas. Dead Poets is a really good film for looking at character development and the use of stereotype in a narrative. The other one is a fun story, very loosely based on the events that lead Dickens to write A Christmas Carol. It does show a little of how a writer develops characters-- at least, one way they may. 

Okay, I really just want to get to Friday. These films, at the least, are pertinent to the classes I'm teaching. And, to be honest, both films lead the audience to think about social expectations, and they focus on what our role is when it comes to taking care of one another, both physically and emotionally. 

I am thinking a lot about what our role is going to be, moving into 2025 and the incoming draconic and dysfunctional administration. We'll have to keep our families close, and do what we can to help those who are not able to do things for themselves:

The Spirit: "They are Man's," said the Spirit, looking down upon them. "And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it!"

Have a good day, and stay warm.

C