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This is a continuation of my journal from my 2001-2002 school year.  Please read the previous posts to give this entry context. 

Tuesday, April 16, 2002

About midnight the doorbell rang.  Probably the wind blew down an electricity line and the power surge set off the bell.

Since the clocks and alarms were off, it was good the bell woke us so we didn’t oversleep.  Instead, we didn’t sleep.  My husband tossed and turned and fretted the power would go off again, as it did.

In the morning, I went to warm up my trusty little Protégé.  One of my colleagues once remarked it was the kind of car he’d imagine Emily Dickinson owning—white, unpretentious, understated.  My parking brake wasn’t set well and we found my car in the street.  Fortunately, the garbage men had not yet come roaring around the corner.

When I arrived at school, I promptly stepped from my car into a wad of gum.

It was one of those days. 

Formers 

Last week I ran into one of my students from fifth period, a chronically tardy girl with a straight F record.  She lives across from the school in a run-down house that’s way too small for the mom, dad, older brother, little sister and the new baby and whoever else may live there.  The older son, the one who was knifed and almost killed, has a baby that’s probably there some of the time.

In spite of her F performance, this girl seemed to like me.  She’s one of the students who gave me a studio photo of herself.  One time when she arrived late to detention and missed me, she left me an orange new testament. 

“I want to come back to your class,” she told me when we met.  “My new teacher is mean.”

I’m sure her new teacher is not mean, but I’m touched the student wants to be with me.

Both of the girls who entered my second period with my student teacher also want to return to me.

“I learn more from you,” one of them said.  However, in talking to her, I think her real motive for seeking a schedule change is that she doesn’t want to take swimming again.  Her old P.E. class had already completed that unit.  I don’t blame her for wanting to change.  As a matter of fact, I admire her for having the gumption to see a counselor.  If things work out, she may enter sixth period.

As I talk to these students, I realize how my decision impacted their lives.  Even students who are still with me in different sections, like Pedro and Deborah, are outsiders in the class.  This was clear in the Socratic seminar.  Even though other students in the class know them and like them, even though they had ideas to share, the group didn’t recognize them.  It was almost as though they were invisible. 

Wednesday, April 17th

Yesterday my students took their final on Romeo and Juliet.  Besides thirty-five objective questions, they had a choice of essays questions for a simple, three-paragraph essay.  Most of them choose this essay question:

1. Discuss the role of revenge in Romeo & Juliet.  Your introduction must include a thesis, or main idea.  What does revenge accomplish in this play?  In the body, give at least two examples to support your thesis.  Who seeks revenge, why and how does his/her revenge prove your main idea?

My student teacher’s training program asks him to design curriculum with an “enduring understanding” guiding it.  The “enduring understanding” is a question.  Even though I’ve never consciously been introduced to this concept, it would seem that this question, “What does revenge accomplish?” is my “enduring understanding” for this unit.  What a great question for this year of turmoil. 

Gustavo’s Response 

In the story of Romeo and Juliet, there is revenge.  The revenge in this story is that the Montagues and the Capulets are enemies.  They have revenge by fighting one to another.

The revenge that is accomplish in this play is killing revenge.  For existence, Tybalt seeks revenge by fighting with the Montague, that is how they get into fights.  Tybalt kills Mercutio and then Romeo tries to take revenge by killing Tybalt.

In conclusion this story shows that revenge is not a good way to get someone else back. 

Evelia’s Response

Revenge is part of life.  No one in the world, has ever left someone alone for doing something to them.  They seek revenge.  At the end their left with nothing, it didn’t solve anything either.  In of Romeo & Juliet, Romeo seeked revenge and got nothing back, but the sence he was a murder.

For starters, Romeo had a best friend, Mercutio, who was killed by Tybalt.  Anger, hate and guilt arose in him.  All he had in his mind, as well as anybody losing someone special to an enemy would do, he took his sword & fought Tybalt.  Romeo had to make Tybalt pay.  An example, of revenge is part of life, was that Romeo never knew what got into him, it took him by surprise, which ended in tragedy.  Romeo had killed Tybalt.  He felt bad, he even said to himself he was an idiot.  This proves revenge doesn’t & in this case of Romeo didn’t prove or solved anything.  It only made him a murder & a low life person with no morals.

In conclusion, revenge doesn’t do anything.  It only satisfices a person.  But then that satisfaction turns into guilt.  Life is full of ups and downs.  Revenge being one.  No one lives & can’t live with out it.  It comes and goes without a person knowing it, until it’s too late. 

Pedro’s Response

In the book of Romeo and Juliet, a lot of violence and revenge happens.  In this book revenge accomplishes pain, and sadness.

In Romeo and Juliet revenge accomplishes pain.  For example when Tybalt and mercutio were sword fighting, Tybalt killed mercutio then Romeo got sad and angry and killed tybalt.  This tragedy also accomplished saddness.  For example when Romeo was banaished from Verona Lady Capulet died of sadness.  Also at the end when Romeo killed himself and Juliet too everybody was sad and that’s what revenge accomplished.

The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet accomplished pain and sadness.  That’s why I don’t really believe in revenge.

 

Can you tell that we’ve been studying transitions?  While this writing is poor, I feel some satisfaction.  Gustavo and Pedro are students who struggle to stay afloat.  Students are getting the idea of having a thesis, supporting it, using transitions, etc.  Plus, these small essays were written under time constraints.  Of course, that’s what they’ll have to do for the HSEE.  However, Dr. Kinsella assured the workshop participants that on such tests, the readers are not looking for depth of thought, so much as an easily navigable essay without too many grammar errors. 

As primitive as these samples may seem, they are making progress.