Good Moments

Things that are pretty dang cool:

• You ask a class full of male IT and engineering students what they thought about the end of Great Gatsby. There is a moment of silence before the entire class erupts into outrage, underlined by one student saying that he threw the book across the room the night before.
• Juniors arguing over whether Gatsby’s swimming pool should have been ringed with daisies instead of roses, or whether that would have just been overkill.
• As you read “When I Have Fears” (John Keats) to a class of seniors, you look up and see a young woman listening with tears standing in her eyes.
• In between scribbling down notes about William Blake, a student looks up at you and says, “I have a feeling that I’m going to be obsessed with this guy.”
• Being asked if the green light installed in the corner of the classroom is for Green Lantern.
• After discussing Daisy’s culpability in the car accident, and why Gatsby would have let her drive, a student remarks that Gatsby shouldn’t have let a woman drive… at which point the one girl in the class, who sits next to said boy, hauls back and slugs him.