Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Fahrenheit 451

I'm so glad that it's time to teach one of my favorite books.

When a student said, "that's the most horrible thing I've ever seen." My response was: "Not as bad as your classmates who won't even read a word of the book."

10 comments:

Jamie Eyberg said...

Man, I felt bad about getting rid of a couple of paperbacks that were missing half the pages. I loved the class reaction.

Cate Gardner said...

Cool video - where's the top of your head? Did you have bed hair? :)

Barry Napier said...

I wish I had a cool lit teacher like that...

Aaron Polson said...

Jamie - Yeah, that got their attention.

Cate - I tried to focus on the book (I don't have enough hair for "bed hair").

Barry - me too.

Fox Lee said...

Reminds me of my college poetry teacher : )

Robert said...

I love the "shock value" of that lesson, though I can't imagine actually tearing a book to shreds like that. Must have been hard. But I guess you might as well keep doing it while you can, because when everyone has Kindles ... well, the demonstration won't be as effective, or as cheap :-)

Aaron Polson said...

Robert - to tell the truth, those were old books that the district was throwing away. We toss books all the time. It was a hard thing for me to get over at first.

Robert said...

Ah yes, that takes me back to my student teaching days and the classroom set of paperbacks that had somehow been hardcoverized ... though they too were falling apart. Hard to believe those books fall apart so quickly when hardly any of the students even read them.

BT said...

Haven't read 451 since high school - it may have been after the Triffids but not by much.

I may have to stop reading your blog - I can't afford all the books I keep putting on my list...

Aaron Polson said...

Robert - those "hardcovers" are a ripoff. Mass market paperbacks with stiff cardboard slapped on the ends. The cheapest pulp paper is still between the covers.

BT - oh, don't stop. I'll just stop mentioning books...for a while.