job nibbles

[davidfcooper]

On Sunday I put my resume on Craigslist thinking I'd like to return to gainful employment after 13 years of not doing any paid work.

On Tuesday evening I got a phone call from the mom of a college student who had a history assignment due the next day , had not done the assigned reading, and had no idea what to write. I called the young man and for half an hour filled him in on the events of the times and places he would have to write about and gave him keywords to use on Wikipedia searches. Shoshana overheard the conversation and was impressed at my knowledge and ability to recall it extemporaneously. The young man's mom was very grateful.

Yesterday I got a call from an after school program in Harlem that is seeking a poetry teacher for a class of 9th graders and today I interviewed for the position. I was candid about my limited classroom behavior management skills and the paucity of my knowledge of pop culture. I also didn't have an adequate answer when asked how to make poetry fun. It's been a while since I've done that, I don't have frequent contact with kids, and the class is an elective so no one is forcing them to be there. I asked how many other candidates there are for the job and was told there's only one other applicant and they will let me know one way or the other on Monday.

Comments

when asked how to make poetry fun.

[ragecarnuu.livejournal.com]

Have students read it as if the author was reading it.

[shullie.livejournal.com]

i think your enthusiasm is the most important, they catch the 'vibe'.. if you know what I mean. If your excited about something they want to know why. Then there is the poetry... finding poems that say something about their lives to begin with, before talking them deeper, helps too. Bit like fishing...it's what's on the hook that catches the fish!!!

[davidfcooper.livejournal.com]

That was the gist of my reply, but I didn't display as much confidence saying so as I would have liked.