Good Teaching Day

I think I've mentioned that I recently turned my seniors, who I've worked with for four years, over to Scott and got a new batch of students-juniors. We are doing American Literature, and we have already progressed to the Romantic period. Yesterday, we read A Psalm of Life by Longfellow in the honors class. Nobody is really enjoying archaic English, so we spend a lot of time translating things into "regular English." The kids seemed engaged and also to understand it, so I guessed it had gone well.

Today V, who is new to our small school after transferring from another on our campus, stayed after class to tell me that this poem spoke to her. She has battled depression in the past, feels estranged from her faith, and has had some rough days recently. But she loved the message of living life each day, not worrying about the end but striving to make yourself a little better each day. She said the poem helped her put her life in perspective. WOW!

Definitely one of those moments of affirmation. I really thought the juniors were going to hate me for making them read dead white guys all year (okay, well mostly white and mostly guys, but definitely all dead). Who says inner-city kids can't appreciate classic literature?? NOT ME!