Fluent in Movie Quotes and Sarcasm
With the close of my first semester of teaching swiftly approaching, I have had to invent ways to maintain my sanity. At home this task is much easier, I don’t have to filter my every thought before it leaves the inner workings of my brain and travels out of my mouth because my sister won’t lose her shit when I spew out a string of expletives to describe my students’ recent asinine behavior. At school, however, this task is much more difficult. So many young, sensitive ears waiting anxiously on an excessively blunt statement from their teachers so that they can tell their parents how Big Bad Teacher hurt their feelings. As a result, I’ve had to get creative in finding ways to vent (and also entertain myself) in the presence of their angelic (not) faces.
Anyone who knows me well can attest to my love of movies. Anyone who has ever spent an hour with me can attest to my skillfully used and always appropriate (from my perspective) sarcasm. At any given moment, I’m thinking of a detailed movie scene or I’m trying to filter the sarcastic thought that is seconds from being verbalized. On Monday, I was reviewing with my students for a quiz. Of course, they were getting progressively chatty and unfocused as the day passed. By 4th block, my patience had worn pretty thin and I was mentally replaying scenes from Gladiator to keep my cool. After 3 occasions of trying to refocus my angels, I decided they’d take their quiz right then and there. I had no intention of grading it, simply to prove a point and bring a dose of reality back. AND, if I had to waste valuable time proving a point, I was going to get a kick out of it. At the top of their papers, I had them write the words “We who are about to fail salute you.” Of course they didn’t understand, but I was sufficiently amused. My sanity was restored and fear of receiving F’s brought back their focus. My love for movies and my sarcastic nature once again proved their worth!
Original Posting Date: December 17, 2014
Anyone who knows me well can attest to my love of movies. Anyone who has ever spent an hour with me can attest to my skillfully used and always appropriate (from my perspective) sarcasm. At any given moment, I’m thinking of a detailed movie scene or I’m trying to filter the sarcastic thought that is seconds from being verbalized. On Monday, I was reviewing with my students for a quiz. Of course, they were getting progressively chatty and unfocused as the day passed. By 4th block, my patience had worn pretty thin and I was mentally replaying scenes from Gladiator to keep my cool. After 3 occasions of trying to refocus my angels, I decided they’d take their quiz right then and there. I had no intention of grading it, simply to prove a point and bring a dose of reality back. AND, if I had to waste valuable time proving a point, I was going to get a kick out of it. At the top of their papers, I had them write the words “We who are about to fail salute you.” Of course they didn’t understand, but I was sufficiently amused. My sanity was restored and fear of receiving F’s brought back their focus. My love for movies and my sarcastic nature once again proved their worth!
Original Posting Date: December 17, 2014
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