THAT STORY’S WACK, YO!
The Dan Brown editorial last weekend prompted a couple of postings - in particular I was struck by the story of Eddie, youngster who happened to be in his fourth year of four grade.
Brown is not just a teacher, he happens to also be the author of the well-received “The Great Expectations School: A Rookie Year in the New Blackboard Jungle.”
For those interested in learning more about Brown or thinking about reading his book, over at the blog siteOhDave a review of the book is available as well as an exceptionally interesting interview with the young teacher.
Consider the following excerpt from Oh Dave’s review of the Brown tale:
Two pages into my Crow Boy read-aloud Fausto stood up and ambled leisurely toward the door, drawing the attention of the whole class. “Fausto. Fausto. Fausto!” I shouted. Fausto turned back toward the class. “THAT STORY’S WACK, YO!”
I kept a straight face but a majority of the class erupted in crazed laugher at Faustor’s apparently genius comedic line. Fausto beamed while fifteen kids cracked up, Lakiya the loudest of all. She bellowed a forced, open mouthed cackle, swaying violently in her seated position, knocking into classmates.
Ten seconds ago we were all on the same page. Now it looked like a different class.
As the overwrought giggles receded, Fausto, now a superstar, still had not returned to his seat. I had to take this kid down. In deadpan, I said, “The story’s not wack. Are you ready to stop acting like a kinder-”
“DAAAAAA! Mr. Brown’s talkin’ gangsta, yo!”
As Dave notes and the stories reveal, “there is no magic solution, no easy answers” for the state of our education system.
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