Wednesday, August 24, 2005

always my worst subject

As a high school English teacher I always heard "English? Geez, that was my worst subject." Once I was stopped by a cop on the local N&W crossing, and heard it again as he quizzed where I worked and what I taught. Later, having taught English and Humanities in college most of my thirty-seven years before retirement, I heard it so often that I came to expect it.

I still teach English part-time in retirement, and have one Composition class scheduled for this fall so far. But today I was also invited to teach an Art Appreciation section, using my doctoral training in art, music, and architectural history.

No matter: when I told my nurse at the doctor's office I would be teaching this fall and she asked "English?" I nodded, but added "And art appreciation as well." "Art Appreciation?" she scowled, "Ouch! that was my worst subject!"

1 comment:

Carol Anne said...

Just goes to show, you can't win.

For what it's worth, history was my worst subject in high school, but a lot of that had to do with how it was taught, just memorizing a bunch of names and dates and places without any real meaning. Later, I had a boyfriend who was a history buff, and the topic became exciting because of all the connections and motivations and meanings that weren't part of the previous memorization.

Many of my students are in my class on second or third chances, and many of them have had bad experiences with English classes in the past. I get to show them that they really can "get it," and that it really does make sense. That's what makes it worthwhile for me, and I'll bet that's also what makes it worthwhile for you.