Shock and Awe

This afternoon I had a twelfth grade English class. The first time to be with this group, and the regular teacher is out sick. Has been for the past week. So in order to keep the class moving and not have to let it be cancelled, I and two other teachers are sharing teaching duties. Which means no continuity.

That reared its head this afternoon. The head teacher asked me to give them an assignment from a workbook to do in class. This I did, but it turned out to be much too easy for them. Unfortunately, that was the only material I really had with me. There was some grumbling going on over on the right side of the classroom. Not a whole lot of concentration going on. Even some snide, under the breath comments about how this was entirely below them (probably true, but still, it could be said in a more friendly way). So I had to get things under control.

There seemed only one way out. Overwhelming use of English. Shock and awe.

They'll have to concentrate to be able to keep up. But any break on my part is just an invitation for a side conversation to break out.

So I decided to open with politics. Making use of as many "big" words as possible, I dove right in....

I carried the day.