I'm tired today. Not because I worked hard, trying to drag the metaphors out of a student's head, or helping another craft a "perfect" sentence. I'm tired because today has been tiring. The kids have been rowdy--I guess that is to be expected after a not-so snowy, though certainly dark and dreary Buffalo winter. The sun is finally shining and the weather is inching above 70, so the kids, along with the rest of the city, are moving toward a summer mood.
Today we finished reading The Great Gatsby. Normally that would be a great time--I love the scene where Nick and Jordan have their last meeting. How torn Nick is; how Jordan so casually mentions the engagement. But my students were not paying attention to those things today. Instead, some of them were trying to sleep (HOW COULD THEY). Others were giggling over some private joke (GASP). And still others were busy trying to complete their math homework before their next classes (THAT'S JUST PLAIN RUDE).
BUT, there is a happy end to this story. The bell rings, we are one paragraph from the end, and all the kids jump up and run to the door, afraid of being the last in the lunch line. I'm busy yelling after them, reminding them of the homework assignment due tomorrow, when I hear one young man, near the back of the room say, "Please, let's not stop." So, in the midst of the chaos in the hallway, the papers strewn about, this student and I savored the last words in the book. And when it was finished he promptly said, "that was dumb." Whoa. What? But then he clarified: he wanted a happy ending, one where Daisy was everything Gatsby had imagined she would be. But, life isn't like that, is it? Just like Daisy didn't turn out to be who Gatsby thought, our students don't either. Sometimes, they just surprise us and miss part of lunch to read a great book.
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