White-Knuckling It Until Break--"Last Week" Inspiration

Winter Break is five class days away, and we are providing every possible distraction for students--from hockey games to holiday pony rides to holiday concerts to the dining hall's holiday dinner, and we've got athletes leaving early for competitions. I've got students crawling the walls ready to get on planes and head off for their three-week breaks. Three weeks. (I might as well let you in on a little secret here, too. There's a bit of wall-crawling happening for me, too...)

What to do? What to do? 

I've never been satisfied with wrapping a pre-vacation week with a film. There's something about saying farewell to my kids by not really speaking with them that bothers me. Films should be taught. But I haven't found the right film for the last week before holiday break. Or the right balance of viewing and dissecting. Last year, we were just wrapping a unit on The Merchant of Venice, so we spent the two days before break dissecting Pacino's performance in the role. Somehow, it didn't feel like the right tone for the festive holiday season coming up (and we spend plenty of time in the depths of humanities studies--Humanities 10 isn't afraid to go heavy). 

For a brief time, I thought I might be able to start them on the personal projects I ask them to choose post-break. But I wondered how effective that might be with a three-week break in the middle of it. 

So here's where I've landed. I wanted something that will not be too heavy, will manage the multiple "non-assignment nights" we have this week, will not put students who are leaving early too far in the hole, will give me time to interact with my students, and will allow for individual student choice. What I've landed on isn't revolutionary, but I am excited about it. We're reading. 

Monday night of this week, I've asked students to post one or more book recommendations for their classmates and me. I've got an example I wrote for them posted to a Schoology discussion board:

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Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

Jon Krakauer was on Mount Everest during one of the most disastrous climbing seasons in the mountain's recorded history. In May of 1996, he went on a climbing expedition as a writer for Outside Magazine, and he got caught in a storm no one saw coming. Five people died. Countless others' lives were impacted. This is his take on the event. 

Yet another non-fiction text (I do read fiction, too...). I'm into endurance athletics, and I've always been fascinated by what makes people test themselves in what most people consider to be outrageous ways. I've never really been drawn to the idea of climbing in the way the people do in this book, but I recommend the read because it is an absolutely gripping tale of man versus nature, man versus man, and man versus himself. It's written in such a way that even though you know disaster is coming, you still want to jump onto the pages of the book and make all those people long gone change their minds or turn back. (Incidentally, Krakauer has written a number of other books, and I can just give a blanket recommendation for him as an author here.)  

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Between Tuesday and Thursday's class, they need to find a book to bring to class. And Thursday and Friday we'll do some "pleasure" reading or "leisure" reading in class. 

I've got a couple of other reflective moments built into the plan. There's a moment this week when I'll give them some time to do a mid-year reflection that I keep until May. It's nice for them to think about how far they've come since August, imagine how far they'll go before the end of the year, and then see it at the end of the year as I'm asking them to write to their seven-years-from-now selves. 

On Thursday and Friday we'll have some time to read and then some Bowmanville cafe time when they'll have some time to talk about their reading with each other. There'll be snacks and hot chocolate. And I hope that we'll wrap the week with them engrossed in something to read on their plane rides, having reflected on the start of their sophomore year, and excited to see each other again in January. 

I'll let you know how it goes. Wrestle on, friends. Holiday style. 

The post-experience update
So on Thursday, they took their test, read their books, and I did a quick check-in at the end of class to ask what they were reading. A number of students didn't come to class with books, but I had a stack of some of my favorites in the room, or I sent them next door to the library to get something so that everyone would have something for Friday. Students brought their own mugs to class, and we went through a pot of coffee and a  bunch of hot chocolate and some tea.

But I also got sick. Like swimming head cold sick. So by the time I got to class on Friday, I lacked the endurance to get through classes with kids who were VERY ready for break. I showed up with snacks, and we did some reading, but I was just sick. And students were really resistant to reading in books (which broke my heart into a 1000 pieces). I had a few who wanted to read books, but I think I had more who were wanting to read on their phones. And I didn't have the energy to try to rally their enthusiasm around books (more than providing them the time, the snacks, and caffeine, and the comfy chairs). The forces of Holiday vacation were also working against me.

I'll try again.