So, to make sure everyone was on the same page, I started to recite the oath.
And, once I started, something miraculous happened. I noticed a couple of students mouthing the first line with me. Then, on the second line, a student joined in aloud. By the third line, four students were reciting the oath in unison.
More than any other moment in my 17-year teaching career, this has given me the strongest sense of hope for the future.
The class has 11 students total, so that means about 36% of them knew the Green Lantern Oath. I wonder how this statistic holds up elsewhere.
It's not just the number that surprises me. I haven't talked about comics at all in the class, though I do make frequent pop culture references, so there was no real context in which to just start talking about Green Lantern. Yet, they assumed the reference was well-known enough.
Of course, one might also ask, "What the hell are you teaching these kids?"
As a fellow teacher (and comics fanatic), this post gave me chills! What a wonderful story!
ReplyDeleteThey may have thought you were reciting the Postman's oath, you know:
ReplyDeleteNEITHER SNOW, NOR RAIN, NOR HEAT, NOR GLOOM OF NIGHT STAYS THESE COURIERS FROM THE SWIFT COMPLETION OF THEIR APPOINTED ROUNDS.
This absolutely made my day!
ReplyDeleteWasn't the original Alan Scott oath (or was it the Silver Age) oath written by or taken from some poet? I thought I recalled reading about the behind the scenes origin of the oath once.
ReplyDeleteWe never got your answer, Dr K...did you say it was poetry?
ReplyDeleteSleestak--legend has it that later-relatively-famous sci-fi author Alfred Bester (The Stars My Destination)wrote the oath. Don't know how true that is...
Well of course it's poetry!
ReplyDeleteIt rhymes don't it?
- Kid Kyoto
how amazing is that! This story brought a tear to my eye.
ReplyDeleteNow you need to ask them if they prefer Hal, John, Guy or Kyle.
ReplyDeleteBut we already know they'll pick Dkrtzy Rrr.
ReplyDeleteIt's a gimmee question.
snell--I left it up to the class to answer that question. They agreed that it was a poem because it rhymes, it has line breaks, and it uses a juxtaposition of light and dark imagery that unifies it.
ReplyDeleteFortress Keeper--if anyone answered that question with "Jack T. Chance," he or she would have received an automatic A for the course.
I've had individual students who have mentioned films, comic books, or video games that gave me hope for their generation but never such a large percentage of a class come together like that.
ReplyDeleteNow I know what the sign will be that truly my work is not in vain.
Hey pallie Doctor K, likes what's are you teachin' these youngens?...likes to be COOL...a dyin' art for Dinosure...just wanted to lets you know that I finally gots your great Dinocommentary on the Matt Helm quartet of Dinoflicks references at the ol' ilovedinomartin Dinoblog...been doin' lots of Dinopatter on this stellar Dinoflicks of Dinolate...
ReplyDeleteHow cool is that? I don't get over to your neck of the woods often enough, Dr. K, but when I do I'm never disappointed.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of when I was in elementary school and my mother asked my English teacher if my incessant comic book reading could hurt my studies. My teacher explained to my mother that reading was reading and comic books wouldn't hinder my appreciation for learning.
In fact, comic books made me use a dictionary more often as well as fuel my creativity and curiosity!
Hooray for comics...and teachers who love them!