January 27

Today was the first official day of a new semester for “B” days. In Freshman English, I got a great introduction to certain instruction and classroom management skills.  The class, which is studying and reading through Julius Caesar, spent the first part of class taking a vocabulary quiz, and the majority of the class was spent watching Caesar’s murder and Brutus and Antony’s speeches in the Marlon Brando movie. The classroom management skills that were demonstrated in the class were plainly laid out in the class – no talking was allowed. The first offense led to a warning, the second led to being moved, and the third would get you sent out of the classroom. In addition to the rules, Natalie clearly stated the expectations of the class – the movie is not just a time-filler. The class had to pay attention to what the characters were saying. The fact that the students had already read this part of the play aloud really gave them a chance to focus on the language. Between the murder and the funeral orations, Natalie asked the class about what they thought about Caesar’s stabbing and the portrayal of the scene. I might have gone a step further and paused the movie for a longer discussion.