It Matters.

On Wednesday, I gave an hour lesson on the Trojan War to my 6th graders as background on the Odyssey, and it was absolutely great. I can't take all of the credit, because they were incredibly responsive and attentive and I was so involved in the conversation with them. 

I asked them what they knew about the war, and they said a bunch of really great stuff. One girl told me the entire story of the Judgement of Paris with comprehensive detail. Others told of the Trojan Horse, thought up by Odysseus, who they thought was the best thing since sliced bread. A few even mentioned Achilles, Paris, and Hector's deaths. 

But when I put everything on a timeline, they realized that "nothing happened" in the middle of the war and we had a really great discussion about how that would feel for an average soldier and how exhausting that would be. We talked about why the war wasn't really about Helen but about Troy's wealth. 

Once I got to the actual events of the Iliad and the end of the war, they were awestruck. You could hear a pin drop after Hector's death, and it was so beautiful that it hurt. They understood why Achilles was so horrible to Hector's body but didn't agree with him. They were so involved in the story. They completely got it.

And at the end, once we'd talked a lot about whether or not Odysseus and Achilles were good people or good warriors or good heroes, I asked them one more question. 

"Why are we reading this book? Why does this matter? This is 3500 years old, it's old news!" 

A girl raised her hand and said, "We can know their stories and make them fit to the modern day. And we can learn from their morals." 

I repeated what she said slowly, then asked the students when they were born. 

"2000, 2001", came the answers. I contemplated that for a minute, relishing the theatricality of my classroom presence for a moment. 

"The Iraq War has been going on for basically your entire lives. Imagine you were born in Troy at the beginning of the war. You haven't lived a single part of your life without this War defining it." I could see they were a little confused. 

"There are children in Iraq who are your age who have no memory of anything before the war. They are the Trojans. We're the Greeks."

It clicked. They were floored. They completely got it.

"And that's why we read these books and tell these stories. Because it's still happening."

Class ended. It was beautiful. I felt really great, and my cooperating teacher was incredibly impressed. He told me that, out of the 5 student teachers he'd had, this lesson was by far the best because I was invested in what I was talking about. He told me that one student, at the end, turned around to him and said, "Wow, that was EMOTIONAL."

Everything I've learned through being in the classroom has been hard won. I've graded tests where half the class has failed. I've watched my teacher get so frustrated by the disrespect of the class that he can't do anything else. I've had another young teacher urge me away from urban education, looking me straight in the eyes and saying, "It's blood money, don't take it." I've struggled with a disconnect between me and my students, no matter how hard I try. I've felt like a failure when I try to break through a student who I know is smart but is partially illiterate and refuses to do his geography work. And it's been really hard.

But as my teacher said, "The grading and lesson plans and stuff come with experience. What really matters is your ability to get up in front of a class and engage and talk to them. And you can do that."

It was really great. And I'm glad that it matters.