[expletive deleted] - Ms. F
In my 10th Honors class, we read Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" and Moliere's Tartuffe, two examples of satire most commonly taught in the classroom. The kids loved 'em - I mean, how can you not love reading the piece that started dead baby jokes and a piece about a horny, hypocritical religious zealot?!
To make a smooth transition from satire to the heavy political pontifications of John Locke and the influence of his philosophies on the Declaration of Independence, I decided I should bring in the modern-day Grand Master of social/political satire: Mr. Jon Stewart. America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction was the perfect bridge between exploring satire in the modern era and introducing my students to Locke and the Declaration of Independence.
I was totally stoked about my brilliant, fail-proof lesson. My students were going to learn a crap-ton and they were going to split their sides with laughter while they were doing it. However, if you've ever even briefly looked through the book, you know it's full of obscenities, abortion jokes, and naked supreme court justices among other things, so I knew I had to clean up what I presented them. Thus, after I copied the pages from the book which, oddly enough, I found on the base library, stamped in enormous letters "PROPERTY OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY," I pored over the text, making sure to cover my arse by blacking out F-bombs, nudity and any other words that could get me in trouble, such as "Con-shit-ution."
When I finally presented the carefully edited Jon Stewart learning packet, my kids absolutely ate it up. They had never had so much fun learning the foundations of American democracy.
As I was reveling in my instructional brilliance and how proud their parents would be that they had learned about "our great country," as the buzz phrase is here, one student raised his hand in excitement.
Student 1: Ms. F! I love how they say Thomas Jefferson died!
Me: What? Where is that?
Student 1: Page 80. *snicker*
*Pause*
*two students in corner snicker knowingly*
Innocent Little Girl Student 2: Ms. F? What's auto-erotic asphyxiation?
If I get fired (if it's possible to fire an indentured servant who doesn't get paid), I had better get at least a good blurb on the Daily Show headlines.
OMG.
To make a smooth transition from satire to the heavy political pontifications of John Locke and the influence of his philosophies on the Declaration of Independence, I decided I should bring in the modern-day Grand Master of social/political satire: Mr. Jon Stewart. America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction was the perfect bridge between exploring satire in the modern era and introducing my students to Locke and the Declaration of Independence.
I was totally stoked about my brilliant, fail-proof lesson. My students were going to learn a crap-ton and they were going to split their sides with laughter while they were doing it. However, if you've ever even briefly looked through the book, you know it's full of obscenities, abortion jokes, and naked supreme court justices among other things, so I knew I had to clean up what I presented them. Thus, after I copied the pages from the book which, oddly enough, I found on the base library, stamped in enormous letters "PROPERTY OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY," I pored over the text, making sure to cover my arse by blacking out F-bombs, nudity and any other words that could get me in trouble, such as "Con-shit-ution."
When I finally presented the carefully edited Jon Stewart learning packet, my kids absolutely ate it up. They had never had so much fun learning the foundations of American democracy.
As I was reveling in my instructional brilliance and how proud their parents would be that they had learned about "our great country," as the buzz phrase is here, one student raised his hand in excitement.
Student 1: Ms. F! I love how they say Thomas Jefferson died!
Me: What? Where is that?
Student 1: Page 80. *snicker*
*Pause*
*two students in corner snicker knowingly*
Innocent Little Girl Student 2: Ms. F? What's auto-erotic asphyxiation?
If I get fired (if it's possible to fire an indentured servant who doesn't get paid), I had better get at least a good blurb on the Daily Show headlines.
OMG.
posted by Kari at 11:23 PM
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