Whale Talk - Day 7

I'm getting close to the end of this novel, and I'm getting a little sad. There's so much more I want to have done with it. So many more discussion, so many more writing topics, so much more. There just isn't time. There are 7 weeks of school left, and I need to get Romeo and Juliet in there, so we'll be finishing WT next week. Here's what happened in class today ...

I was super excited about the discussion today because in one of the chapters they read, this passage came up. It's my favorite passage of literature - probably ever. I always remember the essence of these words, and when I read them, I get chills. But, I digress.

I was excited (to restate). I lost about 30 minutes of class time to class registration for next year, so I was extra anxious to talk to the kids. I've discovered, though, that one of them really hates this book. It makes me sad that she does, but 14 others either tolerate, like, or love it. I can live with that. So, when guidance left, we jumped right into those two pages of text. I read them out loud - which I love doing - and when I was done we talked about what John meant.

At first, I got some blank stares, so I broke it down for them. Sitting upon the perch that is a student desk, I asked my students what was different about the way that whales communicate. The answers were astounding - like got me so excited I shook a little bit.

The kids GOT IT. They totally understood, and articulated, that when a whale feels something, they FEEL it. They share it in the most primal way, and all of the others whale hear that and feel it too. There is not censoring. Just raw, brutal emotion.

There's one student - we'll call him G. He's a goofball. He cracks jokes, never stops talking, and is one of those kids who doesn't take things seriously (he tried to milk himself in my class, and I'm serious here). He explained part of the passage better than the others saying, "When whales talk, everyone gets heard. Sometimes when we (humans) talk people aren't always heard. Like stars and newscasters are heard, but other people don't get the same kind of attention." I hadn't looked at it that way before, so this blew me away. It was also a perfect transition into talking about what it IS to be human, and how we cheat each other.

I asked how, as humans, we differ from whales. The told me: we don't always let our emotions show. I asked what we do when we keep information from people to try to protect them. We cheat them out of that feeling, that experience. Then, because they looked a little confused, I brought them back to the speech I had given last class. I can't remember exactly what I said, and what they said, but the gist is ...

If we - humans - let ourselves FEEL things. If we didn't bottle it up, or try to mask it, or ignore it. If, instead, we just felt it and talked about the world would be better. We could learn from each other, and even though that wouldn't stop us from hurting, we wouldn't be alone. I feel like so many of the problems in the world could be solved if we talked openly and honestly with each other. There wouldn't need to be lying or cheating - just truth. Does that hurt sometimes? Hell yes, but in the long run we would be so much better off as a species. We can learn just as much from the Jeffry Dahmer's of the world as we can the Mother Teresa's. If we took the time to understand one another things could BE better.

I swear I could keep going there, but I'll spare you.

As if that weren't enough to occupy us until 1:47, we had a WHOLE OTHER CHAPTER to discuss. Here are some of the conclusions drawn by my students today:

1. Kristen Sweetwater is a complete foil to Carly Hudson
2. Mike Barbour and Rich Marshall (and people like them) are products of their environments - a circle of abuse.
3. Andy Mott gives information (like how he lost his leg) on a need-to-know basis for two reasons:
a. To keep people's attention so they need him around
b. He understands that people need time to process all the terrible things that have happened to him.
4. We love TJ's parents.

And that, dear reader, was my fabulous day of class with the Freshman Honors group :-)