The Bee reports today about teachers, specifically a few at Del Oro High School, using the ‘net in the classroom.
Dylan Holcomb’s 10th-grade English students shouted the names of Shakespeare’s plays as they identified them while watching a YouTube clip of “Jeopardy!”
Earlier, Holcomb used Google Earth to show his Del Oro High School students the distance between Venice and Cyprus, where the play “Othello” is set, and had them calculate the distance.
If you haven’t read it in a while, it’s hard to remember how difficult it is to understanding the deep themes running through “Othello” without knowing precisely how far it is from Venice to Cyprus.
The same teacher “has students use Google’s simplified design program SketchUp to recreate demolished buildings from descriptions in John Hersey’s ‘Hiroshima.'” They are going to kick Bella Vista’s ass at “Diorama-rama” this year. Also it looks like he assigns blog-writing for homework. (Which is actually pretty cool. Gone are the days where you had to work all year putting together a crappy magazine. Now everybody can be instantly published. The snark is fighting hard to come up, but it’s pretty easy with some Saltines and fresh air to keep it down.)
I don’t want to go too far because, if you’ll permit me a little self-importance here (and if your eyes are starting to roll on that, keep in mind that this is bylined “CoolDMZ”), I know that it’s only a matter of time until these teachers have their class Google themselves, since they were in the paper and everything, and come across my glib, self-important jackass dressing-down of their poor teacher. Although maybe they could blog about how that made them feel and they’d all get A plus-plus-plusses.
In fact, I wasn’t even going to touch this one until I remembered that the above scenario has literally happened to me before. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I was editor-in-chief of the weekly paper at my Liberal Arts college in 1997. Before that, though, I wrote the arts (a sort of Jed Leland to Kearnsy’s C. F. Kane, to crack a joke only Stickie will get). One year I reviewed the “senior art exhibit” and wrote that it was the last chance these talented artists would get to showcase their work before they have to “go out and get real jobs.” I wrote it, the editor printed it, and of course those 10 art students were royally pissed. In fact, they and their instructors were so pissed that writing a reaction to my piece was assigned as a project.
So what I’ll actually say here is that if this guy, Dylan Holcomb, is so enthusiastic about bringing his kids cool ways to learn, then he must be really into teaching and therefore is probably really good at doing it. I’ll assume that he works the Google Earth Venice-Cyprus project into a bigger unit about Shakespeare’s language and themes, and just in general teaches you know, actual English.
The Sac Rag 
True story: I was literally failing high school chemistry in the spring of my 10th grade year until a negotiated settlement with my chemistry teacher brought about a B- for the following: making salt water taffy in the chemistry lab and writing 4 poems about chemistry displayed in chemistry-themed artwork, such as a haiku about the periodic table thingie-poo written on paper cut in the shape of a beaker. Wait, they can’t revoke my diploma for confessing this can they?
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Note: I realized that I might have made it seem like I don’t think any readers will get that I was referencing “Citizen Kane” above, when all I really meant is that “Kearnsy” refers to a common friend of Stickie and I.
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I am shocked, DMZ! You? Write an article suggesting that college art students aren’t going to make a living making giant paper maché phalli?
That’s so out of character.
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i know Kit, and In fact, I wasn’t even going to touch this one until I remembered that the above scenario has literally happened to me before. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I was editor-in-chief of the weekly paper at my Liberal Arts college … hey wait a minute!!!!
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Love the Ralph Wiggum (sp?) reference!
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Sometimes, while Kearnsy was talking, his shadow would grow to become 50 feet tall, symbolizing his growing power in the newspaper industry and in national politics.
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remember when Kearnsy was the subject of much scandal after shacking up with a young hoofer? man, those were the days…
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Egg, were you that little boy?
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I laughed outloud when you said “If you haven’t read it in a while, it’s hard to remember how difficult it is to understanding the deep themes running through “Othello†without knowing precisely how far it is from Venice to Cyprus”. And your street credibility went up considerably. Rarely do people read anymore. Let alone read Shakespeare. It is true the distance between Cyprus and Venice is ever so, well, nearly not important.
Keep in mind these students have no idea about illinois being a state, let alone have a concept of Cyprus and its whereabouts. (And this is no slight. We will all read this article in class and a few of my Sophomores will nod at the Illinois shocker. They are the first to admit they are geographically challenged) Is Cyprus a tree to them? No, it’s a mediocre rap artist. So I had to. I just had to show them. It is also an island, kids. Surrounded by water. Very near the Holy Land. Thereby increasing the tension of the poor witless characters stuck in Iago’s web of wickedness.
Kudos to your Fans as well for seeing allusion and living in a world of metaphor and deeper textual understanding. The positive part of getting my mug in the Bee is (well getting my mug in the Bee) but also getting to add Sac Rag to my Bookmarks.
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I am sure I will get hit for the typos. “Public Education down the tubes” etc. So get it over with now.
Love,
Your local English Teacher
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…and there he is! Thanks for visiting, I’m glad to hear from you. Anybody who is the subject of the Rag’s snark and laughs out loud is definitely All Right. Those kids are lucky to have ya.
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Wow, Mr. Holcomb, you’re a celebrity! Myself, I have never been in his English classes…(Hm…recipient of the Kurt Vonegut English award, NOT a student of Holcomb…haha, just kidding), but I was in his Drama 1 class. I enjoyed having him as a teacher immensely, though I don’t know if he enjoyed it so much, as that was the last Drama class he taught! 😛
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