Sunday, June 04, 2006
Great Moments in Jazz History
Toaster Boy strikes again, folks. Mere days after being informed of my intelligence being the equivalent of a household appliance, the same student decided to contribute to our in class astronomy discussion by informing me he knew the name of the first person to walk on the moon.
Now during my time at Underwood, I have developed a voice in the back of my head. It warns me not to fall victim to student-related stupidity, and over the years it has helped me out more often than not. But sometimes the students can circumvent this ignorance radar by masking their comments with superficially relevant comments. Such was the case here, so I decided to follow up.
Me: Really? Who was the first person to walk on the moon?
Toaster Boy: Louis Armstrong.
Me (out loud): Well, you're close...but Louis Armstrong was a jazz musician. It was Neil Armstrong. You were half right.
Me (immediate mental reaction): Damn! I should have seen that coming. Why do I so want to believe my students know things? And when will I learn that more often than not, they don't...they just think they do?
Me (thinking about this later): How could he play the trumpet while wearing a space suit? Maybe he'd just sing "What a Wonderful World." That would be pretty sweet.
Toaster Boy strikes again, folks. Mere days after being informed of my intelligence being the equivalent of a household appliance, the same student decided to contribute to our in class astronomy discussion by informing me he knew the name of the first person to walk on the moon.
Now during my time at Underwood, I have developed a voice in the back of my head. It warns me not to fall victim to student-related stupidity, and over the years it has helped me out more often than not. But sometimes the students can circumvent this ignorance radar by masking their comments with superficially relevant comments. Such was the case here, so I decided to follow up.
Me: Really? Who was the first person to walk on the moon?
Toaster Boy: Louis Armstrong.
Me (out loud): Well, you're close...but Louis Armstrong was a jazz musician. It was Neil Armstrong. You were half right.
Me (immediate mental reaction): Damn! I should have seen that coming. Why do I so want to believe my students know things? And when will I learn that more often than not, they don't...they just think they do?
Me (thinking about this later): How could he play the trumpet while wearing a space suit? Maybe he'd just sing "What a Wonderful World." That would be pretty sweet.
