Over and Over and Over.....

Quote from Song of Solomon

Today, I've been thinking about the value of doing some things over and over; It's called practice....

For instances, in order to get better with cycling up big hills, a person needs to ride hills often...like over and over.

I hated cottage cheese; however, I needed to get creative about putting more protein into my diet, so I ate just a little cottage cheese over and over, and NOW, I am in love with cottage cheese.

There was a time when I would not read a book again. However, it seems that if it is a book where I want to get a deeper understanding or if I really want to fall in love with a book that I already love, then I must read it over and over.

This is my fourth or fifth year teaching Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, and every time that I read and teach this book, I fall more in love with it, and my teaching of this novel seems to get better. Every time that I teach it, I switch it up some, and every year it seems like I get more awesome ideas out of students than the year before.

So, this year, I decided to add a creative project to the teaching of Song of Solomon, and it is going so well. The students are pulling things out of this novel that I have never thought about, and I am definitely seeing a few things from a different perspective.

After class I was wondering if these are the smartest students that I have ever taught, or am I getting better at teaching this novel and creating activities that causes the students to soar.

Each year I have the option to teach whatever novel that I want to, and sometimes, I switch up, but I do believe that there is value in doing some things over and over and over....

If we keep doing Anything over and over; We must get better???

Or, I sure hope that we do. (sigh!)

By the way, one of my students was in Chipotle, and he noticed that a poem by Toni Morrison was on a Chipotle cup. He took a picture of the cup and sent it to me....

Well, I did a little research, and Toni Morrison and a few other writers are now writing for Chipotle. I am completely ecstatic that the literary world is colliding with popular culture, and my students are noticing it.

The student bringing in this cup with the writing of Toni Morrison on it confirms to me to continue to teach Song of Solomon over and over and over!

Happy Wednesday...