History Lesson

[Recycled from 1:01PM, 2 February 2005]

I am teaching a history class this term at WVCS. A small class, but that just means I'll be able to tailor it to the needs and interests of the students.

We spent a large part of our first session walking around the block that holds the building where class is meeting, looking at patches in the sidewalk and bricked-up windows in buildings, seeing how much of the buildings' history we could divine from the clues left behind.

Oh, and about those students' needs? They're pretty substantial. None of them could identify the reference when we came upon a graffito that read "Big Brother is Watching You".

But, we'll work on it.

[Update, 12 December 2005: The students were not the most receptive (let alone perceptive) you could ask for, but I think we made some progress. Alas, the school will henceforth have to get along without me, and also without Kathe, whose efforts as a board member sustained the school through quite a few difficult years.]