So after pushing play and establishing the gang colors, I told the class that we were “going to meet the Prince of Verona soon. Remember that authority is represented here by gigantic hats.” Everyone picked up who the Prince of Verona was and made the connection that he was about to lay down the law on future brawling.

Instead of a few students giggling during balcony scene, we as a class joked about the exaggeration of it. When Romeo cries out “fire-eyed frenzy be my conduct now!” we — who had all read the summary — shouted at the screen to tell Romeo to go home.

By the end of the film, I found students were doing a better job of recording key quotes and their response through interpretation and analysis also improved. By inviting them to challenge the film, their verbal participation and note-taking improved.

Finally, although we had a lot of fun at the film’s expense, there were still tears aplenty after the final scene.

Making the rounds at the end of class, I suddenly stopped –

“What’s this?” I asked, delicately picking up the paper.

“What?”

“Where did you get a copy of the exam?” I demanded. “Did you go into my desk?”

“What?”

“GO INTO THE HALL!” I bellowed.

“What?”

Leaving the door open, and began to give one of the greatest upbraidings ever (the student tried hard not to chuckle, but fortunately he was out of sight).

We returned to the classroom and I said quietly, “Actually, this wasn’t a copy of the exam. It’s just an exam study guide that I posted on Moodle. I’m sorry for the mistake, but it’s just that the study guide is so good that it’s like having the actual exam in front of you.”

First, I asked everyone in the class to pick up either a textbook, pencil, or notebook.

“Now drop it,” I said quietly.

THUMP!

“Read.”

It was probably the best DEAR time so far this year.

• I introduced poetry terms including: rhyme scheme, rhythm, catalogue imagery, tone, and apostrophe this week by writing World of Warcraft poetry. If students didn’t know about World of Warcraft, they received a crash course.
• Friday was November 007th according to my objectives board.
• “Yao!” was how we ended our class this week after we’d gone over objectives and assignments for the poetry unit.

Some of these things are just odd, but on Friday, I had a teacher tell me that her students all know how to do the Mong Kok Cockroach Disco Dance. A student came in asking when his class would get to write World of Warcraft poetry.

To solve this, I’ve begun starting my classes in a very calm and soothing tone. I only release my enthusiasm for teaching at very specific moments. Ex/ I often end the class with a lot of humor and because that’s when students seem to run through their learning cycle, that humor seems to stick, just as the sincerity that I use to open the class seems to stick.

These moments are not the only ones that build my reputation amongst the student body, but they do have an impact.