Day 100- "So it goes." Slaughter-House Five

Another delay today, and a fairly routine day. I discussed the first part of chapter two of Slaughter-House Five with my English classes. They were slightly confused about this part of the book and didn't really understand Billy or his whole unstuck in time deal he has going on. The aliens threw them off a bit too and the whole 4th dimension thing seemed to more than baffle them. I tried to explain the Tralfamadorian's view of time as this: we see and are limited to time in a line. A beginning, middle, and end that goes in a progression. The Tralfamadorians, who on the other hand can see all points of time at once, see it more in a sphere or circle where they can see all parts at once with no beginning or end. Once they understood this, the phrase "so it goes" seemed to make more sense to them. It was like a light went off in their heads, which I'm hoping translates into a better understanding of the novel.

In creative writing, we discussed and wrote one of my favorite type of poems, the pantoum. It has a unique pattern with an abab rhyme scheme. After the first quatrain, second and fourth lines in the quatrain become the first and third lines of the next quatrain. This pattern continues into the last quatrain where the second line of that one is the third line of the first quatrain, and the first and last lines of the pantoum are the same. Some struggled with this, but others jumped right into it and produced some very nice work. I can't wait to read their finished product. A pantoum I wrote with them is below.

A Gentleman’s Game

22 men take the pitch, 11 on each side

Back-ups on the bench await their turn to shine

Coaches look on, as across the pitch begins to glide

The teams go to war, battling to get the ball to cross the goal line

Back-ups on the bench await their turn to shine

Work and effort put forth in practice are now put into play

The teams go to war, battling to get the ball to cross the goal line

Each player hoping the result will be in their favor today

Work and effort put forth in practice are now put into play

Passes are made, shots are taken, tackles are given

Each player hoping the result will be in their favor today

The true winners have a look in their eye, they are driven

Passes are made, shots are taken, tackles are given

Coaches look on, as across the pitch the ball begins to glide

The true winners have a look in their eye, they are driven

22 men take the pitch, 11 on each side.