Thursday, May 13, 2010

The Hobart Shakespearians

One of the things that Rafe said that really stuck out to me was "My passion is passed onto the students." You can clearly tell that his passion for Shakespeare, passion for being an American, and even his passion for a higher education is being passed onto the students. He is trying and doing everything he can to make life better for these kids. It was easy to see that Rafe is really leaving an impact on the kids, and the kids really do want to strive for a better life for themselves.

I would say that Rafe is a visionary. He was able to have them want a better life because of the doors he has opened and all the opportunities. What really shocked me was the reading level these kids are on! Of Mice and Men, Catcher and the Rye and even To Kill A Mockingbird are all books that I had read in high school. It also surprised their understanding of Hamlet. Many people, even in college level can read Hamlet or Macbeth and not even know what it is saying. I could read it a million times and would not be one step closer to understanding it.

A goal I have for myself for the next year is to be happy in the next chapter of my life.

4 comments:

  1. I like your quote Shelby! It is true that Rafe is trying to pass his passion for life onto his students and that is very cool. I like your goal as well all anyone can ask for is to be happy in life. I hope you achieve your goal.

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  2. yeah the reading level of the students is beyond par for their age and level in school. It is kind of disturbing how focused he is though on teaching the kids that they are Americans as a part of the experience, but at the same time that is a big problem nowadays in our society that we are so splintered into all of these small subcategories that no one calls themselves Americans anymore its always got prefixes prior to that word and the only people I honestly believe can lay claim to those prefixes are people born in the other country who came here from there not people with prior family members born over there. The people born here are not Germans, Italians, Africans, Mexicans, Spanish, or w/e other ethnicity you want to claim that in reality you aren't. In reality you are an American and nothing more like it or not. Not saying there's anything wrong with accepting and embracing your heritage, but you must accept that you aren't an (insert ethnicity) American you are an American.

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  3. I was also really surprised by the books he had assigned to his class. I was being assigned the same books 5 years ahead of them so I assumed that they would've had a lot of difficulty reading them and become frustrated. His ability to inspire his students helped them understand these books on levels that most high schoolers don't, which was very surprising.

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  4. I really like your quote Shelby! The fact that he is so passionate about having these students succeed is a good quality in a teacher. We need to see more of that in our schools!

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