How to Kill a Mockingbird?

 I am starting to teach Shakespeare just a little today, and I wanted to record a conversation we had in class because it just cracks me up and makes me smile. So here it goes...


We had some time after our test so I told the kids to write down everything they knew about Shakespaere...then I went around the room and asked them to tell me one thing they wrote down....I got to "Amy"....here is the conversation (as well as I remember it, of course)....


 
Amy: He wrote How to Kill a Mockingbird....
 
 
(laughter from class, mainly me)
 
 
Me: No, Amy, he did not write TO Kill a Mockingbird, AND it's not an instruction manual..
 
 
(more laughter)
 
 
Sally: But I thought he did write How to Kill a Mockingbird. I think we read that in literature.
 
 
Me: Um, no, Sally. Harper Lee wrote TO Kill a Mockingbird. She is from Monroeville, Alabama.
 
 
Sally: But I could have sworn we talked about that in literature.
 
 
Molly: No, Sally, that was Edgar Allen Poe.
 
 
Sally: Oh, yeah! He's the one who wrote How to Kill a Mockingbird.
 
 
Me: No, Sally, he wrote "The Raven."
 
 
Sally: Well, I knew it was something like that...I got it all mixed up.
 
 
Me: Obviously.


Then later....


Suzie: He's the one who cut off his ear, isn't he?


Me: Um, no, Suzie.


  Random student: That was Van Gogh, Suzie.


Jimmy: He's the one who killed himself after his girlfriend did.


  Random student: That was Romeo and Juliet, Stupid.


Jimmy: Oh, yeah. I got them confused.


Suzie: Mrs. Gillilan, is he the one who wrote The Titanic?


(I laugh and write down what she said.)


Suzie: Um, am I wrong? Did he write it?


Me: No, Suzie.


Suzie: (excitedly and beating on her desk) Oh, I know, I know! He's the one that wrote about that Annabel Lee girl!


Me: No, Suzie. That was Edgar Allen Poe.


Suzie: Really? I was sure that time.


Stella: Did he come up with the American Express card?


(lots of laughter)


Me: No, Stella. He did not come up with the American Express card. (I start to write.)


Stella: Are you writing that down?


Me: Yes, Stella.
 
 
I am going to miss these kids desperately next year.

Originally written on April 6, 2010 *Names have been changed to protect the...um...well....ignorant :)