Gryphon
By: Charles Baxter
About the Author:
![Picture](/uploads/2/2/8/7/22875252/3611116_orig.jpg)
Pre-reading Reflections
What do you expect to learn when you have a substitute teacher?
- I expect to learn at least half of what the subject is about when I have a substitute because they're not always there, so I don't expect them to know how to work the class. For example, when I have a substitute for math, I don't expect him/her to know how to teach us because he/she does not know how our regular teacher teaches us and her strategies for note taking, classwork, etc..
What are some strategies substitutes used to teach their classes? Which strategies work? Which do not?
- Some strategies substitutes used to teach their classes that worked were doing some of our classwork with us and kind of walk us through things so that we understand. Some strategies that didn't work were when the teacher just talked to us and made us do our work on our own as if we knew what to do.
- I expect to learn at least half of what the subject is about when I have a substitute because they're not always there, so I don't expect them to know how to work the class. For example, when I have a substitute for math, I don't expect him/her to know how to teach us because he/she does not know how our regular teacher teaches us and her strategies for note taking, classwork, etc..
What are some strategies substitutes used to teach their classes? Which strategies work? Which do not?
- Some strategies substitutes used to teach their classes that worked were doing some of our classwork with us and kind of walk us through things so that we understand. Some strategies that didn't work were when the teacher just talked to us and made us do our work on our own as if we knew what to do.
Vocabulary:
Cosmic - supernatural, universal; "Pyramids," Miss Ferenczi wen on, "were the repositories of special cosmic powers." (pg. 72)
Improvise - to substitute something; "I had to improvise, to outrage him." (pg. 74)
Variant - another kind of something; "Gryphon: variant of griffin." (pg. 76)
Fabulous - amazing; "There seemed to be less connection between her ideas, but the ideas themselves were, as the dictionary would say, fabulous." (pg. 76)
Pretense - "This time there was no pretense of doing a reading lesson or moving on to arithmetic." (pg. 76)
Demoralized - disbelief, doubtful; "He seemed demoralized." (pg. 79)
Improvise - to substitute something; "I had to improvise, to outrage him." (pg. 74)
Variant - another kind of something; "Gryphon: variant of griffin." (pg. 76)
Fabulous - amazing; "There seemed to be less connection between her ideas, but the ideas themselves were, as the dictionary would say, fabulous." (pg. 76)
Pretense - "This time there was no pretense of doing a reading lesson or moving on to arithmetic." (pg. 76)
Demoralized - disbelief, doubtful; "He seemed demoralized." (pg. 79)
Contrasting Ideas
Miss Ferenczi says or does something TYPICAL of a teacher
• Miss Fereczi makes sure that the students are doing what they are supposed to
"Put it back. Please sit down at your desks." (pg. 64) |
Miss Ferenczi says or does something NOT TYPICAL of a teacher
• Miss Ferenczi teaches the students that six times eleven is sometimes sixty-eight
"In higher mathematics, which you children do not yet understand, six times eleven can be considered to be sixty-eight." (pg. 68) • She says that if you don't like a word, then you don't have to use it "My feeling is, if you don't like a word, you don't have to use it." (pg. 69) • She tells the students not to tell anyone outside of class what she is teaching them • She tells the students to stare at her face "You may stare at me," she said to us, as a few more kids from the last bus came into the room, their eyes fixed on her, "for a few more seconds, until the bell rings. Then I will permit no more staring." (pg. 65) |