Okay Phew.

I'm afraid this blog is turning into, "So guess what I did TODAY...?" Which is what I, blog snob, have told myself I shall do my utmost to avoid-- because who wants to read about the mundane of the every day? Luckily, my life is the very definition of thrilling. In fact, I'm pretty sure it rivals Jack Bauer's.

Okay, not really, but I'm telling you about my day regardless.

Today started out pretty same ol,' with the minor exception-bonus of starting The Epic of Gilgamesh, our first focused text. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest extant literary text EVER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD (but really, in the whole history of the world), written by folks just one civilized step past the cave men. In keeping with our hero theme, Gilgamesh is a king that sets out on a journey to make a name for himself and create an everlasting legacy. In the segment we read today, he joins with a companion, Enkidu, to battle the Cedar Forest Guardian, who is this gnarly hideous scary demon ogre thing, called Humbaba. And of course in the meantime, there's lots of drama and squabbling amongst the gods about what the heroes are doing. Gilgamesh and his compadres were, to the Babylonians, what Harry Potter and his Hogwartsians are to us-- this was a MAJOR Mesopotamian hit, and was translated into a number of ancient languages. If they had been able to make Gilgamesh action figures... They probably would have.

Sorry-- this is maybe boring. I think it's cool, but I get geeky about stories.

Anyway-- I was excited to finally start our first work of literature because we'd been doing mostly set-up with the Hero stuff and grammar work. Viola taught the first three periods (we have first period prep, so she taught 2nd, 3rd, and 4th), but after her third "performance," she was exhausted. Our shortage of textbooks necessitates that we read Gilgamesh aloud in class, and in an effort to keep the kids interested, she had been reading it theatrically and providing lots of supplemental information. But after our fourth period, she was ready for a break. "Can you do it?" she asked me. "Do you think you remember the additional points I was making?"

"Yes! Definitely! And if I forget, just interrupt me," I said.
"Okay. Will do."

Goodygoodygoody.

"And make sure you do the grunting part, when Humbaba comes out of his house-- the kids like that."
"For sure!" Thinking to myself, "Oh you will not even be able to HANDLE the theatrics that will explode into this classroom!" I love telling stories. LOVE. IT. And I had been itching to give the lesson a shot.

Goodygoody.

She gave the intro. I watched Isaac and his gal pal play footsie under the table. I couldn't mime "Holster the footsie," so instead I just stood RIGHT beside them and raised my eyebrows. Finally it was my turn to launch into the taaaaale.

It was so. Much. FUN.

I seriously had a BLAST-- and the kids were so engaged!! And this is FIFTH PERIOD! The period that wouldn't give me the time of day the first week-- the period with a lot of the tougher kids! But I got really into telling the story, and I made comparisons to pop culture that they would understand, and I did different voices, and asked them lots of questions to make sure that they were with me, and they were getting INTO IT!
"So here comes Humbaba, HUH HUH HUH, and he's this NAAAASTY ogre, with fangs, and a mane, and this crazy spooky eye that will kill people just by LOOKING at them!"
"Like Cyclops!"
"Yes! Thomas, great, just like Cyclops! And Gilgamesh-- who we JUST heard bragging about himself, and how great he is, and how it wasn't his day to die, and how he was totally going to take down this demon-- runs away! He freaks out! And he runs away behind a tree!"
(Students laugh-- they laughed!!)
"And so then ENKIDU has to go convince him to fight after all..."
...
"And so Gilgamesh strikes! With the sword! On the giant's NECK! Bam, bam, and then Enkidu, bam, bam! Like they're cutting down a cedar tree! And then Humbaba faaaaalls, and the whole forest, for two leagues away, SHAKES. And-- I don't know if that's because the earth was mourning their guardian, and like, trembling in grief--"
"Or if it's cause he's so FAT."
"Right, Peter! Or if it's because Humbaba was so huge!"
...
"So here Gilgamesh comes, dragging this mammoth bloody head of Humbaba to the gods, and what do you think he's waiting for?"
"Gifts!"
"Money!"
"A reward!"
"Fame!"
"Yes! Good you guys, he's probably wanting all those things, he wants RECOGNITION. But-- he's bringing the head to the God of the Earth... And this is the guardian of the forest that he just killed. What do you think the God of the Earth was thinking when Gilgamesh killed the Guardian of the Forest??"
"Oh no he didn't."
"Yes, Janvier, that's EXACTLY the sentiment-- no he didn't... So do you think the gods blessed him or cursed him?"
"They CURSED him."
"They definitely did: [reading from text.] BUT-- who do you think, between Gilgamesh and Enkidu they're going to punish?"
"Um.... Gilgamesh?"
"Tell me why you think so, Tomas."
"Because... he was the one that convinced Enkidu to do it all in the first place, it was his idea."
"You're right, it was-- I think it makes more sense for Gilgamesh to get the punishment too, but who can give an argument for Enkidu? Evan?"
"Well, Gilgamesh is part god, so I think they would punish Enkidu before Gilgamesh, because Enkidu is human."
"RIGHT! And that's exactly what happens-- Gilgamesh is in the country club, right? He's part of this elite crowd, and they can't kill HIM without starting a massive god war. So who takes the fall?"
(Enkidu!)
"What?? That's not fair! It wasn't his fault!"
"Agreed Thomas, but he's the scapegoat. Does anyone know how the term scape goat came into being...?"

And then I told them about the SCAPEGOAT, and they were INTO it, and I just couldn't believe how ENGAGED they were (and there were obviously some exceptions), but for the most part they were INTO it, and I was having so much fun!!!

Afterwards, I had this huge adrenaline rush, and Viola told me that I did great, and I just remembered why I'm so excited about this profession after all, even with ridiculous things like PICTURE DAY, and it just made me so happy.

So yay. :)