Flashback [Part 2]

The China-ness continued with the return of my roommate. A woman of equal working craziness, she was also feeling the desperate need to vej out on the couch. We opted to pop in a movie, one that she had never seen before, and one of my all-time personal favorites: How To Train Your Dragon. 

Together the sofa ate our bodies, and we were drizzled in blankets. As the movie played I floated back to another time, the last time I had seen the movie. I felt like Harry Potter floating and falling into the pensieve potion. One large classroom, 80 curious faces, me and my movie and a projector. It was like having one eye on this side of the planet, the other far far away.

As images played on the screen before me, my roommates laugh echoed back 80 fold in my mind, as I remembered the students giggles and outcries and gasps at the dragon scenes before them. Me, being a lover of the movie, would chuckle along by my lonesome, only to be joined 7 seconds later as the English sunk and registered in the minds of my companions in the room.

I thought about ClubMOVIE some more. Every Sunday night, two classes would gather and watch a movie of my choosing. Of course, the movies were themed, planned, and previewed for content and appropriateness. They would follow along with English subtitles, and for once, I would have the complete attention of all individuals in the room...at least the screen behind me did. Together we would laugh, gasp, and I [knowing what was to come in the movie] would scan their faces for delight, surprise and content that I knew the film would stir inside of them.

"Thanks for nothing, you useless reptile."

Back in America, the following night was no different. The roommate and I decided to watch, yet another movie that had been crucial in our English curriculum a year ago. Tangled. I managed to rummage through a few emails. I thought I would share something I pulled from an explanation I was trying to give to friends and family exactly a year ago: 

"The following statement is going to sound incredibly bizarre, I know, but it’s true: watching a movie in class with my students gave me a wonderful glimpse of what being a parent is like. Now, please note, I know that I don’t physically know what being a parent is like…but man oh man I have never experienced anything closer. There is so much joy and greatness in watching your students find joy and happiness in something you present to them. When you watch them draw conclusions from the movie, or get excited, or pull out there tissues [as 5 of my women did], you cant help but to be excited with them, laugh (or even cry) along with them. This is not just confined to the movie aspects of class. When you can watch their faces illuminate when they understand a concept, or when they run to you so proud of something they have achieved you can’t help but to feel like a parent in some way."

As we were watching Tangled I was reminded of all the headaches Laura and I went through to show this movie and justify it's educational significance. I don't ever, for a second regret showing a movie in class. Tangled became a platform for the remainder of the school year. It was a constant example that everyone could draw from and relate to, and assisted in creating the heart-warming and traditional adieu between teacher and classroom.

"I love you."

"I love you more."

"I love you most."