Language Arts Class
This is an absolutely true story: I was there.
It was the early 1970s, and I was in 7th grade in Ken Mullen's "Language Arts" class. The assignment that day was to read aloud from a book; unfortunately, I have no recollection of what book it was, but one student was reading aloud and came across a particular word.
The word was "bitch". It was used properly, but with the snickers Mr. Mullen stopped to create a Teaching Moment.
"Does anyone know what 'bitch' really means?" he asked the class.
One student raised a hand and gave the correct definition: "A female dog."
"Correct," Mr. Mullen said. "That is the proper word that refers to a female dog. Now," he said, trying to make the lesson stick. "Does anyone know of a word for a male dog?"
Several people were pondering that, but it was Jane Glass who raised her hand.
"Yes?" Mr. Mullen said, calling on Jane.
"'Bastard'?"
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© 2010 Randy Cassingham, all rights reserved -- this is a personal recollection.
Posted November 26, 2010 8:00 AM
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