"I posted on Facebook, 'I've never before wondered how I would teach while crying.' During my last class [the evening of the election], we were discussing William Golding's Lord of the Flies. We couldn't help pausing during our discussion to check the election results rolling in from the East Coast as the polls closed. Teachable moments are always welcome, and when a struggling student asked if we could discuss the text as a metaphor for the political landscape, the election, it was inspiring.
The day after the election, we read Maggie Smith's poem 'Good Bones.' It lent itself to a discussion of poetry's use of indirection, slant, to reveal universal truths, and a discussion of our responsibility to shepherd each other through these troubling times.
Not the days I had planned, although good, valuable teaching opportunities, as we reel and regroup."
