Why is Della crying?

[Vastator]

I have a student who has me flummoxed. We are working on making inferences, reading between the lines, and he really comes up with some off the wall shit. I gave him the opening of "Gift of the Magi" by O'Henry. The first question was, Why is Della crying?

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.

There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.

My student's answer: Boredom. Based on the words, "There was clearly nothing to do"
I asked if he usually throws himself down and howls when he is bored. Ummmm.....errr..... I said we'd get back to that question and we worked through others, like is she rich, how did she get the $1.87, etc. We talked and talked. We read the rest of the story (he loved the irony--is going to read more O'Henry). THEN he knew why Della was crying. He has to take his Hi-SET (GED) and it's full of inference and main idea questions. He's got to do better than "boredom" but I am just not getting him there.

What can I do?

He was subtly informing you of how he was feeling in regard to your approach at teaching. Thank God for it too. Because if you were “getting through”... Who knows what collectivist poison you’d pollute his mind with...

 

[boedicca]

I suggest you have him do some some brief book reports to identify what the dilemma is and how the characters address it.

 

[OldLady]

I have a student who has me flummoxed. We are working on making inferences, reading between the lines, and he really comes up with some off the wall shit. I gave him the opening of "Gift of the Magi" by O'Henry. The first question was, Why is Della crying?

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.

There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.

My student's answer: Boredom. Based on the words, "There was clearly nothing to do"
I asked if he usually throws himself down and howls when he is bored. Ummmm.....errr..... I said we'd get back to that question and we worked through others, like is she rich, how did she get the $1.87, etc. We talked and talked. We read the rest of the story (he loved the irony--is going to read more O'Henry). THEN he knew why Della was crying. He has to take his Hi-SET (GED) and it's full of inference and main idea questions. He's got to do better than "boredom" but I am just not getting him there.

What can I do?

He was subtly informing you of how he was feeling in regard to your approach at teaching. Thank God for it too. Because if you were “getting through”... Who knows what collectivist poison you’d pollute his mind with...

Oh, screw you.

 

[Moonglow]

Show him his life without a GED or an education.

Indignation is why Della is sobbing because life is so difficult.
The last thirty five years I have been training men to become trained adults I use a little something called" making you think without thinking you are thinking.." or the gods approach to insight...

I'm not sure you understood my question. It isn't that this student doesn't care, and it's not that he's stupid either. He inferred that there was a significant other in there somewhere that she really wanted to buy a present for. Yet he still couldn't figure out why she was crying.
Maybe he's emotionally retarded. Is that a guy thing?

Only to guys that are inept in processing the emotion, or he was yanking yer chain.

 

[Moonglow]

I have a student who has me flummoxed. We are working on making inferences, reading between the lines, and he really comes up with some off the wall shit. I gave him the opening of "Gift of the Magi" by O'Henry. The first question was, Why is Della crying?

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.

There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.

My student's answer: Boredom. Based on the words, "There was clearly nothing to do"
I asked if he usually throws himself down and howls when he is bored. Ummmm.....errr..... I said we'd get back to that question and we worked through others, like is she rich, how did she get the $1.87, etc. We talked and talked. We read the rest of the story (he loved the irony--is going to read more O'Henry). THEN he knew why Della was crying. He has to take his Hi-SET (GED) and it's full of inference and main idea questions. He's got to do better than "boredom" but I am just not getting him there.

What can I do?

He was subtly informing you of how he was feeling in regard to your approach at teaching. Thank God for it too. Because if you were “getting through”... Who knows what collectivist poison you’d pollute his mind with...

Oh, screw you.

Wait, does that mean you give fucks?

 

[SweetSue92]

I have a student who has me flummoxed. We are working on making inferences, reading between the lines, and he really comes up with some off the wall shit. I gave him the opening of "Gift of the Magi" by O'Henry. The first question was, Why is Della crying?

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.

There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.

My student's answer: Boredom. Based on the words, "There was clearly nothing to do"
I asked if he usually throws himself down and howls when he is bored. Ummmm.....errr..... I said we'd get back to that question and we worked through others, like is she rich, how did she get the $1.87, etc. We talked and talked. We read the rest of the story (he loved the irony--is going to read more O'Henry). THEN he knew why Della was crying. He has to take his Hi-SET (GED) and it's full of inference and main idea questions. He's got to do better than "boredom" but I am just not getting him there.

What can I do?

From my little corner of the world. For what it's worth. I DO NOT teach reading and wouldn't know how. But most students intrinsically understand songs. Could you play a great song to start a lesson and ask him what is the main point? Sometimes, I think, just reading blurs the main point. Sometimes just the mechanics.

If the above passage were made into a song, what would be the point of the refrain? Maybe that wouldn't help at all, but maybe it will give him the birds eye view over the passage that he needs. Songs are very good at glossing over details and getting at main points, which they then perseverate on by way of a refrain.

Best wishes!

 

[OldLady]

I have a student who has me flummoxed. We are working on making inferences, reading between the lines, and he really comes up with some off the wall shit. I gave him the opening of "Gift of the Magi" by O'Henry. The first question was, Why is Della crying?

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.

There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.

My student's answer: Boredom. Based on the words, "There was clearly nothing to do"
I asked if he usually throws himself down and howls when he is bored. Ummmm.....errr..... I said we'd get back to that question and we worked through others, like is she rich, how did she get the $1.87, etc. We talked and talked. We read the rest of the story (he loved the irony--is going to read more O'Henry). THEN he knew why Della was crying. He has to take his Hi-SET (GED) and it's full of inference and main idea questions. He's got to do better than "boredom" but I am just not getting him there.

What can I do?

From my little corner of the world. For what it's worth. I DO NOT teach reading and wouldn't know how. But most students intrinsically understand songs. Could you play a great song to start a lesson and ask him what is the main point? Sometimes, I think, just reading blurs the main point. Sometimes just the mechanics.

If the above passage were made into a song, what would be the point of the refrain? Maybe that wouldn't help at all, but maybe it will give him the birds eye view over the passage that he needs. Songs are very good at glossing over details and getting at main points, which they then perseverate on by way of a refrain.

Best wishes!

That's really an interesting doorway in, Sue. I wouldn't have a clue what kind of songs kids listen to these days, but asking him to come up with a goofy refrain, THAT he might actually have fun with.

 

[OldLady]

I have a student who has me flummoxed. We are working on making inferences, reading between the lines, and he really comes up with some off the wall shit. I gave him the opening of "Gift of the Magi" by O'Henry. The first question was, Why is Della crying?

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.

There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.

My student's answer: Boredom. Based on the words, "There was clearly nothing to do"
I asked if he usually throws himself down and howls when he is bored. Ummmm.....errr..... I said we'd get back to that question and we worked through others, like is she rich, how did she get the $1.87, etc. We talked and talked. We read the rest of the story (he loved the irony--is going to read more O'Henry). THEN he knew why Della was crying. He has to take his Hi-SET (GED) and it's full of inference and main idea questions. He's got to do better than "boredom" but I am just not getting him there.

What can I do?

He was subtly informing you of how he was feeling in regard to your approach at teaching. Thank God for it too. Because if you were “getting through”... Who knows what collectivist poison you’d pollute his mind with...

Oh, screw you.

Wait, does that mean you give fucks?

Of course I do.

 

[Marion Morrison]

I have a student who has me flummoxed. We are working on making inferences, reading between the lines, and he really comes up with some off the wall shit. I gave him the opening of "Gift of the Magi" by O'Henry. The first question was, Why is Della crying?

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.

There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.

My student's answer: Boredom. Based on the words, "There was clearly nothing to do"
I asked if he usually throws himself down and howls when he is bored. Ummmm.....errr..... I said we'd get back to that question and we worked through others, like is she rich, how did she get the $1.87, etc. We talked and talked. We read the rest of the story (he loved the irony--is going to read more O'Henry). THEN he knew why Della was crying. He has to take his Hi-SET (GED) and it's full of inference and main idea questions. He's got to do better than "boredom" but I am just not getting him there.

What can I do?

It's amazing the disconnect. I have teacher friends who are so frustrated over today's students having no common sense or problem-solving skills.

That's that leftist indoctrination, Bodey-odey-O. Deliberately not teaching problem-solving skills.

 

[Moonglow]

I have a student who has me flummoxed. We are working on making inferences, reading between the lines, and he really comes up with some off the wall shit. I gave him the opening of "Gift of the Magi" by O'Henry. The first question was, Why is Della crying?

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.

There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.

My student's answer: Boredom. Based on the words, "There was clearly nothing to do"
I asked if he usually throws himself down and howls when he is bored. Ummmm.....errr..... I said we'd get back to that question and we worked through others, like is she rich, how did she get the $1.87, etc. We talked and talked. We read the rest of the story (he loved the irony--is going to read more O'Henry). THEN he knew why Della was crying. He has to take his Hi-SET (GED) and it's full of inference and main idea questions. He's got to do better than "boredom" but I am just not getting him there.

What can I do?

It's amazing the disconnect. I have teacher friends who are so frustrated over today's students having no common sense or problem-solving skills.

That's that leftist indoctrination, Bodey-odey-O. Deliberately not teaching problem-solving skills.

Do you hang around in their homes?

 

[Marion Morrison]

" She was sad because she wanted to give him the world and had nothing but ."


"Holla 1-8-7 with mah dick in ya mouth."

 

[Andylusion]

Show him his life without a GED or an education.

Indignation is why Della is sobbing because life is so difficult.
The last thirty five years I have been training men to become trained adults I use a little something called" making you think without thinking you are thinking.." or the gods approach to insight...

I'm not sure you understood my question. It isn't that this student doesn't care, and it's not that he's stupid either. He inferred that there was a significant other in there somewhere that she really wanted to buy a present for. Yet he still couldn't figure out why she was crying.
Maybe he's emotionally retarded. Is that a guy thing?

There is simply too much about this kid that we don't know. Without having met the kid, and interacted with him enough to know his mentality and disposition......

I mean, I'm naturally a cynical person, and my thought when reading this, is that if he does this routinely, then he's doing it just to tweak you. That he actually knows, but wants to pull your chain a bit.

But again... that's my cynicism playing out with limited information. I'd have to actually know this kid to get a better understanding of what is leading to his answer.

On the other hand, it could be the kid is just a direct and literal person. I am one of those types of people. I am terrible at reading between the lines. I've had co-workers tell me that such and such a person was hitting on me, and I still have no idea who was hitting on me, or what action they were doing could be taken as hitting on me.

Unless someone tells me directly "Lets go on a date" I'll have no idea what they want.

It's just part of who I am, and possibly this kid is the same way.

Then an alternative possibility is, people tend to impute their own views on life, on other people. So maybe in his mind, not having enough money for a gift is just how life is, and no point in crying about it, but being bored his really terrible. So he focused on what mattered to him the most.

Lots of possible reasons. Hard to say without talking with him.

 

[OldLady]

Show him his life without a GED or an education.

Indignation is why Della is sobbing because life is so difficult.
The last thirty five years I have been training men to become trained adults I use a little something called" making you think without thinking you are thinking.." or the gods approach to insight...

I'm not sure you understood my question. It isn't that this student doesn't care, and it's not that he's stupid either. He inferred that there was a significant other in there somewhere that she really wanted to buy a present for. Yet he still couldn't figure out why she was crying.
Maybe he's emotionally retarded. Is that a guy thing?

There is simply too much about this kid that we don't know. Without having met the kid, and interacted with him enough to know his mentality and disposition......

I mean, I'm naturally a cynical person, and my thought when reading this, is that if he does this routinely, then he's doing it just to tweak you. That he actually knows, but wants to pull your chain a bit.

But again... that's my cynicism playing out with limited information. I'd have to actually know this kid to get a better understanding of what is leading to his answer.

On the other hand, it could be the kid is just a direct and literal person. I am one of those types of people. I am terrible at reading between the lines. I've had co-workers tell me that such and such a person was hitting on me, and I still have no idea who was hitting on me, or what action they were doing could be taken as hitting on me.

Unless someone tells me directly "Lets go on a date" I'll have no idea what they want.

It's just part of who I am, and possibly this kid is the same way.

Then an alternative possibility is, people tend to impute their own views on life, on other people. So maybe in his mind, not having enough money for a gift is just how life is, and no point in crying about it, but being bored his really terrible. So he focused on what mattered to him the most.

Lots of possible reasons. Hard to say without talking with him.

You have some good points. I can assure you that I have worked with this student long enough to know he's not "tweaking" me. Maybe, like you, he is just a very literal person.. Yet he instinctively gets exactly what is going on in "The Love Song of Alfred J Prufrock." Figure it out.
We'll see if he gets interested in Moby Dick. The philosophical parts should give his brain plenty of push-up time.

 

[Moonglow]

Show him his life without a GED or an education.

Indignation is why Della is sobbing because life is so difficult.
The last thirty five years I have been training men to become trained adults I use a little something called" making you think without thinking you are thinking.." or the gods approach to insight...

I'm not sure you understood my question. It isn't that this student doesn't care, and it's not that he's stupid either. He inferred that there was a significant other in there somewhere that she really wanted to buy a present for. Yet he still couldn't figure out why she was crying.
Maybe he's emotionally retarded. Is that a guy thing?

There is simply too much about this kid that we don't know. Without having met the kid, and interacted with him enough to know his mentality and disposition......

I mean, I'm naturally a cynical person, and my thought when reading this, is that if he does this routinely, then he's doing it just to tweak you. That he actually knows, but wants to pull your chain a bit.

But again... that's my cynicism playing out with limited information. I'd have to actually know this kid to get a better understanding of what is leading to his answer.

On the other hand, it could be the kid is just a direct and literal person. I am one of those types of people. I am terrible at reading between the lines. I've had co-workers tell me that such and such a person was hitting on me, and I still have no idea who was hitting on me, or what action they were doing could be taken as hitting on me.

Unless someone tells me directly "Lets go on a date" I'll have no idea what they want.

It's just part of who I am, and possibly this kid is the same way.

Then an alternative possibility is, people tend to impute their own views on life, on other people. So maybe in his mind, not having enough money for a gift is just how life is, and no point in crying about it, but being bored his really terrible. So he focused on what mattered to him the most.

Lots of possible reasons. Hard to say without talking with him.

You have some good points. I can assure you that I have worked with this student long enough to know he's not "tweaking" me. Maybe, like you, he is just a very literal person.. Yet he instinctively gets exactly what is going on in "The Love Song of Alfred J Prufrock." Figure it out.
We'll see if he gets interested in Moby Dick. The philosophical parts should give his brain plenty of push-up time.

And why are you torturing his young literary mind?

 

[saveliberty]

Me, too. I probably shouldn't have gone into English because it comes too easily to me--so how do I teach someone who doesn't get it right away.
But here we are and I'm stuck with it.
This a.m. I INSISTED that as he reads Ransom of Red Chief (which was written for kids, so the prose is somewhat easier going) that he write down the words he can't figure out from context. I reminded him I am the BOSS and he MUST do this.
Did he? No.
I really like this kid and he likes reading stuff with me, but I'm gonna hit him over the head with the Oxford Dictionary if he's not more trainable than this.

So he's smart enough to avoid looking like his vocabulary is weak. Approach more like this. Parsimony was a tough word for me when I first saw it. What did you think it meant when you saw it?

You're good--he does like to "show off" some. As if he knows more than he does, kinda macho

I taught for a while.