"I was commander of that ship - my men have mutinied against me..."
I, of course, needed to explain to my students the meaning of mutiny. One student said, "It's like mutant." I had to think for a second about the connection he was making, but then I exclaimed, "Yes! Class, what is the root of mutiny and mutant?"
"Mut."
"Yes! And what does 'mut' mean?"
"Change!"
"The crew wants to make a change. They don't want to follow the captain, and that's why they set him 'on shore in this desolate place.' "
It was quite exciting.
My class has also been living with The Tempest this year. In the same paragraph, the captain asks Robinson, "Am I talking to God or man. Is it a real man or an angel?"
My class made a connection to Shakespeare. "That," one student said, "is like when Ferdinand asks Miranda if she's a goddess or a maiden."
It's the little moments like this...
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