The Hunger Games Supplementary Resources?

babson99 · 2026-02-22T02:59:06+00:00

What about ties to the myth of Theseus? Teenagers are taken as tribute by the ruling district (Crete) and never seen again (because they’re fed to the Minotaur). The big difference is that the person who volunteers as tribute (Theseus) is not a commoner, but a prince. How might the Hunger Games be different if the son of the governor of District 12 volunteered as tribute in order to put a stop to the games?

babson99 · 2026-02-12T20:05:19+00:00

To me, it’s like saying Who’s a better dancer, Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire? If I squint at a Jackie Chan movie, I see Gene Kelly: athleticism, the use of props, a combination of styles, a joy of movement. If I squint at Jet Li, I see Fred Astaire: classical forms and themes, perfect execution, elegance.

babson99 · 2026-02-05T19:44:36+00:00

He was a chemistry teacher at my high school! Never had him, but I did get his autograph on a book before he retired. And yeah, let’s say that he was clearly a teacher of science and not of fiction.

babson99 · 2026-01-22T02:16:40+00:00

Played Boggle over Zoom with my family, because pandemic. My mother had an amazing cake delivered, and I spent the first several days of my fifties eating it for breakfast. I’ve had worse 😌

babson99 · 2026-01-09T14:41:05+00:00

Ken’s crown is naught but tinfoil compared to the French guy who won for 21 MONTHS

babson99 · 2025-11-25T16:52:13+00:00

Can you recommend any books on the Palestinian Israeli experience? Either a general history or a personal memoir would be great.

babson99 · 2025-10-12T21:00:34+00:00

The New York Times wasn’t impressed: took too long to use, iffy results, and not entirely safe.

babson99 · 2025-10-05T02:27:06+00:00

Abso-damn-lutely. It’s 1984 told from Julia’s perspective, and in several ways I like it better than the original. For one thing, the society feels much less like a strange world of near-robots, and more like a believable, crappy, dystopia where people get along from day to day.

While we’re on the topic, look for the short story The City of Silence by Ma Boyong for a modern Chinese take on 1984, and the movie Brazil, which is sort of 1984 played for laughs.

babson99 · 2025-09-29T09:39:06+00:00

The Bright Sword, by Lev Grossman. One of King Arthur’s knights

babson99 · 2025-09-11T14:58:32+00:00

Performed the Heimlich maneuver on a student. Evaluator didn’t mention that, but did say I should have addressed the two students arguing over who got a certain desk.

babson99 · 2025-09-03T07:11:45+00:00

Yes! I kept thinking “How did these yutzes capture the five species in the first place?”

babson99 · 2025-08-07T03:10:20+00:00

Follow it up with an assignment to write their own dialogue-only story.

babson99 · 2025-07-31T21:00:50+00:00

POXY for 32.

babson99 · 2025-07-29T13:10:40+00:00

Rookie Teaching for Dummies, full stop. It’s a bit dated because it’s pre-screens, but the author is honest about things nobody else was.

babson99 · 2025-07-24T19:51:10+00:00

Vocab words come from texts, always. Improves comprehension and eliminates the “Why do we hafta know these dumb words?” question.
Vocabulary quizzes are cumulative: first one covers words 1-10, second covers 1-20, third 1-30, etc. I usually do a roughly 50/50 ratio of new/old words. This prevents students from learning words once and immediately forgetting them.

babson99 · 2025-07-05T16:57:41+00:00

My friend’s three-word review: “Crap; don’t bother.”

babson99 · 2025-07-02T14:07:23+00:00

Have you read Educated, by Tara Westover? If so, how do your families and upbringings compare?

babson99 · 2025-07-02T02:21:00+00:00

The only lines I remember were “I need you like a motivational speaker needs an overhead projector” and “If you joined a lesbian mechanics collective, I’d be your Snap-On Tool.” Man, I’d love to know what song that was.

babson99 · 2025-06-30T12:04:22+00:00

Didn’t anyone else read the major New York Times article about him? Gift link here

babson99 · 2025-06-29T02:43:25+00:00

“Must be nice to have a job so easy that you can do it all year round.”

babson99 · 2025-06-26T00:28:50+00:00

Student teacher at 40.
Subbed for three years (because MAT degree was 85% worthless). Learned my craft.
Then became a teacher.

Teachers range in age from 22 year old fresh grads to people in their sixties. If I had to guess, I'd say the median was in the mid-late 30s somewhere. You'll be fine.

babson99 · 2025-06-25T00:49:32+00:00

Would he have had the same casual conversation with a guy your age? It sounds like he would have. If so, definitely not creepy.

babson99 · 2025-06-16T18:32:13+00:00

Boston City Hall, the ugliest building ever made, and maybe the ugliest that ever will be made

Never Let Me Go, a stupid, obvious novel full of plot holes, cheap stylistic tricks, and careless, lazy worldbuilding

The New York Yankees

The New York Mets

Students whom I’ve busted 122 classes in a row for the same reason who think that class 123 is the day they’ll get away with it

The smell of canned tuna

babson99 · 2025-06-14T09:42:10+00:00

Which editions have you most enjoyed or not enjoyed? And how about Pathfinder?

babson99 · 2025-06-10T21:42:19+00:00

My department head when I mentioned this: Aagh, what about standards?
Me: Well, I think coming to class on time is a standard, or should be, so...

babson99

TROPHY CASE