“That cordial air made those kind
people a hood
All over…”-- Gerard Manley Hopkins, “In the
Valley of the Elwy”
It’s always been my hope to have a cordial
classroom, a place for people to come together in good-natured camaraderie. The very air in my room, I hope, has a happy feel about it, as though
it’s found it’s special place among my students and me. The word “cordial”
comes from the Latin word for “heart”, and indeed, there hopefully is a
heartwarming quality – a sense of pervasive and persistent kindness – in the
air as the students come in. Learning to listen to the words of writers with
the wisdom the world gives us is what English class is all about, and being in
a place of kindheartedness and consideration surely helps that process. In Hopkins’
words, it’s like having “a hood /All over” us, a protective covering under
which we can feel the influence of books and our own best thoughts.
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