1
The History Teacherby Billy Collins

• Continuation of deep thoughts
• Answer the following questions
• Write a new improved deep thought paragraph.

2

• The History Teacher (by Billy Collins)
• Trying to protect his students innocence
• he told them the Ice Age was really just
• the chilly Age, a period of a million years
• when everyone had to wear sweaters.
• And the Stone Age became the Gravel Age,
• named after the long driveways of the time.
• The Spanish Inquisition was nothing more
• Than an outbreak of questions such as
• How far is it from here to Madrid?
• What do you call the matadors hat?
• The War of the Roses took place in a garden
• And the Enola Gay dropped one tiny atom
• On Japan.
• The children would leave his classroom
• For the playground to torment the weak
• and the smart,
• Mussing up their hair and breaking their glasses,
• While he gathered up his notes and walked home

3

1. What type of child do you think the History
   Teacher might have been?
2. What does that imply about the power of education?

4
I believe that Billy Collins is saying that no
education leads to violence.

• What section of the poem contradicts this claim?
• What section of the poem is not at all addressed
  by this claim?

5
This poem is about the protection of innocence.

• Assuming this idea is a good one (!), how could
  this scrawny sentence be improved?
• A. Why is the above sentence scrawny?
• What sections of the text contradicts this
  statement?
• What portions of the text are completely ignored
  by this statement?

6
By not educating the kids, though they are born
violent, become more violent.

1. How can you make this sentence more smooth?
2. What controversial assumption is being made in
   this statement?
3. Could it be that the assumption is the actual
   poit being made by the poet?

7
The teacher represents all society and the
children represent all children.

1. This statement is too strong. How could you
   modify it and still use it?
2. If this statement is true, what is the meaning of
   the poem?
3. If this is true, what about the picket fences?

8
This teacher, who is ignoring history, does not
have the life he could have.

1. This statement is sort of true.
2. How do you make this statement all the way true?
3. Once the statement is true, what about the picket
   fences?

9
The teacher believes that an education breeds
conformity and meanness.

• Who is the most educated person in the poem? Is
  he a conformist? How do you know?
• What do you think of this sentence?

10
There is no way to achieve the American Dream
except through violence or politics.

• One part of this sentence is irrelevant to the
  poem, true though it may be. What part?
• If this statement is true, what about the picket
  fences?

11
The teacher is part of a perpetuating cycle of
violence.

1. Support this statement with evidence from the
   text.
2. Refute this statement with evidence from the text.

12
The children would leave his classroomFor the
playground to torment the weakand the smart

1. Why do they torment the other kids outside of
   class on the playground?
2. What assumption can be made about the efficacy of
   the teacher based on the answer to the first
   question?

13

• Rewrite your deep thought paragraph (or two)
  using at least two paraphrases or direct quotes,
  and make sure your thoughts take into account the
  entire poem, not juts portions of it.
• If you dont have the poem, it is on the 2nd
  slide.