Cinderella Man

There are these courses that I think started at Trottier when I was in eighth grade called electives. Basically, all the eighth graders (I think?) choose one or two of these electives to fill their “white periods” during the day. I don’t remember what the white periods were used for before, but maybe now an eighth grader doesn’t have to take art or shop if he doesn’t want to—the electives take its place. From what I remember, these electives vary from speech and debate to drama to an academic course that goes into more detail. The particular one I’m sitting in this month is called “American History through Music and Film.” This course explores the main events and cultures throughout American History through music and film. Currently, the small number of students taking this elective is watching Cinderella Man, a film set during the Great Depression. (side note: Russell Crowe is so good in this, and if this movie is not in the Hathaway Netflix queue, it should be.) The kids are noticing how hard making money was during that time and the extents one would take to get any sort of money (and the terminology used at the time). The course hopes to prepare these eighth grade students for their history courses in high school. I think they’d be able to understand history more thoroughly because they are watching scenes that recreate a culture from a particular moment in time.

These kids are really lucky to have the choice of electives in middle school. You don’t have to take art if you don’t want to, or music if you choose not to. And these courses are so different and interesting that they’re not really like any other standard core academic course. Plus, it’s one of the only times a class can be smaller than the average class size of (20-30). This film class has between 10 or 15--that number is pretty nice.