IN THE CLASSROOM -- A Scarlet Letter day

Danette Goulet

ORANGE COAST COLLEGE -- Holding a tattered copy of Nathaniel

Hawthorne’s “A Scarlet Letter” aloft, Sasha Stanley sat before her

English class reading the part of Hester Prynne.

Although she seemed a bit hesitant, and missed a couple of cues, the

junior at Orange Coast Middle College High School was happy to oblige her

teacher’s request and earn 20 extra points on her class grade .

And so that comparative literature teacher, Richard Hoff, donned a

black hat to symbolize the evil nature of the character he portrayed,

Roger Chillingworth -- and the dramatic reading began.

He sat, he stood, he gestured. His voice rose and fell with the

emotional undercurrents of the character’s speech.

Branded with an “A” so all may know her shame, a woman stands on

scaffolding with her illegitimate child in her arms. In the crowd she

spots a familiar face.

For those who have read the classic American novel, this is a familiar

scene.

And one you’d think -- with all the scandal it contains -- would grab

the attention of teenagers. Alas, attention spans were fleeting despite

Hoff’s attempt to draw them in with drama.

The scene was followed by readers finding out who the man is, and the

plot of revenge is introduced.

Still nothing.

In fact, oddly enough, more students seemed attentive when they were

asked to find the dependent clauses in a list of sentences -- something I

well remember tuning out.

But regardless of whether the class is riveted by the tale, they are

definitely learning some great vocabulary words.

The list of words Hoff drew from the book, which students were to

learn, was quite impressive: luxuriance, imbue, rank, delusive,

dauntless, conjuration, enmity, impel, imperious and imperatively.

* IN THE CLASSROOM is a weekly feature in which Daily Pilot education

writer Danette Goulet visits a campus within the Newport-Mesa Unified

School District and writes about her experience.

FYI

WHO: Juniors at Orange Coast Middle College High School

WHAT: Comparative literature class

WHERE: The OCC campus

LESSON: “The Scarlet Letter,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne