HOTEL CALIFORNIA

I mentioned on my last blog how much I like the Eagles’ song “Hotel California.” Both the genius and I have liked the song for years, but he has put a twist on it and incorporated it into his classroom at school.

If you’re familiar with the lyrics of the song, you know that the singer wanders into a hotel and discovers it to be a strange place with all kinds of weird goings on going on there. When he tries to leave, he hears

“Relax!” said the night man, “We are programmed to receive.
You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave!”

It truly sounds like a picture of Hell.

So here’s what the genius did with it. He gives homework everyday and many days takes it up and grades it. He tells the students that they can get help from each other or come to see him early in the morning before school if they feel the need. He almost always has several boys come to him for help on their homework because they know that there is a possibility it will be graded.

He gives each student one chance to miss his homework and take a 0, but if he does it the second time, he automatically goes into Hotel California for the rest of the semester. What this means is that from that point on, his homework will be taken up and graded everyday.

When a student gains this “honor” a big deal is made of it. The video of the Eagles’ singing the song flashes up on the wall and the guy is “inducted” into the hotel. As you can imagine, not very many boys make it into the “club”; the ones who do must be on their toes every day to keep from getting more 0’s.

Now that’s an ingenious (or genius) idea!!