Boredom before Lunch

Starting to grade another essay, I find
my mind reflected between lines:
blank, white as noise or paper, the static
characters rustling like wings in an attic.

Failures; but is it their fault? they’re bright,
eager, and I worked on “Frost at Midnight”
so long, so long . . . . We’re dim, dull, and really,
who understands Coleridge? I get sleepy

just thinking about it. Pinned to the wall,
the syllabus looks like a poem, the sprawl
of works and days—or like bands of insects
caught in snow, stilled, numbed, unable to object.

 

Brad Richard
from his book Habitations
Portals Press, 2000
used by permission of the poet
and with express permission of Portals Press


Listen to Brad Richard reading his poem, “Boredom before Lunch”

Listen to

 

LESSON PLANS

For an English Class

Lesson Plan for Brad Richard’s “Boredom before Lunch”
by Laurie Williams

Read this poem aloud to the class.

Have students make a list of what they find boring—make sure they are specific.

Have them categorize their list into required (like waiting for the doctor) and not required (Saturday morning when anything is possible).

Do certain times of day (like before or after lunch) cause more boredom for required tasks?

Does place have anything to do with boredom?

Discuss the difference between reading for pleasure and reading for “work.”

What causes boredom in reading? Having to read for work or the actual words on the page?

Using Mr. Richard’s poem as a model, have students take the information from their lists and write a poem about boredom.

Please note that some students may find English class boring, so set ground rules if you need to. Direct them to the boredom of math and history, and have them be kind and gracious when including teacher presentation, or exclude people from the poem altogether. One of my favorite student poems compares English class to watching paint dry. You can also write your own poem at the boredom of reading student essays (not poems, of course, because those are always much more entertaining—nudge—nudge—wink—wink.)

For a Math Class

Lesson Plan for Brad Richard’s “Boredom before Lunch”
by Laurie Williams

Read this poem aloud to the class.

Have the students look through their graded English essays and determine the following.

What is the average number of words for an essay?

How long does it take to closely read (not skimming) one essay?

Some essays will have few errors and some will have many.

What is the average number of errors in an essay?

How long does it take on average to mark each essay?

What is the average number of students in each English class?

How many minutes does it take to read a class set of essays?

How many minutes does it take to mark a class set of essays?

How many minutes on average do students spend writing the essay?

What is the difference between the amount of time spend writing the essay, reading the essay, and marking the essay?

What factors vary the amount of time required for each (writing, reading, marking)?

For variation, have students read a variety of published essays on any topic and note how frequently their minds begin to wander.

How many words are they able to read before their minds drift away?

How often do they have to go back and reread because of mind drift?

They can also do the above and determine the average number of words per essay, etc.

For a Science Class

Lesson Plan for Brad Richard’s “Boredom before Lunch”
by Laurie Williams

Read this poem aloud to the class.

Have students make a list of what they find boring—make sure they are specific.

How do they know they are bored? What physical symptoms occur during boredom?

How does yawning affect the brain? the lungs? the heart?

Is yawning contagious?

Have students keep a “boredom” notebook.

Have them write down when they are bored,

how they know they are bored,

what are their breathing rate and pulse rate are during boredom,

how often do they yawn, and if they notice others yawning around them,

what causes their mind to wander,

if they tired to begin with when the boredom occurred.

do they ever yawn when not bored?

Have them write a lab report on how boredom affects their physical state and if yawning is a good indicator of boredom.]

Comments are closed.