SEPTEMBER PROMPTS - BACK TO SCHOOL

[Christine Daaé]

SEPTEMBER PROMPTS

BACK TO SCHOOL

~ʔ OPTION ONE – STUDENTS ʕ~

Everyone goes through learning experiences in their life, whether it be at school, at home, at work, at a religious gathering, etc. Often, there are important things that we learn, such as life lessons, or crucial skills that affect our capability to go throughout life. What is the most important skill or lesson that your character has learned? Your task is to write what this skill or lesson, moral, etc. is, from who or what they learned it and where, how they learned it, and what impact it has had on their lives. Your response must be a minimum of four paragraphs in length and contain proper spelling and grammar.

~ʔ OPTION TWO – TEACHERS ʕ~

Teachers are one of the world's greatest gifts. Not all teachers are the kind you go to in school though. A teacher who can be anyone who takes the time to pass on a lesson, or a moral, or a skill to another person. Has your character ever acted as teacher or mentor to someone? What did they teach them and what was the connection they felt to their student? Your task is answering these exact questions. Your response must be at least three paragraphs in length and contain proper spelling and grammar.

~ʔ OPTION THREE – PARENTS ʕ~

The life of a parent is marked by watching one's child learn and progress as they grow. Is your character a parent? If so, this is one thing they've likely watched in their child. Your assignment is to write about a quality or skill your character has seen grow and develop in their child over time. Be sure to include things like how they first noticed this trait or skill in their child and what was the most special time the two of them spent together where this trait played. Your response should be at least four paragraphs in length and contain proper spelling and grammar.
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[Erik Lenoir]

[glow=blue,2,300]OPTION #2[/glow]

September was the month that traditional schools began their lessons for the autumn, winter and into the spring. Erik loved to teach. Of course he had not had anyone to pass on his vast store of knowledge until he had met Christine at the Opéra Populaire in his former life. Ever since he had laid eyes on her and heard her voice, he had not only fallen in love, but knew that he had to teach her.

Christine's voice was nearly perfect, but untaught. She needed lessons only to hone her voice. He longed for her to the be prima donna of the opera company, and with music lessons and a bit of training in self-confidence for her, she would be ready.

Erik approached her from behind the mirror in her dressing room. He had secret doors and panels placed in many places in the opera house which he had helped to design. This mirror was a one way mirror; Erik could seee through it, but Christine could not see behind it. However, she could hear anything he said from behind the mirror.

Erik hid himself, for even with his mask firmly in place, he was a strange looking man and he feared frightening the young woman. When he first spoke to her, Christine thought he was an Angel of Music come from heaven as her father had spoken of so many times. It was a fortunate mistake, for it made Chrstine trust the strange disembodied, but angelic voice that she heard from behind the mirror.

Every day, Erik came to the mirror and honed her beautiful voice. Every day it became more lovely and more perfect. Erik made her go over and over voice exercises and then go on to the pieces that he wished her to sing. He taught her many operatic pieces, but emphasized the ones which Carlotta Guidicelli normally sang in the operas. He was planning for Christine to replace Carlotta, whose voice made his ears bleed.

Christine was a good student. She was eager to please her Angel of Music and very trusting as well. This was good news to Erik. He also discovered that she was very susceptible to Erik's singing voice...it seemed to entrance her, mesmerize her and she was very amenable to suggestion in that state.

The first time that Christine sang alone on stage, she seemed a bit frightened, but then she gained confidence and gave such a lovely performance. She was then asked to take the place of Carlotta who had left the stage, in response of course to Erik suddenly dropping a backdrop which fell with a loud noise.

But when Christine sang that first time, Erik knew he had taught her well. She was amazing and he smiled with satisfaction and pride watching her.

[Raoul Christophe de Chagny]

He didn’t know what had possessed him to start teaching. He wanted to think that it was simply because it was an important profession, that he was doing the world a service by teaching a group of English children how to read, but as selfless as he could be at times, his reasons weren’t entirely selfless—he needed the money. He needed it to pay for both law school and the engagement ring he planned to buy for Christine.

So that had brought him to the small village school as an English teacher. Why had he chosen this occupation? After all, there were some other jobs he was qualified for that he could have made a lot more money doing. But he had chosen to become a schoolteacher. Maybe he wanted to outdo Lenoir. If he could teach, so could he—and he would do it legitimately. Surely she could be proud of him for that.

Thus a large percentage of the reason why he had decided this had to do with winning her approval. It was almost pathetic really, how much he yearned for her approval. He should not have even had to try. But he did, since she was what mattered the most to him.

He had surprisingly taken to teaching rather well. He hadn’t had much experience dealing with children, and that required him to be patient—which he usually wasn’t, but being a teacher had helped him learn patience. He had had a few months of experience, but this would be his first full school year teaching. He wasn’t as nervous as he had been the first day of the job, but he was a bit on edge. After all, he’d have an impact on these children’s futures, so he needed to do his job right.

He’d spent the past few nights staying up and preparing his lesson plans for the next several weeks, perfecting them as best as he knew how. Even now he was a bit jumpy. He took a sip of his chamomile tea to steady his nerves, and turned the page of his newspaper. There were five minutes until class started. He glanced up at the clock before shifting in his seat. It was funny how he was this scared when he had been a Vicomte before he’d come here. His life then seemed so distant from what he was doing now. At first he’d missed it, but now it wasn’t much of a loss. Then he had felt so…aimless. He had just come back from the Navy and had a large sum of money in his possession, but didn’t know what to do with it or his life. He funded the opera, but beyond that he hadn’t had any goals. But now he was doing something meaningful—educating youth and working toward his law degree—and he felt important. He was teaching them about Shakespeare and how to write decently, and they taught him that his self-worth wasn’t just limited to his title. He owed his students an excellent education.

He looked up as the students entered the classroom and smiled, standing. “Good morning, class. Welcome back.”