Smarts?

I've been feeling lately like I have very little to offer my students. I feel very much like they don't respect me because they think they're smarter than me and have no need for my knowledge. I have never worked with honors kids before and have not really faced this kind of problem. And it is a problem. If my students believe they don't need me or that I'm not teaching them anything than how will they grow? They won't. And how do they learn in class? They don't.

I have a friend who says she spends the first quarter of Freshman Honors English breaking kids' egos down, and I didn't quite understand what she meant until now. I have no idea how to do this. It's generally not how I teach. The whole situation has left me confused and discouraged. Until this morning...

I woke up to find an email from my mom speaking my language, movie quotes. She found the conversation between Robin Williams and Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting and sent it to me. The conversation deals with some of the very same struggles I'm having and just really encouraged me. I'm by no means as experienced as Robin Williams, a man of 50 years, but I have lived more life than my students. There is a reason they've hired me and trust me with these kids in my classroom. Not to mention that I hope what I have to offer these kids is more than knowledge. More than the ability to "analyze literature." I hope I offer these kids love and grace and an opportunity to know more about themselves and others. I could keep trying to explain the logic, but I'd rather the quotes just speak for themselves. So here goes (warning: there is explicit language below):

Sean: I thought about what you said to me the other day, about my painting. I stayed up half the night thinking about it. Something occurred to me. I fell into a deep peaceful sleep. I haven't thought about you since. Do you know what occurred to me? You're just a kid. You don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about.

Sean: So, if I asked you about art you'd probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michaelangelo, you know allot about him. Life's work, political aspirations, him and the Pope, sexual orientation, the whole works, right? But I bet you can't tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You've never actually stood there, and looked at that beautiful ceiling.

Sean: If I ask you about women. You would probably give me a syllabus of your personal favorites. You may have even been laid a few times. But you can't tell me what it feels like to wake up next to a woman and feel truly happy. You're a tough kid. If I was to ask you about war you'd probably throw Shakespeare at me, right? Once more into the breech dear friends. But you've never been near one. You've never held your best friend's head in your lap, and watch him gasp his last breath looking to you for help.

Sean: Personally, I don't give shit about all that. Because you know what? I can't learn anything from you I can't read in some fucking book. Unless you want to talk about you. Who you are. Then I'm fascinated. I'm in. But you don't want to do that, do you sport? You're terrified of what you might say. Your move chief.