“Little Did He Know” Stranger Than Fiction
“Little Did He Know” Stranger Than Fiction
Stranger Than Fiction is one of my favorite movies. There is a scene in the film (below) when Harold, (Will Ferrell) meets with a literature Professor (Dustin Hoffman) to help him identify the voice that is narrating his life. The film is brilliant and very well done, especially if you are a reader or writer.
My favorite lines from this scene are
Harold Crick(Ferrell): You just said ten seconds ago, you wouldn’t help me.Professor Jules Hilbert(Hoffman): It’s been a very revealing ten seconds.
Hilbert’s statement describes 75% of my interactions with students as an administrator. In my heart and mind, I believe that everyone is trying to give me the best version of the truth that they can. However, when it comes to investigations or situations, there is only one version of the truth, which IS what happened, not what we remember what happened. We don’t get there, IS what happened very often, if ever.
I don’t know if we have ever gotten a 100% accurate picture of what is happening or happened in a given situation. Especially when multiple people including teachers, parents, and students are involved. And it feels like every time we talk to a new person involved with the case it is a revealing ten seconds.
As an admin team, we try extremely hard to get to the actual truth. We never do. We make decisions and issue consequences or negate consequences based on what we feel is the most accurate information we can gather from all parties involved.
For example, when Harold drops the line, “Little did he know…” Hilbert has an instant increase of knowledge, a theophany if you will, a bucket of new schema and data to inform his next decision, which is, to help Harold. It is a twist of literary fate.
Little did Harold know,(see what I did there) that a small piece of information, four words to be exact, would change the outcome of his situation.
Like Harold, students give us little pieces of information that help us connect the story or investigation, or they provide us with information that goes against what we have previously gathered.
Much of my day is deciphering truth from fiction, and fact from fabrication. We use the information we find, to be reasonable when working with adolescents and the choices they make.
Side Note: The irony of Harold’s OCD and Hilbert’s double coffee (if you missed it watch the clip again) are fabulous.