teaching
February 23, 2009
- As an English teacher in Park City, Utah, I hand my students a “self-start” as they enter the classroom each day. Yesterday, I gave them a free write. During a free write, students read the prompt and write for a solid ten minutes. Grammar and spelling don’t count. The only thing that matters is that they think and write. Usually, I copy the prompt onto bright colored paper and ...
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February 20, 2009
- Not robbing banks, or the drug trade or anything so interesting. I'm a schoolteacher by trade, and I'm two weeks (sort of*) back in the classroom. And I'm EXHAUSTED, but it feels.....right. No yoga to speak of, but I'l get back to that. So if you do read the blog.....and I have conclusive evidence that at least two of you do, then turn towards the articles. I think it's about time I brushed ...
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February 16, 2009
- Everybody knows who Babe Ruth was. Millions watch the Jerry Rices of the world catch footballs and the Lance Armsrtrongs race through France. But how many people can name the winner of an award won by a teacher in their community - if in fact there is such an award?As a person who taught and administrated in schools for years and then consulted with teachers, I offer a plan for the reform of ...
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February 16, 2009
- If one wanted to look at 1930s culture, a good way to start would be to watch two films:1. Tim Robbins' The Cradle Will Rock is a fun account of the government's failed attempt to censor Mark Blitzstein's musical- everybody shows up in the film from Diego Rivera to Orson Wells to Rockerfeller 2. John Ford's Grapes of Wrath- Ford was a great American film director and this film is an ...
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February 13, 2009
- When I was a younger teacher, I always canceled classes during the semester in order to hold conferences. I thought it was crucial that I spend 15-20 minutes with every student, going over an essay, talking about the class, his or her performance. I'm not sure what year in the 90's I stopped doing this, but I did. I was overwhelmed by them in general--overwhelmed by my life. I didn't ...
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February 4, 2009
- A couple of days ago, a student wrote to me to ask if we could compromise. You see, he was just flat out tired of reading the assigned book, A New Earth. To him, Tolle is just droning, a nonstop yadda, yadda, yadda. The book was really bogging him down, wrecking his day, making him cranky. In short, he hated it, and wanted to know how he could get around having to read it, write about ...
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January 31, 2009
- I saw the film Revolutionary Road last night. It's a work of art on every level, the cinematography, the acting, the script. Based on Richard Yates' great novel, the script uses dialogue directly quoted from the book. Powerful. I was riveted. The film is a poem of brutal truth. It doesn't flinch. I won't say anything more about the plot, so I don't spoil the experience if you ...
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January 27, 2009
- Coconut poetry accepted my submission -- some bad dancing ensues (kinda like the hustle in slo-mo). This is like my 4th submission to them -- and my acceptance actually got lost in my spam filter , so I didn't hear til last night, when it was actually sent in November! The editor inquired why I never got back to them on my facebook acct. and I was like "what!" Anyway, they also used ...
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January 14, 2009
- For the first time since 1989 I am teaching a creative writing workshop. Twenty years ago I was a grad student at NYU, living off a 7K stipend and a paralegal paycheck. I had my idols and burned stuff I wrote just to prove to myself that all I cared about was the process. Back then it was fiction, but now with a memoir coming out, its creative nonfiction. My first challenge was selecting a ...
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December 18, 2008
- Today I submitted my final grades for the semester in what may well be my last semester teaching at college. This is a sort of deja vu in that I have submitted my final grades in what might have been my last semester of teaching five or six times now and then after a period of unemployment got hired again. With the economy as it is, and New York as it is, perhaps this really is the last time. I ...
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