education
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Blog Hop!
Apparently a “blog hop” is a thing. I’ve been invited to participate in this one by my friend Anita Lahey, whose fascinating blog Henrietta & Me is all about the books she’s reading and the people in them. Anita is a poet, essayist and journalist; her poetry collection Out to Dry in Cape Breton was… Continue reading
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FYI
Dear Composition 101 students: “YOLO” is not a topic sentence. Continue reading
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I Mean It
If I hear the phrase “I’m going to be honest with you, miss…” one more time today, I’m going to make a big sign saying I DON’T CARE WHY YOU DIDN’T DO THE HOMEWORK and tack it to my forehead. Continue reading
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“I AM the Teacher”
After a long and infuriating day of grading final papers, here’s a random quote from my favourite writer that makes me feel oddly, ambivalently better. ‘You act,’ said one of her Senior Seminar students at a scheduled conference, ‘like your opinion is worth more than everybody else’s in the class.’ Zoe’s eyes widened. ‘I AM… Continue reading
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Fiction Makes You Better at Stuff
I’m planning some research on whether reading/studying fiction and other kinds of narrative is really such an important thing to do. I was therefore immediately drawn to this article (even though it’s Saturday night and I’m desperately trying to finish grading a stack of papers): a commentary on why techie geeks should read fiction. Is… Continue reading
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This Book is Too Sad
A reader and colleague sent me this question the other day. What would you do in her position? Dear Siobhan, A few of my college students (note, not the class as a whole) have told me they’re having a really hard time with the book we’re studying in class because it’s too sad. It’s The… Continue reading
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How Sexy is Too Sexy?
How much explicit sex is acceptable in a book required for a college class? If students have some say in whether they read the book, does that make a difference? One of my courses includes a list of eight novels about adolescence. Four or five students will read each novel and will work together to… Continue reading
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Bye-bye, Google Reader
As many of you know, Google Reader is shutting down on Monday. I haven’t used it in years, but I’m sure some of you still do. If you need a new platform for following Classroom as Microcosm, here are a few options. Look in the right-hand column. See the button that says “Sign me up”? … Continue reading
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The Art of Running Away
It’s been a tough semester. I’ve described some of the trials already: a new course that didn’t work very well, an unsuccessful experiment with blogs, a number of unpleasant end-of-semester exchanges. More than a month after the end of classes, I’m still dealing with a challenge to one of my plagiarism rulings, and still awaiting… Continue reading
About Me
My job is to teach people to read and write; aside from that, I like to learn things.
Classroom as Microcosm 