personal
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in which I do not become a Unitarian after all
(Check out Part One and Part Two of this story.) So two weeks before Christmas, I once again eschewed the Sunday sleep-in, put on my best blue sweater and black jacket, and metroed down to the Unitarian church, this time alone. My nervousness about being there without The Boyfriend Buffer was balanced by my greater Continue reading
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in which I become a Unitarian: part two
(for Part One of this continuing saga, please go here.) On a Sunday morning, The Boyfriend and I took the metro to Vendome, to attend Montreal’s only Unitarian church. We underestimated the travel time, which is unlike us, and arrived in time for the service by the skin of our teeth. We were greeted outside Continue reading
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in which I become a Unitarian: part one
I have a confession to make. I’ve been going to church. Those who know me may find this surprising. I’m not a churchy type. I don’t really own any “church clothes.” I like to sleep in whenever I can, including Sunday mornings. Before a few weeks ago, I probably hadn’t been to a church service Continue reading
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listening and learning: Mark Smilowitz’s Classroom Teaching podcasts
My sabbatical is almost over. I return to teaching classes in a week and a half, after an 8-month, much-needed hiatus. I’m not dreading the return. I feel well rested, even freshly optimistic. I’m not having panic attacks. (I was dogged by chronic hyperventilation syndrome the whole of last August, until I woke up on Continue reading
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When You Are Uncool
This week, I finally got around to reading the NY Times Sunday Magazine’s yearly “College Issue,” which came out at the end of September. This year’s issue focuses on teaching, so I set it aside with the intention of reading it carefully when I could bear to think about teaching. I’m on sabbatical, so I’ve Continue reading
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students and decision-making power
I’d like to turn more decision-making power over to my students. In particular, I’d like to give students more choices about their reading material and their assignments. One teacher in my department allows students a choice of six different novels for their final reading, and orders six copies of each for the bookstore, ensuring that Continue reading
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sharing leadership with students
I have mixed feelings about a recent attempt of mine to share more leadership with students in the classroom. This past semester, I taught a new course on personal narrative. In this course, we read the memoir Angela’s Ashes; I decided to structure our discussion of the book as a series of seminars. I divided Continue reading
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some thoughts on student feedback
In some of my courses, I have tried to ask students for more frequent anonymous feedback – midterm assessments, for example, in addition to the usual end-of-term evaluations. I have often found, however, that the feedback doesn’t teach me much that I don’t already know through simple observation. This might say something about the kinds Continue reading
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spare the rod: part two: primary vs. secondary relationships
To clarify the shift in my thinking, let me point out an important development that has taken place in my relationship to my profession. My first teaching job was as an assistant English teacher at a tiny French primary school outside Ottawa. I was nineteen, and had just left my home province for the first Continue reading
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spare the rod: part one
It has become clear to me that many of my students need a firm hand. Now, why you would reach the age of 17 or 18, make the decision to come to college, and still need a punitive nanny standing over you and telling you how to behave in the classroom is beyond me. Why the 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 