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Khan Academy: What are the Possibilities?
I just today learned about Khan Academy, the online education institution whose goal is “providing a free world-class education to anyone anywhere.” In the TED talk above, the academy’s founder, Salman Khan, describes exactly how the project works. The site is home to more than 2400 educational lecture videos, mostly in the domains of math… Continue reading
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What Young Adults Should Read
There’s been a lot of furor over the recent Wall Street Journal essay that claims that YA fiction has taken a turn to the dark side. It isn’t surprising that my favourite commentary on this piece so far comes from Linda Holmes, editor of the NPR pop-culture blog Monkey See and moderator of my fifth-favourite podcast… Continue reading
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Looking for Thoughts on Waiting for Superman
Last week I finally saw Waiting for “Superman,” and I found it both compelling and suspect. As a post-secondary Canadian teacher, I find myself unable to evaluate the validity of the questions posed or the answers suggested by this film. Are charter schools the answer to the US’s educational woes? (Or ours?) Will merit pay… Continue reading
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Does Reading Great Literature Make You A Better Person?
I love Laura Miller, the Books critic for Salon.com. However, in today’s Salon she’s making an argument that I’ve heard a lot and that I do not like. She’s reviewing William Deresiewicz’s new book, A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship and the Things that Really Matter. I have not read this book… Continue reading
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In Which Siobhan Does Not Lose Her Temper Over Important Literary and Pedagogical Matters
Is non-fiction less “literary” than fiction? Someone has suggested to me that it is, and I’m so mad about it I could spit. Last week, I attended a meeting with English teachers from several colleges. We were there to give feedback to the creators of some online essay-writing activities. We looked at some sample exercises,… Continue reading
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The Five Best Podcasts in the World
Because I’m an English teacher, I rarely read anything I don’t have to. During the semester, my novels collect dust on the coffee table, my Kindle lies abandoned in my schoolbag, and the weekend newspapers sit coiled uncomfortably in their rubber bands until I toss them in the recycling bin. Once my final grading is… Continue reading
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Abbreviations Gone Wild
Dear Students: “englishass.doc” and “litanal.pdf” are not appropriate file names for uploaded documents. I am afraid to open your assignments. Continue reading
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Character = Behavior: A Lesson Plan
Two parallel experiences over the last couple of weeks have culminated in a lesson plan that I may need to add to my permanent roster. First, I’ve been meeting with students to look at their first at-home essay. Their essays have to include a discussion of characterization, but it’s clear that many of them are… Continue reading
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Rolling in the Girls’ Room
Yesterday, the following conversation occurred on my personal Facebook page. * Siobhan: Am I an old fuddy-duddy because I just emailed Security about the two boys and their girlfriend sitting on the counter in the women’s washroom rolling a massive joint? Am I less of a fuddy-duddy because, after I kicked them out and found… 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 