education
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Literary Appreciation + Literary Analysis: A Course Plan
Regular commenter Crystal has asked for some more details about my Personal Narrative course, in which I focus less on literary analysis and more on literary appreciation. Here’s some general info on how the course unfolds. Feel free to steal/adapt/query, etc. Module 1: Literary Analysis Review Text: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls In the Continue reading
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Why Teachers Need Something Better Than Microsoft Word
Onscreen grading is a revelation. I have resisted the transition from paper grading to onscreen grading for a while now. I experimented last fall with having students submit a paragraph online once in a while, but I was reluctant to use Track Changes tools, as I knew most students weren’t familiar with them, and so Continue reading
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What Does Learning Look Like?
My “personal narrative” class is going great. We started by reading Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle, and they seemed to like it. A lot. Most of them did the reading and participated actively in the group work, and after a little talk to them about “what to do if you HAVEN’T done the reading and Continue reading
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Ring in the New Year with the Education Buzz
Carol over at Bellringers has done a bang-up job of putting together post #2 of the Education Buzz, her new incarnation of the Education Carnival. If you’re feeling a bit uninspired about heading into the new school year, here’s your chance to hang out with a few other teachers and read their erudite thought on Continue reading
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I Like My High School
If you read the world’s best fashion magazine – I Like My Style – then you will have seen their spread on the High School of Fashion Industries, a vocational high school in NYC that, according to its website, “devotes itself entirely to the world of fashion from styling and design through business and marketing.” Continue reading
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I’m Not Blocked. I’m Obsessively Diverted.
What does it mean to be “blocked”? Is it possible for a “block” to be a diversion, a new inspiration, a productive distraction? Or is it just laziness? Right now, I am “blocked” in a number of ways. I’ve been working on a novel for the last ten years. I use the term “working on” Continue reading
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Ten Wonderful Things, Part Eight: Blogging
The eighth of ten things I loved about this past term. #8: Blogging Some days, I teach because I blog. When I began this blog in 2007, I was seriously considering giving up teaching. It was just too hard. Then Vila H. convinced me that I needed to start blogging about something. Teaching is the Continue reading
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Ten Wonderful Things, Part Four: Harry Potter
The fourth of ten things I loved about teaching this past semester. 4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone I’ve been doing a lot of reading about reading lately. Since I began teaching CEGEP, I’ve become aware of a problem that directly influences everything I do (or, at least, it should) but I don’t know Continue reading
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Ten Wonderful Things, Part Three: Early Mornings
At least ten things went right this semester. This is the third one. 3. Early Morning Classes A few semesters ago, I requested the “early schedule” (8 a.m. – 4 p.m., as opposed to 10 a.m – 6 p.m.) for the first time. I had been relegated to the early schedule fairly often in my 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 