Paul Tough
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When the Syllabus Goes Wrong
I cannot tell a lie. My new course is a failure. This semester, I did a complete overhaul on the English course I teach for Child Studies majors. The earlier version of the course was a solid one. It focused on the topic of childhood relationships in literature: parent-child relationships, sibling relationships, and friendships. We… Continue reading
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Top 10 Posts of 2012
It’s time again for Classroom as Microcosm’s yearly top 10 roundup! These are the posts that got the most hits this year. It’s not always clear WHY a given post on this list got so much traffic, but the fact that a lot of people looked at and/or read these posts suggests maybe they have… Continue reading
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My Top 10 Books of 2012
It’s time again for the list of books that I enjoyed most this year. As always, only some of these books were published in 2012, but they were all a part of my 2012 experience. 1. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn Each of my top 5 could easily have been #1. In the end, I… Continue reading
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What’s a Teacher to Do? Paul Tough’s How Children Succeed
When Paul Tough’s new book, How Children Succeed, arrived in my mailbox, I opened it with great anticipation. I love Tough’s writing; his pieces on This American Life and in The New York Times have always impressed me with their warm, clear prose. What’s more, last year, an excerpt from this book, published in the New York… Continue reading
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Up and At ‘Em
It’s almost that time again. I hope you’ve all had a great summer. Mine has been thrilling, terrifying and exhausting, all on a small domestic scale. You will hear about some of it in the coming weeks. The upshot: school begins on Monday, and I am neither refreshed nor enthusiastic, but I am nothing if… Continue reading
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Top 10 Posts of 2011
It’s that time of year again. (Actually, it’s a little past that time of year – it was that time of year, oh, two weeks ago, when it was still last year.) Nevertheless: a roundup! Here are the posts from Classroom as Microcosm that received the most hits this year. The reasons for their popularity… Continue reading
About Me
My job is to teach people to read and write; aside from that, I like to learn things.