The powers that be, the federal government, the state government, school district superintendents, local school boards and administrators tell us that our students must be tested. Why must they be tested? They tell us our students must be tested so that data in the form of scores and percentages can be published, so that schoolsContinue reading “To Test Or Not To Test”
Category Archives: Parenting
#140: I Was Raised By. . .
Another mentor text, this time the one we used with our freshmen, to inspire poetry about who or what we credit for “raising” us. The wonderful thing about using a mentor text, learning explicitly the moves of a writer we admire, is that all the 14 year olds end up writing these lively, effective poems.Continue reading “#140: I Was Raised By. . .”
#135: The Eight Year Old Uses Tweezers To Pull A Sliver Out of His Daddy’s Hand
This happened yesterday, for real, and it was one of those events in parenting, perfectly mundane, nearly inconsequential, that nevertheless felt poignant in that moment, and today even more powerful as parents in my state again lose their children to guns. It breaks my heart. Love your kids. The Eight Year Old Uses Tweezers ToContinue reading “#135: The Eight Year Old Uses Tweezers To Pull A Sliver Out of His Daddy’s Hand”
#122: To My Son
Dear son, whatever befalls you in life, whichever direction you choose to go, wherever you go to school and whatever you decide to study, whatever religion you choose to follow, even if you choose, wisely I might ad, to follow no religion whatsoever, to be a spiritual non-religious person, whatever instrument you tackle, even ifContinue reading “#122: To My Son”
#120: The Resident Eight Year Old Speaks of Easter
Well, at first, I thought it was just about candy, you know, just as I thought Christmas was about presents. And I thought Easter was about magical bunnies just as Christmas was about Santa. But now I know. Now I know that Easter and the Christmas holiday are both about Jesus. In December, people celebrateContinue reading “#120: The Resident Eight Year Old Speaks of Easter”
#118: The Boy Has Begun Practicing the Piano in Earnest
The boy has begun practicing the piano in earnest, without haranguing, without cajoling, when minecraft is not available, he sits down of his own accord and plays his excercises. A joy- ous occasion for mom and dad, who can see the beginnings of a fire burning for music, of which maybe they suspected was there,Continue reading “#118: The Boy Has Begun Practicing the Piano in Earnest”
#87: Morning Meditation with Nerf Gun
While the boy loads his weapon and hides, Dad walks slowly around the yard, breathing. He knows the ambush is coming, but tries for and momentarily achieves a quiet mind. Even while he’s absorbing the cool morning air of a sunny spring day and loving the trees as they await their first blooms of theContinue reading “#87: Morning Meditation with Nerf Gun”
#83: The American High School English Teacher Tries To Do Second Grade Math
Show your work, the instructions say, in tens and ones. Okay. Fair enough. What’s the problem? 35 – 18 = ____ When I was a kid learning to do the math, we were taught to borrow from the tens column which made a problem like this easier to do; it made one hard problem with twoContinue reading “#83: The American High School English Teacher Tries To Do Second Grade Math”
#80: Shaping the Pixels (Another Minecraft Poem)
There seems to be an inexhaustible amount of stuff that can be known about this game. Dad writes a poem to articulate his emerging understanding of his eight year old son’s favorite past time, and realizes in short order that he’s only scratched the surface, that he’s only scratched the surface of the surface, thatContinue reading “#80: Shaping the Pixels (Another Minecraft Poem)”
#79: A Minecraft Poem (Dad’s Understanding Emerges)
As I understand it, Minecraft is a computer game in which a first person player named Steve wanders through a seemingly endless outdoor landscape made entirely of blocks of things. The grass, the trees, the water, the hills, the clouds in the sky–all blocks (nothing in this world is curved, arched, or angular-slanty). In his wandering,Continue reading “#79: A Minecraft Poem (Dad’s Understanding Emerges)”
michael jarmer 