Sure, I Will Marry You Sure, I’ll marry you, if you’d like. That’s what I told a student of mine who sent me this message out of the blue fifteen years or better after he’d been in my classroom reading some Shakespeare, saying he had asked his girlfriend, who was also a student of mineContinue reading “#44: Sure, I Will Marry You”
Category Archives: Teaching
#43: The Summertime Blues Is A Real Thing
The Summer Time Blues Is A Real Thing I’m here to tell you that the Summertime Blues is a real thing. And I’m not talking about the silly song about the kid who couldn’t work late or can’t use the damn car and is too young to vote, no, I’m talking about the summertime blues thatContinue reading “#43: The Summertime Blues Is A Real Thing”
#41: On the Very Last Work Day of the School Year
On the Very Last Work Day of the School Year It began with a breakfast during which we said tearful goodbyes to beloved colleagues retiring or moving on, a difficult, but joyful thing, wanting them to stay but wishing them well and happy returns for all they’ve done for our school and our kids. WeContinue reading “#41: On the Very Last Work Day of the School Year”
#39: On the End of the School Year
On the End of the School Year It’s always a cluster, unnatural and awkward in every way, but mostly for teachers, or maybe just for teachers like yourself, English teachers with too many students, too much grading, not enough time to get it done, or, at least, to do it well, speeding through, losing sleep,Continue reading “#39: On the End of the School Year”
#36: On Teaching Vietnam
On Teaching Vietnam We have read Bao Ninh’s The Sorrow of War and now we’re watching a film called Regret To Inform, a documentary inspired by Barbara Sonneborn’s personal quest, twenty years after the fact, to come to terms with her husband’s death in Vietnam, to go there to that country, to try to understand where,Continue reading “#36: On Teaching Vietnam”
#35: Sax and Violins
The title stolen from the Talking Heads tune; the subject stolen from real life. Censorship, or the urge to censor, is still alive and well. Sax and Violins The parent of the high school junior objects to all the sax and violins in the literature studied in English classes. She objects, in the case ofContinue reading “#35: Sax and Violins”
#34: How Discussion of The Great Gatsby Gets Totally Derailed by a Big Spider
How Discussion of The Great Gatsby Gets Totally Derailed by a Big Spider It’s happened before: bug gets into the room and distracts the students, rightfully so, because it’s like, you know, a bug. Today it’s a spider, a really big one, as the teacher tries to tease out this delicious bit in the novelContinue reading “#34: How Discussion of The Great Gatsby Gets Totally Derailed by a Big Spider”
#33: After Teacher Appreciation Week
After Teacher Appreciation Week On Monday, several dozens of cookies were placed in the staff lounge, a gift from our secretaries and support staff. On Friday morning, the administrators served us hot coffee and fruit and pastries. We were still trying to polish off the cookies in the staff lounge, some of which are stillContinue reading “#33: After Teacher Appreciation Week”
Why I Am Totally Bugged By This Video
http://www.upworthy.com/student-freaks-out-in-front-of-his-class-and-says-what-were-all-thinking-about-our-education-system-3 The video making the rounds Thursday on facebook was of a young man who stands up in the middle of his classroom and goes on a little tirade against his teacher, accusing her, essentially, of malpractice, of making no effort to teach, of handing the kids packet after packet, worksheet after worksheet. He imploresContinue reading “Why I Am Totally Bugged By This Video”
#32: Gatsby? What Gatsby?
Gatsby? What Gatsby? is what Daisy says when she hears Jordan Baker mention the name to Nick, and it’s what teenagers used to say before they knew Leonardo DiCaprio was starring in the new Baz Luhrmann film. Suddenly, now, they want to read this novel because they recognize the name and because Leonardo is starring inContinue reading “#32: Gatsby? What Gatsby?”
michael jarmer 