My students love it when I read out loud to them. Well, that might be putting it on a bit thick. Let’s say instead that they prefer that to reading independently. I read out loud well and this guarantees at the end at least some level of certainty that every kid in the room hasContinue reading “#78: The American English Teacher Wonders About the Effectiveness of Reading To His Students”
Tag Archives: poem
#77: What I’m Doing While My Students Are Taking Standardized Tests
I’m writing poetry, of course. Early in the semester, I’ve got no grading to do and I’m unusually planned for the upcoming unit. My students are taking a standardized writing test for which they choose one dumb prompt from four dumb prompts in each of the four and only four dumb categories of writing thatContinue reading “#77: What I’m Doing While My Students Are Taking Standardized Tests”
#76: The Obligatory Snow Poem
It’s been six years since we’ve seen snow in our neck of the woods and I was beginning to fear the end of snow forever and ever, another casualty of the warming planet. But lo and behold, it snows and snows and snows and snows. The cars are buried, the driveway become invisible, the branchesContinue reading “#76: The Obligatory Snow Poem”
#74: The American English Teacher is Worried about the Burnout of His Colleagues
Perhaps, they love teaching and learning. And while they may not love children just because they’re children, they love the idea of helping young people reach their full potential, navigate the waters of young adulthood, use their minds well, think about important things, become more humanely human. It’s all noble, noble, and good. And yet, something isContinue reading “#74: The American English Teacher is Worried about the Burnout of His Colleagues”
#73: Unstuck In Time (Don’t Know Much About History)
The student reading a William Stafford poem mistakes the 1930’s for The Civil War in America—when, you know, there were electric elevators. The first impulse, if only inside of a thought bubble, is to make fun, but the second, more reflective response is a deep sadness. The kid is unstuck in time and unstuck inContinue reading “#73: Unstuck In Time (Don’t Know Much About History)”
#72: Potter Author Trending
First of all, I’m embarrassed that I took the bait, hook, line, and sinker, in the sidebar list of stories “trending” on the Mighty Social Network; secondly, I’m ashamed I clicked on this particular subject matter, an author I am only nominally interested in–an author for which only in the very most minimal way couldContinue reading “#72: Potter Author Trending”
#71: The Slippery Preposition
A friend of mine posted this quote from a guy named Karl Pilkington: “We’ve had the stone age, and we’ve had the iron age, now we’re in the pissing about stage.” I liked it, both literally and figuratively. But it got me thinking about how I was supposed to read that lovely preposition. When IContinue reading “#71: The Slippery Preposition”
#70: Chicken Cordon-Bleu Road Kill
Chicken Cordon-Bleu Road Kill On the way to work I lost my lunch. I was bicycling, and, as the result of some user-error, I suspect, some packing mishap, my lunch went flying out of my pannier and into the middle of the road. I had packed Chicken Cordon-Bleu, a beautiful and abundant serving from aContinue reading “#70: Chicken Cordon-Bleu Road Kill”
#68: On Watching an Episode of My Little Pony with My Son
On Watching an Episode of My Little Pony with My Son Yeah, I know about bronies. I was introduced to this term by a student, an 11th grade boy who wrote an essay about being a brony, part confessional, part defense of the show’s merits, partial explanation of the idiosyncrasies of this particular kid. AtContinue reading “#68: On Watching an Episode of My Little Pony with My Son”
#66: The American English Teacher Doesn’t Want His Student To See Him Using Facebook
So, the student stops by the house of his English teacher to pick up a younger member of his family who’s taking music lessons from the English teacher’s wife, and he comes into the study to say hello and the English teacher minimizes his Facebook page so that the student doesn’t know that this isContinue reading “#66: The American English Teacher Doesn’t Want His Student To See Him Using Facebook”
michael jarmer 