Education
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On the eve of beginning my twenty-fifth year as a teacher, I am reminded of Billy Collins, looking back on a long career in the following poem. I haven’t taken the time to total all the students I’ve taught over the years, but I’m sure they would populate a small rural town at the least.
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“EDUCATION is mostly about institutions and getting tickets stamped; LEARNING is what we do for ourselves.” ~ Thomas C. Foster, How to Read Literature Like a Professor (emphasis mine) On Monday, I will celebrate the dawn of my 24th year in education. Three days of in-service preparation are behind me. Open house took place last
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Am I having a midlife crisis? After over two decades of teaching, I am spent. Over the past few months, I have begun to seriously question my role as an educator. The kind words of Wendell Berry, reminding me that “as a high school English teacher you are necessary, and I’m guessing with some confidence
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Sunday night. The eve before Monday morning always leaves me wanting more weekend. And yet room 209 awaits and tomorrow the bell will ring at 8:04 a.m. and I will continue unpacking e. e. cummings’ poem “in Just-” with my AP English Literature students. Rather than post the cummings poem, I figured I would return
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We’ve begun Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol in British Literature, and as we plumb the depths of Ebeneezer Scrooge’s character, I am reminded of how easily we can be distracted from the things that are truly most important in life. Indirect characterization often speaks louder than any direct statement made about one’s character. Watch how
the deepening ground 