Arts
Teenage Resistance To The Teachable Moment
TechSupport was relaxing, drawing in his notebook to complete an assignment for his art class. “Can I show you something?” my husband…
Shecky the Meckyl and His Technicolor Groove: My Seussian Self-Help Book
I wrote this poem three years ago when my son was going through a rough patch socially….
Not To Be Trashed: Guest Post by Mary Mollica
Today’s guest blogger is my old friend, Mary Mollica whom I have known since 1975 when we found each other in 2nd grade. Today, Mary recalls our most excellent high school art teacher, Carl Wenzel. She’s not lying about his quirky-awesomeness. My homeroom was next door (in the other art room) but I often hung out in his room. With one quick lesson, he helped Mary save something that she almost threw away. He may not remember doing this, but his words and actions changed her life….
And Since We Are Talking About Pencils…
My friend Carl D’Agostino and I often find that we have Vulcan mind-melds. This week while I was tapping away about how much my Monkey loves his Ticonderogas, Carl simultaneously posted a pencil related comic on his blog, “I Know I Made You Smile.” …
"Saturday Summer Screwball" Contest Starts Today!
To inspire my viewers to have some fun, I am kicking off a contest. Read my blog for details on how to enter. And to see this twit dance. (By the way, all my moves are circa 1985.)…
Stupid Stuff Kids Do – Lord Love 'Em
Every once in a while, Monkey will do something that really makes me mad. He’ll tap things, even though he knows I can’t stand repetitive tapping. Or he’ll leave his cup sitting on the kitchen counter. (And, no, I don’t mean the cup you drink out of.) But this takes the cake….
Grammar is a Hussy
Let me be the first to say that I am a Grammar Pimp and proud of it. I use Grammar all the time. And she has never failed me. Ever….
Lessons From Jon Stewart
I friggin’ love Jon Stewart. He does snarky right. Instead of ending tax cuts to the top two percent, America – apparently – needs to get money from teachers….
The Giver: Thirteen Years Later
It’s happening. My son is currently reading the first piece of literature that I ever taught. He is reading Lois Lowry’s The Giver, the story of a young boy named Jonas living in a highly controlled community some time in the future. The novel fits into a larger genre of cautionary tales called “dystopian literature.” If a utopia is a society in which everything is perfect, a dystopia is the opposite: everything has gone wrong. But my son doesn’t get this. Yet….
A Bridge From Cyber Chaos to the World of Words
I just finished reading another book called The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupifies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future by Mark Bauerlein. And frankly, it caught my attention. And as ironic as this is going to sound coming from an online blogger, I am trying to minimize my screen time. So yes, I will continue to blog, but I write in Word, check my spelling and grammar, find a picture and post. I’m trying not to hang out on Facebook as much, so I’ve got things going there automatically. I’m trying to live a little more unplugged because I truly believe (and now have well researched and documented support, thanks to Bauerlein) that all this screen time is leading us down the path to a place of incivility that breeds incompetence in school and the workplace.
All around me, I see people losing their ability to connect to each other. And, as a teacher and a writer, I want to be that bridge, so I have to work on being that bridge.
Franzen’s interview came at the right time for me — as I continue to write on a manuscript that has been like birthing an elephant. And by that I only mean it is taking a really long time. One day, I would like to hold that book in my hands, and I would like to dream that somewhere, someday, someone might write all over it. Underline. Make stars. Question marks. Pen, “This sounds like me” in the margins.
I want to be a real bridge, though. Starting Wednesday, September 8, 2010, I plan to help my students figure out how to pull their own stories from out of themselves and put them on paper; show them that the conventions of Modern Standard English matter, that an outstanding vocabulary can help them get ahead in the world.
I don’t think it is possible to be a cyber-bridge. You have to really be present to help people make their journey, especially when they are scared. And, believe me, when you ask 18-24 year olds to put away their technology — even for just 50 minutes — they are scared.
So I will gently take their hands and pull them away from their addictions and try — for 15 weeks — to get them to let me be their bridge.
I just hope they don’t walk all over me. Or that they, at least, tread lightly….