• "There is no way of writing well and also of writing easily."
  -- Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers
  

  "When I am king, they shall not have bread and shelter only, but also teachings out of books; for a full belly is little worth where the mind is starved . . . "
  -- Mark Twain, The Prince and the Pauper
  

  "You must fear the monkey!"
  -- Bucky Katt, Get Fuzzy
  

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Just a few acrostics that I wrote for the Central Connecticut Student Writing Project, where I’m instructing this summer.

Bunches of water

Under the spout

Catching the rainfall

Kick it for fun

Empty it onto the flowers

Try to spit into it from a distance

Gorgeous

Egomaniac

Over the top

Relaxed

Greedy

Enormous

Window to my soul

Route to the unknown

Imagination at play

Trip

Into dreams

No limits

Go for it!

Here’s an independent assignment I gave my American Literature students to do during our final week of state testing. I wanted to give them something that was content-light but still academic. Most of them really enjoyed it.

I should point out that all of this (except for the samples, which I wrote) was stolen from the web. Read more

This assignment was inspired by the book, 100 Words for Lovers, that I picked up at Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago.  I gave the assignment to my Delta Writing class (struggling writers) on the last day before February vacation. Most had fun with it, although a few turned their noses up at the idea of writing a “love letter.”

You may question Rule #1. Alas, it’s necessary for this class (not every student, but enough of them).

I gave every student who did the project a 100 under Class Participation for the day.

Read more

I’m not sure if this should be filed under Teaching or Writing, but needless to say, it wasn’t a good day.

When I’m sick, I get cranky

I want to reach for a hanky,

Or maybe a whip

Instead of a quip

To deal with unruly students.

My tolerance it’s waning.

I know I’m complaining.

But please tell me why –

Or I’ll start to cry –

Why I’m still dealing with unruly students?

Tell me quick ‘fore I snap.

Why I can’t whap

The side of the heads

(God, I want to go back to bed)

Of my bothersome unruly students?

Two days from the end of the Fall 2007 semester, I tried something new in my junior/senior English class. I had been teaching Macbeth, trying to get my college-bound students to grasp the universal themes in the play. We’d been trudging along and they - and I - needed a break. It was Friday, and I needed to conduct an exam review on Monday. What could I do this day that was still academic? Read more

In 3 weeks, I’ll be welcoming a new batch of students into my life, and I am both thrilled and fearful. What will they be like? Will they be excited to learn? Sullen? Chronic skippers? Always tardy? Belligerant? Fearful?

I expect all of the above and then some.

Some of them will pass through the year with nary a blip on my radar. Others will touch my heart. I hope I will do my best by all of them, but I know some will slip through the cracks.

Enough clichés!

3 more weeks until the official end of summer. 3 more weeks until my life is changed again.

I can’t wait.

• Links

  • Central Connecticut State University
  • Dictionary.com
  • Dubbah Design
  • Get Fuzzy
  • National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
  • National Writing Project
  • New Britain Herald
  • New Britain High School
  • New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy
  • Pearls Before Swine
  • Spark Notes
  • The Hartford Courant
  • Web English Teacher

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