An archived stack of papers: 'caring'

Reaching The Apathetic

In a stack of papers called Reform.

  • Mar
  • 22
  • 2006

What is a school to do with students who elect to fail? I have a student in one of my classes who shows no interest in completing any work. Worse yet, he doesn’t really have opinions. A slightly more enthusiastic shrug of the shoulders shows his penchant for music. On Monday, the daily topic asked for an opinion on education (it relates to Siddhartha). He only manage to give me... read more

Ideological Bubble

In a stack of papers called Connections.

  • Mar
  • 04
  • 2006

Cold air always finds its way into your warm jacket, seeps into your pockets, and no pair of socks keeps out the freezing molecules. Anxiously waiting for the heater to live up to its name on my way to work on a Friday morning a few weeks ago, Steve Inskeep’s intonations chimed through the chill:

President... read more

Into [Not So] Thin Air

In a stack of papers called Unorganized.

  • Jan
  • 22
  • 2006

Glancing through my teaching materials, one thought on the way my classes run currently and another on the way I want to run things, I cleared the way for a new method, hunched my shoulder against the inevitable problems coming this week, and stared absently at the vastness of my Writers INC (pages 160-65) and Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes: The American Experience (pages 994-95 and... read more

No Such Thing As Forced Empathy

In a stack of papers called Unorganized.

  • Jan
  • 19
  • 2006

I posted yesterday about the basic composition problems that are plaguing my juniors and seniors. Laurie wrote a comment that I’ve been thinking about ever since, but I don’t really know how to do it. How do we create writing prompts that students care about in response to texts that they don’t? And don’t give... read more