Monthly Archives: January, 2010
NaBloPoMo Wrap-Up
Now that I have finished NaBloPoMo, how did it go? First, why did I do it in the first place? What were my original goals? Two blogging goals I’ve set for myself: more teacher-focused blogging, and more blogging regularly, without too many long or unscheduled hiatuses. Why teacher-focused blogging? Partly to add to the greater …
Inspiration
In his great book, On Writing, Stephen King calls his the boys in the basement, which is certainly more prosaic than “the muse,” but I think is just as apt. Inspiration: how do we stoke the fires of our creativity when we feel like instead we are trying to conjure magic from a handful of …
Sonnets and Substitutes
Today my own girls are off school, so I’m taking them on a fun adventure with a dear friend and her two girls. While I’m gone, here’s what my English 11 students will be working on with their substitute present. I posted it all on my website last Saturday night and had the links in …
What Makes a Great Teacher (Part Two)
Rapport with the students, thorough knowledge of the subject, and an enthusiasm for the job of teaching: these are the three factors my mother has always identified as essential for practicing good teaching. The teachers over at the EC Ning are discussing this too, and more than one bring up an idea my mother always …
What Makes A Great Teacher (Part One)
I read an article recently that immediately made my senses sharpen: What Makes a Great Teacher?, which apparently is a precursor of an impending book. This is an incredibly difficult question, and many of the stakeholders involved will answer very differently: is it strength in classroom management, or thorough knowledge of the material, or pedigree …
Satisfaction
Unlike poetry, I have always felt very confident about my nonfiction writing. I spent years in college and graduate school polishing and refining my skills, for one, and for another, I’ve been lucky enough to have a measure of success with every nonfiction form I’ve tried. Finally, I read so much nonfiction that I’ve been …
Visiting the BMA
I’ve written before that The Walters is our favorite art museum in Baltimore; it’s wonderful for families with frequent art projects, a friendly atmosphere, a decent cafe and themed art scavenger hunts (and of course, free admission). The girls have had two birthday parties there, and it has a special place in our family life. …
Over-Scheduled?
Brownies every other Monday. Piano every Wednesday. Environmental Club every other Thursday. In the fall, Tuesdays were for an arts-and-crafts class. This spring, Saturdays afternoons will be drawing workshop for one, musical theater workshop for the other. Last summer, they did a six-week tennis clinic, and yes, I forced them to do it. I even …
Working Moms and Leisure Time
I was going to write a long post in response to this WaPo article on working moms and leisure, but then Laura at Geekymom beat me to it and said a lot of what I would say anyway! I did post the link to the article on Facebook after I had read it, and many …
Grading
Whether you teach second grade, eleventh grade, or college-level seminars, one of the constant threads is the dread of grading. I will always know where we are in the school year because on my Facebook page and favorite blogs, I start to see the same updates: I’m avoiding the pile of bluebooks lurking in my …
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