Shortly after lunch one day last week, I got a call from Todd, a former student of mine in UTEP, the University of Chicago’s teacher education program. Todd left Chicago a few years ago and has been teaching in another city. We’ve stayed in touch. He was in town this past summer and we had a long lunch together on the back patio of a local restaurant, trying hard to ignore the light rain that was...
Before I launch into the actual posting for this week, I have to note a significant milestone for the blog. WordPress informs me that this is our one hundredth posting. When we began way back in November 2019, no one could have imagined what awaited us – the turbulent presidential election, the insurrection and, above all, the pandemic, which continues to affect so much of the way we conduct our...
Another paper I found in my file drawer purge is one I’m proud of. I have only a vague memory of writing it, but it brought back a whole year’s work that helped me make the transition from my own classroom to being a visitor in others. The problem is that it’s 19 pages long. Posting it in full would attract an even smaller audience than my typical 3-pagers, so I will try to spotlight some...
As a brief reprieve from culling books from our bookshelves, I decided to tackle the file cabinets which do double duty as the supports for my desktop. This is a task that makes the book sorting seem like child’s play. I’m only halfway through a single drawer but the discoveries just keep on coming. Alongside folders of financial statements and material for next year’s income tax returns, none of...
In this season, my evenings have a predictable shape. Dinner is over. I’ve scrubbed the pots, rinsed and deposited the dishes in the dishwasher, packed up the leftovers and wiped down the counters, my responsibilities in return for all the work Rosellen has put into preparing a consistently excellent dinner. Then I move to the television room to attempt to finish the day’s newspapers, hoping to...