If you’re of the right generations, just the mention of a blue book is capable of triggering waves of anxiety. For the uninitiated, it’s the bound, soft-covered notebook that college instructors distributed in which students wrote their answers to final exam questions. To kick the anxiety level up several notches for me, one professor told me that because he didn’t know me well, he would base his...
With November just over the horizon, we’re approaching the third anniversary of this blog. When you’ve done a buck and a half of entries, it’s inevitable that a bit of repetition will occur, partly a function of living a blessedly undramatic life and partly the result of age-related factors. So, forgive me if I write again about my garden. You may remember that Rosellen and I have two 10X10 plots...
There was a stretch of time during my classroom teaching years when I was running on a track parallel to my daughters’ school lives. There’s a three-grade difference between them so, for example, when Adina was in the fourth grade, Elana was in first grade. Because of my own changes of schools and teaching assignments, I wound up teaching children in grades that matched the grade that one of them...
Shortly after I awoke yesterday, I witnessed a glorious moment. From our east windows, I could see the sun just bursting over the horizon, throwing a dazzling yellow/orange glow on the walls of our bedroom. At the same moment, from an adjoining room I could see from a west window the full moon heading toward the opposite horizon. This juxtaposition is hardly as rare as a solar eclipse, but I felt...
Some weeks ago, I wrote a depressing entry about the University of Chicago’s apparent plan to dismantle its Urban Teacher Education Program (UTEP). As one of the founders of the program my reactions are clearly biased, but I consider this a grievous and short-sighted decision, particularly at a time when we are facing unprecedented teacher shortages and a generally demoralized work force. UTEP...