I relish the elegance of simplicity, and I savor good food. After a friend prepared this straightforward shrimp dish for me, I asked for the recipe. When we cooked the dish together, I admired it all the more for its ease and flavor. It gives me pleasure to share it here. Ingredients: three tablespoons extra [...]
We breathe, eat, keep warm, Clothe ourselves, and take shelter, We escape predators, fend off invaders, Avoid precipices and poisons. We find ourselves in family, take up with companions, We step out into the tribe. We assert, compete, amass our fortunes; We lose and win; we identify. We explore and interrogate; We discover and understand. [...]
As a little boy in Piscataway, New Jersey, I would walk home from Eisenhower Elementary School on Stelton Road and see in the distance to the north a long ridge. I now know this feature to be the Watchung Mountains. Of course, the name might seem misleading, as the maximum elevation is only a few [...]
I received an important reminder some weeks ago regarding the need to regulate the social energy in a classroom. In my own room, I set the level on the first day of school. Cues can be friendly and still be effective. A student calls out a question or comment. I reply with, “You feeling all [...]
As an English teacher, I strongly advocate subtlety and nuance in language. Dichotomies often help me to draw out concepts. I have heard many adults–teachers included–say things such as, “Sometimes we need to let kids be kids.” Most people understand the rough idea of that statement, tautological though it may be. The same adults, however, [...]
For over a century, we have lived in a mass-media culture. In the latter half of the 19th century, the major mass media–books, magazines, and newspapers–took the form of the printed word. Soon, audiovisual media came to prominence as well–cinema, records, radio, and television. The internet has brought us digital manipulations of some extant media–particularly [...]
For many of us, music has profound evocative power. I have written before of my fondness for classical music in particular, a taste for which my grandfather–and to a lesser degree, my father–imparted to me during my high school and college years. I have listened primarily to classical music for roughly three decades. I have [...]
The most effective teachers have a manner of engaging students that would make their class content seem incidental.
We sail to our sanctuaryOn Wednesdays and SaturdaysWe peel and chop on the eastern beachAnd carry our fare to the south endFor exquisite preparation.And while it warms, We spread a towel on the western edgeAnd place olives in cold, tiny glassesAnd stir our spiritsWith the long spoon of discovery.But always, always,We sip from our glassesAt [...]
I find it ironic that I am a teacher–that I, of all people, would have lessons to impart to young people. I understand that I know things, particularly things that are related to writing, linguistics, and literary theory. My studies and pursuits have given me an understanding of my field that goes mostly unapplied to [...]
Real Teaching 