The month of May for teachers and administrators can be busy to say the least. But I can't recall a time since I started this blog that I went thirty days without posting. And, there has been much to write about. Ideas that I jotted down but never followed through are:
- The passing of Tom Wolfe, a Man in Full who had "The Write Stuff"
- Some thoughts for the graduating class of 2018, courtesy of Krista Kafer in the DenverPost.com
- This piece had a feel quite reminiscent of the classic graduation speech Wear Sunscreen, with its soundbite list of dos and don'ts.
- I particularly like Kafer's advice to "memorize a poem." As an English teacher, I have often recommended to students to copy classic speeches or poems in order to internalize rhythm, cadence, and eloquence. Yet I have rarely required it. Now, after reading this inspired piece from a former colleague about memorizing a poem -- The El Capitan of Freshman English: Memorize a - gasp! - poem -- I am planning a lesson on this idea for future classes.
- The continued gun debate - especially the alarmingly naive idea of "arming teachers." This issue has been argued in the pages of the Denver Post and the Aurora Sentinel recently by some skilled writers and thinkers such as Jon Caldara, Diane Carmen, and Dave Perry.
- The art of public speaking and the challenge to "Talk Like TED" - This idea is particularly interesting to me as an educator in regards to the idea of lectures as pedagogy. We certainly live in time and place where TED Talks captivate many ideas-focused people. However, I don't know that it's always the best way to "educate," especially for students who aren't particularly interested in the content. Of course, an intriguing quality of TED is the 18-minute rule. If classroom instructors held themselves to that standard, I believe classroom instruction could be more effective.
- A wonderful dessert experience at a Denver eatery I'd never visited before - Humble Pie.
- The sticky issue of this anthem protest .... thing. An interesting observation in my view is acknowledging that "kneeling is not a sign of disrespect." It's simply not.
- The strangely interesting rise of Toronto professor Dr. Jordan Peterson, a complex thinker who's presenting challenges for the radical left.
There are many more things on my mind, and I am challenging myself to return to the idea of scheduled writing. So, now I have a bit of time before the summer travel schedule, and I plan to get back to that writing groove.
