Category Archives: Teaching Literature

The Better Part…

Today(This entry has languished in the Drafts folder since May. I must have regarded it as unfinished, but now, here it is, complete or not.), on NPR’s On Being, I heard poet Sarah Kay quote someone, I forget who, as … Continue reading

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The Better Part…

Today, on NPR’s On Being, I heard poet Sarah Kay quote someone, I forget who, as saying “Listening is the better part of speaking.” It reminded me of a wise philosopher who said “We have two ears and one mouth … Continue reading

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In Class With Mr. Jackson

I just finished listening to The Story, a syndicated interview program, carried by our local public radio station. Ruben Jackson changed careers, leaving a job at the Smithsonian for teaching English in high school. He found himself in front of … Continue reading

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Figurative Language

A friend recently sent me this list of examples of student writing. You have probably seen it before. It follows the comments. We English teachers (and perhaps others, if they assign writing) have always had our little chuckles over student … Continue reading

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Teachers as Writers

Once upon a time, a decade or few ago, the constituency of public schools considered it important for us English teachers to teach kids to write coherent, meaningful, and reasonably correct English prose. In those halcyon days of yore, we … Continue reading

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A Reasonable Reading of a Text

As I sort through my folders of old e-mails, I occasionally come across something that I said pretty well and that  stands alone like a little essay without a lot of the context of the correspondence. Much of it is … Continue reading

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