tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31566960525566664892024-02-20T14:37:09.403-08:00KILL FATS BLOGAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-36335418268344613282019-07-01T05:12:00.000-07:002019-07-01T05:12:02.289-07:00My True War Story<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Kembali Bertemu Lagi Di Blog Ini, Silakan Membaca</br><a href="http://www.99bandar.cc" target="_blank" title="bandar ceme 99">bandar ceme 99</a></font></span></span></center>When I was a boy I used to make my father breakfast in bed every year on Veterans Day rather than on Fathers Day. No one seems to know when I began doing this or why, but every November 11, I would make my father a cup of coffee (yes, I learned how to make coffee by the age of eight) and then throw together some odd collection of foods for a makeshift breakfast. Cereal became a simple, successful solution, and when I got older I could make him his favorite—two sunny-side up eggs with rye toast, buttered. But when I was really young I would throw together things like a red delicious apple and some chopped walnuts I found in the cabinet.<br /><br />My father was the fifth child in a family of ten. His father had not served during World War II, because he had such a large family to care for. (My father’s oldest brother, Bobby, was born in 1939 and there were three more boys before my dad came along in 1946). But my grandfather was a foreman at Winchester Repeating Arms in New Haven, which was a war time industry. My father graduated from Hillhouse in 1964. Two of his older brothers, Gordy and Red, attended college. Bobby had not graduated from high school. My father and his brother Buddy had high school degrees. <br /><br />My dad was slicing meat in a deli at a local A&P in 1966, just as the US government was dramatically increasing the numbers of soldiers being sent to war, from just under 200,000 at the end of 1965 to nearly 400,000 by the end of 1966, about the time my father was sent to pembinaan camp in Georgia, where he made lieutenant, which was an entry level officer’s rank but also the rank with the highest casualty rate in Vietnam. He was sent overseas around June of 1967. He was lucky to be stationed in a supply depot just behind the front lines, and so never saw active combat. Years later, in one of the only instances I can recall of his talking to me about Vietnam, he told me that the scariest thing he ever had to do was night time guard duty. He said he never had to worry about falling asleep because he would be scared out of his mind the entire time.<br /><br />My father was not the first in his family to go to war. Bobby was a paratrooper during the Korean War, and Gordy, the second oldest, had served in Vietnam already. Though none of the brothers seems to have had especially dangerous assignments, I honestly don’t know much about their service time because none of them ever talked about it.<br /><br />For my father, I think the most difficult thing was not his experience in the war but his experience returning from the war. And I don’t mean getting spit on by protestors. I mean returning home to a familiar landscape that lacked people who should have been there, friends and acquaintances who, like him, had been drafted and sent to Vietnam, but who, unlike him, saw combat and either never returned or returned very changed men.<br /><br />My father was too young to be a father. He was just 22 in the summer of 1968 when he got my mother pregnant. He just wasn’t ready for that, not by a long shot. He used to bring me around with him to softball games and basketball games, and invariably to the local bars for a few rounds afterwards. One time we were in this old Westville hangout called the Cape Codder when this red haired guy with a bushy moustache approached my father and greeted him with a sort of aggressive friendliness. My father, who was always gregarious and charming in social situations, became awkward, and quickly excused himself and got us out of there. Leaving, I noticed that the man had large bumps on his back, visible through his white t-shirt. In the car, my father told me how that guy had been a childhood acquaintance who’d come back from Vietnam remarkably changed. Where he’d once been shy and quiet, he returned loud, aggressive, and even violent. The bumps on his back were from exposure to napalm. Years later, I’d read about this guy in the <span style="font-style:italic;">New Haven Register</span>. He had been charged with manslaughter for beating to death one of two homeless guys seeking shelter on a construction site where he was a foreman. Before my father’s friend could come to trial, the only witness, the other homeless guy who’d also been beaten but lived, died mysteriously in a violent attack witnessed by no one. Thus my father’s ‘friend’ avoided prosecution.<br /><br />Now I know I probably don’t have all my facts right here. So much of this is second or even third hand, or relies on my memories from childhood. But this is my true war story. This is the story of war’s effects upon even the survivors and those who were lucky enough to endure war without combat. Of my father and his nine siblings, only Bobby, Gordy, and my father served. Bobby died at age 62. Gordy at 67. My father has largely been MIA since December 18, 2005. No direct causes, of course, but one has to wonder about intangibles such as fears that can only be witnessed in silences, concealed lumps beneath cotton shirts, or personalities intact but altered. My father returned from Vietnam safe and sound, unharmed in any visible way. He even went to college on the GI Bill and became, briefly, a high school biology teacher (though he lost that and almost every other job he ever held to alcohol). But how many years were lost to stress, to fear, to sadness? How much worse was his (or Bobby’s or Gordy’s) alcoholism made by the experience?<br /><br />Friday is the 93rd year since the end of the War to End All Wars, and we’re no closer to the answers.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-16070233787243281642019-06-24T05:12:00.000-07:002019-06-24T05:12:02.214-07:00Notes From Chicago<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Selamat Datang Dan Selamat Membaca</br><a href="http://77bandar.net" target="_blank" title="play bandarq">play bandarq</a></font></span></span></center>This week I’m in Chicago for the National Writing Project Annual Meeting and the National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention. It’s sort of a bittersweet affair because the National Writing Project is trying to re-invent itself after the loss of direct federal funding, something they have enjoyed for the last twenty years, while the NCTE is celebrating its one-hundredth anniversary and its 101st annual convention. The first annual convention was held here in Chicago in 1911. <br /><br />According to the convention program, the first meeting was a one and a half day affair attended by 65 teachers from twelve states. There were two meeting rooms, one shared meal, and the annual dues were $2. The charge for the banquet at the meeting was $1.50. A photo in the aktivitas shows just slightly more male members than female members.<br /><br />This week, including the meetings of subsidiary groups within NCTE, the meeting spans a full week, fills two of Chicago’s largest hotels, and involves tens of thousands of teachers—the vast majority of them women. One of the most notable things to me when I walked into the headquarters hotel was the large number of teachers sprawled across the floor, on the stairs, and in every conceivable nook and cranny of the hotel. It reminded me of an infestation of ladybugs. There were teachers everywhere! I once had an acquaintance tell me that there is nothing more frightening than a high school English teacher (she clearly had some bad ones), and I kept imagining her reaction had she been here to see thousands of English and Language Arts teachers just swarming the place. I pictured her face looking something like Edvard Munch’s <span style="font-style:italic;">The Scream</span>.<br /><br />For me, the first day was all Writing Project related functions and panels. And sadly, or frustratingly, we talked very little about teaching but mostly about fund raising, federal legislation, corporate giving, foundations, endowments, and advocacy. Necessary, but nothing that really stirs the passions. All I can say is that we at the CWP are fortunate to be such a long-standing, well established and well funded site. Many sites have already disappeared, and many more will struggle to sustain themselves through next year till various new sources of federal, private, and corporate funds become available to replace what was lost.<br /><br />Today I would have liked to have spent the day in NCTE sessions, but mostly I worked on stuff from UConn, such as getting ready to take over and run a conference Monday for a colleague who had a heart attack. He’s all right, but of course unavailable for Monday, so I will fly in from Chicago Sunday evening, get the kids from my mother’s, unpack, lie down, get up, and go run a conference!<br /><br />Tomorrow will be my day to attend sessions. I’m planning to attend panels on new research in the teaching of literacy, MA programs in English for educators, teacher-research, high school-college collaboration on college-level writing instruction, teaching literary criticism in high schools, and teaching creative writing in high schools. All of these in some way deal with collaborative efforts between high schools and colleges, which is perfect for me and informs me in my instruction of my undergraduate, pre-teaching and teaching majors.<br /><br />I’ve seen several colleagues here, both from the school of education as well as from the composition aktivitas within the English department, and I brought three teachers with me, which is always cool. I love being able to provide this kind of professional opportunity to teachers (though I worry there might not be sufficient funds to do so next year). I was disappointed that I didn’t feel I could afford to bring any of the graduate students this year. I have brought two each of the last two years, and that’s always been great, to give them such a terrific professional opportunity at the start of their career and to see them interact with the veteran teachers who come. The students and the veterans always get so mutually energized by the shared experience.<br /><br />And as much fun as the panels and workshops and roundtables are, it is at least as much fun to go out and socialize with different groups of teachers. We have a few drinks and a lot of fun, and we meet a lot of new people, teachers from other parts of the state and country, from other levels and other areas of the fields of English, Language Arts, and Rhetoric and Composition. And we also share ideas and hatch collaborative plans, pick each others’ brains, share successes, commiserate, and build or strengthen both personal and professional relationships.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-80577143969810360842019-06-17T05:12:00.000-07:002019-06-17T05:12:00.713-07:00Moving Day<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Senantiasa Menyambut Kedatang Anda Untuk Membaca</br><a href="http://77bandar.net" target="_blank" title="bandarqq">bandarqq</a></font></span></span></center>Till I was three I lived with my parents in the basement of my maternal grandparents' house. About that time, with the help of my grandmother's sister, my folks bought a house three doors up the road from my grandparents. I don't remember much about living at my grandparents' house, though I do remember the renovations they did shortly after we moved. And I remember crying, even though we moved only 100 yards up the street and I came home to my grandparents' house every day after school.<br /><br />We moved from that house when I was seven, just in time for second grade. My parents bought in Madison, where I went to school through eighth grade. But we moved within town a couple times—once only two years after we moved to the first house, for reasons I never knew, and then again when my parents separated. My father moved in with his brother, my mother moved in with her new boyfriend, and I moved back in with my grandparents, who had by that time also moved to the shoreline. I only stayed with them till my mother remarried and I moved into my step-father's duplex. They took the downstairs apartment and made a room for the new baby that was on the way. (That baby is now in the PhD aktivitas in Math at UConn and has dinner with us every Tuesday night!). I moved into the upstairs apartment and lived like a virtual emancipated minor. I spent one evening a week at my father and step-mother's and Sundays with the grandparents. My first semester of college, my mother and step-father moved again. So for me, that was seven or eight houses before I was twenty, and the longest I spent in any one home was six years.<br /><br />Amy had a similarly peripatetic upbringing, moving from Dubuque, Iowa to Vernon, Connecticut when she was four, and then to Simsbury when she was seven, and then within Simsbury once before her parents divorced and so began a similar dual home existence. And she also never lived in any one place more than six years.<br /><br />We just sold our house. It was our first home, and we lived there for twelve and a half years. Our kids, who are eight and five, have only known that house. Elsa is in a private pre-school, so she will stay put, but Cormac began a new elementary school this past Monday, and so today completes his first week in the new school. We're only renting for the time being, and likely will be for at least another year, but we plan to remain in Storrs, and hopefully can keep the kids in the same school till middle school begins, which in Mansfield is in fifth grade. I especially want Cormac to be able to stay in the same school next year and not have to change again. Elsa is more flexible, both because she's younger as well as because she's just that way constitutionally. She's happy and optimistic in some deep, genetic way, whereas Cormac is profoundly pensive and sensitive. <br /><br />I joke that the next house we buy is the one I want to die in, and I say that because I just don't want to move again. Travel is nice, but moving is awful in almost every way. I want to buy a home that our kids can grow up in and know intimately, where there will be childhood friends, childhood memories, and eternally familiar streets. <br /><br />So far, the transition has gone well. Cormac has been surprisingly adaptive, making new friends quickly. It helps that he likes his new teacher (especially since the one he left was awesome, and the first he liked in three years at his old school). And quite simply, he's getting more opportunities at his new school. He has regular art and music classes, and daily Spanish lessons. I asked him if he had learned any words in Spanish that he didn't already know, and he said no, but that he was learning to write in Spanish, which is new for him. Amy has spoken almost exclusively in Spanish to him since he was born, but we have only read to him a little in Spanish, and not required him to write at all.<br /><br />Elsa, well, she can't wait till next year, but for her it's mostly because she wants to ride the bus. Actually, I think she wants to drive the bus, but that will have to wait.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-9324312064513222852019-06-10T05:12:00.000-07:002019-06-10T05:12:01.910-07:00Books!<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Selamat Membaca Di Blog Kesayangan Anda</br><a href="http://77bandar.net" target="_blank" title="bandarq">bandarq</a></font></span></span></center>I've spent the better part of the last couple of weeks unpacking boxes and putting things on shelves. I've concluded that my family owns mostly books. We have ratty, hand-me-down furniture, old furniture, and damaged furniture; we have prints and children's art but no real art, unless it was painted by an uncle or my step-mother; we have really faded carpets we bought at Target about ten years ago. Our television is about twenty years old and it's enormous. Quite simply, we don't buy nice things for ourselves. I have more clothes from Kohl's than from Nordstrom's or anywhere else. Besides food and utilities, we spend our money on education, travel, and books. <br /><br />The kids themselves have hundreds of books. When we go places, our kids, like everyone else's kids, ask for everything, and we usually say no, because they don't really need that tchotchke thing they'll forget about in an hour and also because my salary has been frozen for four of the last five years and therefore I have no disposable income. But books I always buy. I buy nice books at the UConn Coop and I buy ridiculous books at Stop and Shop. Elsa has a thing for Disney Princess books that make me roll my eyes, but I still let her buy them. Cormac has graduated to really expensive, hard bound nonfiction like the Guinness Book of World Records or Ripley’s Believe It Or Not books, but he's at least old enough to know I can’t buy those every time we go to Stop and Shop. So he keeps a running list that he hauls out at holiday season and around his birthday.<br /><br />Honestly, though. Each kid has two book shelves in his or her room, and then four big shelves at the bottom of a large book case in the living room of our new house. And Cormac has a Kindle, too! Amy and I have two floor-to-ceiling book cases in the living room, another two in this odd foyer-like space, and a smaller one near the front door. There's a system of shelves that comprises the entire wall of one room in the new office (which doubles as a playroom!), and then we have a wall of shelving in our bedroom, along with another floor-to-ceiling shelf and two smaller ones. And all those shelves are packed to capacity, even though a bunch of older books are packed away in boxes in the garage, and over the last two years we have given away literally hundreds of books. Truckloads, I kid you not. (And this doesn't even include all the books in my office).<br /><br />We have one whole large book case full of just books in Spanish (Amy's) and another of books translated into English from Spanish (mine), and at least one long shelf of books in Italian (also Amy's). I have one whole book case just dedicated to African and African-American authors. Nineteenth-century American authors. Twentieth-century American authors. Modernist poets. Contemporary poets. Modern novelists. Composition theory. Literary criticism. Religion and mysticism. Erotica. Anthologies. Collections of short stories. Books on baseball. Travel books. Protest literature.<br /><br />It's like a disease.<br /><br />Here's an indication of how bad it's gotten generationally. Cormac had his eighth birthday this past September. I told people that he didn't need things but to get him gift certificates to the movies or to a restaurant where we could go with the friend who gave the gift. So most people complied with this request but a couple gave Cormac gift certificates to Target or Toys R Us, and a couple just gave him cash. So one day I took him to the abomination that is the dreaded Buckland Hills Shopping area, but when we went to Toys R Us and Target, Cormac couldn't find anything he wanted. He settled for some art supplies at Target, but was hard pressed to locate toys he really cared for. But we took that cash and went to Barnes and Noble and he was in heaven.<br /><br />Some day I hope to live in a house with a really cool library or office where there's ample space for books upon books, and of course I don't want to ever have to move from this place. I want lots of shelves, good natural light, a nice big wooden desk, and a good chair. (In my most indulgent fantasies I also throw in a fireplace, a small porch with French doors, and a wet bar, but that's probably asking too much).Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-68533754626394656882019-06-03T05:12:00.000-07:002019-06-03T05:12:01.776-07:00Originality And Assignments<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Jumpa Lagi Kita Diblog Kesayangan Anda</br><a href="http://www.99bandar.cc" target="_blank" title="ceme 99 online">ceme 99 online</a></font></span></span></center>I had an unusually long time between my last class of the semester and the tamat exam. My students had over a week to prepare. I do not give a traditional sit-down tamat exam, especially since I teach a writing intensive course. Students spend the entire semester working hard on a full, fifteen-page term paper, so I don’t see the need for them to also come in and take a timed test with short answers to uniform questions. I’m not convinced that would be an accurate or useful assessment of anything in particular, and certainly no more rigorous than what I have already required them to do.<br /><br />The last two regular class meetings were dedicated to response groups, supplemented by lots of one-on-one conferences with me. But since we had this long week and a day between the last class and the exam, I had many students in my office over the last few days, too, finishing up their drafts and working on bedeviling details like useful quotes, proper citation, or how to effectively conclude this paper they have been plugging away at for the past fourteen weeks.<br /><br />During one conference that took place earlier today, a student remarked that professors must get tired of reading students’ essays, especially if they are all on the same topic and even more especially if they are poorly written. I agreed, but I also observed that many professors have none but themselves to blame for this situation when they give a uniform assignment to all the students. Of course they are all going to write similar papers if the topic is the same for all, and of course many of those are going to be poorly written, because there is only a small likelihood that many of the students will find such a canned topic of any direct interest to themselves.<br /><br />My students might have to struggle with being given more independence and autonomy than they are used to or comfortable with, but most of them end up with interesting topics that, ultimately, they enjoy researching and writing about. And as for me, I get to read an incredibly varied set of essays.<br /><br />This semester, I had twenty students. We read Hawthorne, Melville, Poe, Twain, Dickinson, Whitman, Emerson, and Thoreau. Pretty straight-forward, canonical stuff. (It is a survey course, after all). But the students’ papers were anything but straight-forward or canonical. No discussion of the symbolism of Hester’s A. No discussion of the whiteness of the whale. No discussion of the personification of the House of Usher. No discussion of Thoreau, Whitman, or Dickinson’s embodiment of an Emersonian ideal. <br /><br />Alana wrote about Joshua Komisarjevsky and the death penalty through the lens of Edgar Allan Poe. Andrew wrote about the entrapments of celebrity, focusing on Tiger Woods and Anthony Weiner, and in addition to Hester and Dimmesdale, discussed Don Draper from <span style="font-style:italic;">Mad Men</span>. Liz wrote about female sexual repression in Poe and Hawthorne, but read additional texts by Henry James, Sigmund Freud, and William James. Brittany defended Harry Potter from attack by Harold Bloom using Emerson, Twain, and Joseph Campbell. Matt wrote about the importance of place in Whitman, Hawthorne, and various contemporary musical artists, such as Bruce Springsteen. Andrea wrote about educational leadership and read texts by Emerson, Twain, Paolo Freire, and other less well-known contemporary educational researchers. Alyssa wrote about abortion and gay rights, and cited texts as varied as the US Constitution, "Resistance to Civil Government," <span style="font-style:italic;">The Scarlet Letter</span>, the New International Bible (used by Assemblies of God), and various abortion and gay rights rulings, including Roe v. Wade. <br /><br />Bobby wrote about bullying. Spencer wrote about the sea. Kristina wrote about Casey Anthony. Mary wrote about theocracy and Rick Perry and Michelle Bachman. She’s a science major and had 21 sources, mostly news articles but also Puritan texts from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Peter wrote about <span style="font-style:italic;">American History X</span>. Alex is a psychology major who wrote about isolation using several relevant psychological studies on monkeys and humans. Mark designed a course on minority literature. Steve wrote about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Alyssa wrote about the Byronic Hero, and brought her discussion into the contemporary kurun using <span style="font-style:italic;">Dexter</span>. Laura wrote about the American Federation of Teachers New York City chapter, and read educational theory going back to Emerson, Bronson Alcott, Horace Mann, and Elizabeth Peabody. Jessica wrote about Landscape Architecture, and Gina wrote about Charles Manson.<br /><br />Now I can’t guarantee that all of these will be well written, but I certainly won’t be bored reading twenty dull, uninspired versions of essentially the same assignment.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-54281093826038756002019-05-27T05:12:00.000-07:002019-05-27T05:12:00.230-07:00The Snowy Day<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Hallo Jumpa Lagi Kita Di Blog Ini</br><a href="http://www.99bandar.cc" target="_blank" title="judi ceme terpercaya">judi ceme terpercaya</a></font></span></span></center>I was born eight years after Ezra Jack Keats first published <span style="font-style:italic;">The Snowy Day</span>, which won the Caldecott Award in 1963. Today, that book is hailed as a landmark in children’s literature because of its simple, unassuming portrayal of a black child, named Peter, who goes out to play in the snow. The book is approaching its 50th anniversary, and has been featured in a number of news articles lately. Keats died in 1983, but a foundation named after him continues to promote his work, children’s literature in general, and libraries and teaching. In fact, this is the 24th year that the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation has awarded mini-grants to teachers and librarians (<a href="http://www.ezra-jack-keats.org/news/minigrant-program/">http://www.ezra-jack-keats.org/news/minigrant-program/</a>).<br /><br />I loved that book as a child. I don’t recall if I was at all aware of the fact that Peter’s skin color was significant. I grew up in a working class neighborhood just on the outskirts of New Haven, with black as well as white families. Later, my Catholic high school was mostly Irish and Italian Catholics (I was both) and African-Americans. All boys. And my father, in particular, always had a lot of black acquaintances from childhood. He and his nine siblings (or at least the first five of them!) grew up in a housing project called Brookside that had been made up of mostly Irish immigrants but at the time of his childhood was becoming increasingly African-American. So maybe at that age I was unaware of the significance.<br /><br />I do recall, however, enjoying the fact that Peter was playing in the snow in an urban landscape that was familiar to me. There were sidewalks and apartment buildings and lamp posts and traffic signals. This was not the bucolic winter landscape I saw in most children’s stories. This looked like my neighborhood, off of State Street, where my friends and I could walk past the apartment buildings on our way to the A&P or East Rock Market, which still had wide board wooden floors from the previous century, and where my friend Gary’s mother worked the cash register.<br /><br />Coincidentally, having just this weekend read about the 50th anniversary of the publication of <span style="font-style:italic;">The Snowy Day</span>, it snowed Monday night (Martin Luther King Day, no less), and we woke to a 90 minute delay. I had watched the snowfall late at night with the porch light on, a jazz station tuned in on my laptop, and a glass of sangria left over from a dinner party we hosted on Sunday. My kids woke up full of excitement for the first real snow of the winter. I said to them, “If you want to play in the snow, go do it now while we have a 90 minute school delay, because by the time you get home this evening it will be almost dark and this snow will likely have turned to slush.†<br /><br />Both kids were excited. Elsa, who just turned five, asked if she could put her snow clothes on right over her footed pajamas, and was elated when I told her yes. Cormac, who’s eight, just got new snow pants for Christmas, and so this was his first opportunity to try them out.<br /><br />We just moved to this new place in Storrs last month. We are in a much less urban environment than when we were in Windham, but we also have children on our street here, which we did not in the old house. Our next door neighbors are colleagues of mine, and their youngest boy is only about ten months older than Cormac. I called and invited him to come over and sled in our yard before school. Not only was he excited to come join my kids, as it turns out, I ended up bringing him to school because the delay had caused some morning conflicts for his folks.<br /><br />The three bundled up kids played in the snow for about three-quarters of an hour, till they got too wet and cold. I watched out the back windows as they sledded down the slight decline in our backyard, and when they disappeared from sight, I re-located them in the adjacent woods beneath some tall pines, shaking the snow from the low branches onto one another’s heads. When they came in, I threw all their stuff into the drier to be warm and toasty for school, and I made hot chocolate with marshmallows for them while they played upstairs till it was time to leave for school.<br /><br />When I was reading about <span style="font-style:italic;">The Snowy Day</span> in the <span style="font-style:italic;">Courant</span>, Elsa noticed the cover art that accompanied the article, and said, “Hey, we have that book!†Cormac looked up to see what she was pointing at, and said, “Yeah, you used to read that to me when I was little. I loved that book.†So do I.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-63653001246531043942019-05-20T05:12:00.000-07:002019-05-20T05:12:00.852-07:00Football, Literature, And Murder<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Terima Kasih Sudah Kunjungin Blog Ini</br><a href="http://www.99bandar.cc" target="_blank" title="ceme online terbaik">ceme online terbaik</a></font></span></span></center>Friends and acquaintances are often surprised to learn that I played football in high school. I guess I just don’t seem the type, somehow, but I did. I was a very mediocre linebacker on a very good football team that won three conference championships and lost two state championships in my four years there. My senior year, our team was ranked fifteenth in New England.<br /><br />These days, I still subscribe to <span style="font-style:italic;">Sports Illustrated</span> as well as to the <span style="font-style:italic;">English Journal</span> and <span style="font-style:italic;">Poets and Writers</span>. I watch Sports Center at the gym on the elliptical trainer and watch games late at night after I make myself stop working.<br /><br />During the playoff games this past weekend, I noticed that my friends on Facebook seemed pretty evenly divided between being engaged in the playoffs or offended by the undue attention a couple of sporting events were getting in the media and on Facebook. A lot of my more artsy friends, for lack of a better descriptor, found the football frenzy annoying.<br /><br />I suppose football just doesn’t have the literary credibility or literary tradition that, say, baseball does. Not that baseball players are all that literary themselves, but baseball certainly has a rich literary tradition. Think of <span style="font-style:italic;">The Natural</span> by Bernard Malamud, <span style="font-style:italic;">Shoeless Joe</span> by F. P. Kinsella, <span style="font-style:italic;">Eight Men Out</span> by Eliot Asinof, <span style="font-style:italic;">The Boys of Summer</span> by Roger Kahn, or <span style="font-style:italic;">Summer of ’49</span> by David Halberstam, just to name a few. These are not just good reads. Some are borderline classics. <span style="font-style:italic;">The Natural</span> was on the sophomore curriculum at the school where I used to teach.<br /><br />Football has George Plimpton’s <span style="font-style:italic;">Paper Lion</span>, published in 1963, and the lesser known follow up, <span style="font-style:italic;">Mad Ducks and Bears</span>, published in 1971. If you can name another good work of literature about football, please let me know. The only other strong connection I can think of between literature and football is Jack Kerouac, who spurned a scholarship to play football at Boston College to argue with the football coach at Columbia, spend most of his time riding the bench, and then break a leg. (I read an interesting article once about how Kerouac and Ken Kesey, who wrestled, were crucial figures in the cultural transition from the hyper-masculine literary culture of Ernest Hemingway to the more feminized literary culture of the 1960’s. But that’s for another blog post).<br /><br />Anyway, I couldn’t help but think about the irony of the fact that football is so un-literary, and yet one of the four teams in the conference playoffs, the Baltimore Ravens, was named for a work of literature, Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.†This happened in 1996 when Art Modell proposed moving the Cleveland Browns from Cleveland to Baltimore. The Browns were charter members of the AAFL in 1946, which became part of the American Football Conference in 1960. The outcry of the fan base when Modell proposed a move, on the team’s fiftieth anniversary no less, was so great that a very unusual deal was struck that allowed Modell to relocate the team providing the NFL committed itself to replacing the team with a new team, and Modell vacated the team name, its history, and its records. Modell agreed to this unusual arrangement, and found himself with a nameless team. A fan contest was put in place to name the new team in Baltimore, and the three finalist names were Marauders, Americans, and Ravens. In a selesai go-round, Ravens won with more than 33,000 votes.<br /><br />Most of you reading this probably know that Poe spent much of his life in Baltimore, died under odd circumstances in Baltimore, and is buried in Baltimore, where since as early as the 1930s, two or more generations of a family have maintained a mysterious yearly vigil of bringing three roses and a half-filled bottle of cognac to his grave on the anniversary of his birth. (The first written account of this visit is in a 1950 newspaper article, but apocryphal stories say visits may have begun as much as two decades earlier). This year was the third year in a row that no visitor attended, bring a mysterious end to a mysterious tradition.<br /><br />What struck me as odd and interesting watching the AFC playoff game this past Sunday was that the Ravens were playing the New England Patriots, who were charter members of the AFL, but from 1960 till 1970 were known as the Boston Patriots. This was interesting to me because Poe, despite his association with Baltimore, was actually born in Boston in 1809, and even published his first book of poems, <span style="font-style:italic;">Tamerlane and Other Poems</span>, in Boston in 1827. And rather than use his name, Poe published the work as merely, “A Bostonian.â€<br /><br />So the Patriots’ victory over the Ravens, their sixth in seven meetings over the years, struck me as a blow for the more literary town of Boston against a team whose name is likely lost upon a collection of players best known for linebacker and alleged murderer Ray Lewis. Lewis was originally charged with murder following a party at a nightclub after the Ravens won Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000. Ultimately, Lewis was convicted merely of obstruction of justice, even though the allegedly blood-splattered suit he wore on the night of the murders has never been found and no other suspects have ever been identified. Now that is a mystery worthy of the eminent Bostonian author.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-86614408542871943632019-05-13T05:12:00.000-07:002019-05-13T05:12:00.435-07:00Sorry For The Cynicism, But ...<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Selamat Datang Lagi Di Blog Ini</br><a href="http://www.99bandar.cc" target="_blank" title="bandar ceme terpercaya">bandar ceme terpercaya</a></font></span></span></center>Did anyone read Governor Malloy’s latest tawaran for educational reform? Quite a mixed bag. Looks like he’s out to eliminate certification requirements as well as tenure. If he and Stefan Pryor get their way, superintendents will be able to run their schools like the private boarding school my wife worked at when we were first married. Half the faculty was 22 and fresh from school. They were smart kids but had no idea how to teach, and the turnover was incredible. One trustee actually floated a tawaran to house the ingusan faculty in a college style dorm where they could party, thinking that this would retain them. But of course they were cheap. Room and board were provided, lousy as it was, but salaries were around $10,000 a year. I know this was almost twenty years ago now, but even twenty years ago I started at $30,000 in a district where salaries were modest, at best.<br /><br />All these proposals are in the name of eliminating the red tape that prevents superintendents and boards of education from hiring the best, most talented people out there. Now I’m sure most of us can think of a situation or two when someone talented was entangled in some certification red tape. My wife had a teacher a few years ago who just couldn’t pass the math portion of the Praxis I, who actually got such test anxiety that she once vomited on the keyboard at the test site, and this prevented her from getting certified. The super at the time supported her and did everything he could to emergency certify her and retain her as long as possible, but ultimately the state called his hand and she had to be let go. She landed on her feet in a community college, but the district lost a talented teacher over a test that was irrelevant to her subject area. But let’s face it, this is not what Malloy is really opening the doors to. He wants districts to be able to hire people who aren’t certified, just as the elimination of tenure isn’t really about empowering superintendents to fire poor performing teachers. It’s about empowering boards of finance to eliminate the highest paid teachers. And if they successfully tie job performance to student performance on standardized tests, then the only thing one has to do to get rid of veteran teachers is assign them the lowest performing kids, set them up for failure by giving them kids with a history of failure. It’s that easy, isn’t it?<br /><br />Sorry for my cynicism, but honestly, even if Malloy and Pryor aren’t thinking these things, we all know there are administrators and board members and local politicians who are, who are just drooling at the prospect of replacing the teachers at the top of the pay scale with a bunch of new, young, uncertified teachers who don’t have to be paid peanuts.<br /><br />The only thing I liked in Malloy’s latest iteration of his plan to save education by scapegoating the teachers is his tawaran to improve continuing education programs by replacing “generic continuing education programs presented in large auditoriums†with “high-quality programs … tailored to a teacher's particular needs.†Now that would be wonderful—if he can manage it. I remember when I got my first job, and my mother, a veteran elementary school teacher, sent me a sign that read, “When I die, I hope I die during an in-service aktivitas so that the transition from life to death will be seamless.†I put that up in the faculty room at my new school. Everyone laughed, but most had seen it before.<br /><br />Professional development was never meant to be this way. When the educational enhancement acts were passed almost thirty years ago now, no one intended for us all to be packed into the auditorium for some generic, canned program, or for the offerings to change with every shift of the educational wind, or to be held captive to another lecture on blood-born pathogens, or to have our principals tell us to meet as a department or team and ‘come up with something.’ Me, I get calls all the time to provide PD, but ninety percent ask me to help them raise their CMT or CAPT scores. That’s not really PD. Typically, I ask to talk to the teachers, use the discussion as a sort of diagnostic, and then I propose something I think will be useful. And I assure the direktur that it WILL help scores, however indirectly. Which isn’t a lie, really, but it takes some persuasion. Often the direktur seems overwhelmed, underfunded, and at a loss. They, too, are under such pressure to raise scores. They’re just desperate.<br /><br />Can Malloy and Pryor eliminate this mess? I’ll tell you one thing, it will cost more to provide “high quality programs tailored to a teacher’s particular needs†than it does to provide something canned and generic. Somehow I see this cost getting passed onto us. We’ll be required to get this new Master Educator Certificate to stay employed and at the top of our district’s pay scale, but we’ll have to pay for the coursework ourselves. Just watch.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-41366369549565388432019-05-06T05:12:00.000-07:002019-05-06T05:12:07.500-07:00Mandates And Bedeviling Details<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Kembali Lagi Bertemu Di Situs Kesayangan Anda</br><a href="http://www.99bandar.cc" target="_blank" title="situs bandar ceme">situs bandar ceme</a></font></span></span></center>This Sunday, the <span style="font-style:italic;">Courant</span> ran an editorial by Philip Streifer, who is Superintendent of Schools in Bristol and Chairman of the Connecticut Association of Urban Superintendents. In this piece, Streifer calls for more communication and coordination between high schools and colleges in the development of high school curricula that prepare students to meet college expectations.<br /><br />I agree with Streifer’s main point and, by and large, with his argument. His selesai conclusion, however, is that the state legislature needs to mandate such coordination. And while this may be so, there’s no attention given in the article to the complicated details of how this would look in practice. I’d also add that some existing state mandates interfere with the very goal of coordination, at least in perception.<br /><br />First of all, who would be responsible at the university level for this coordination? At the high school level, this could be handled by a curriculum director (not that all schools have those, but at least there’s widespread precedent for such a position). But who would be responsible at the college level? I don’t think Streifer is suggesting that schools of education be responsible for this. For one thing, schools of education already have a great deal of communication with high schools in the form of clinical placements and student teachers, though this does not typically include curriculum development. Another thing is that specific departments—English, Math, Biology, etc—should be the ones in communication with high schools in order to develop discipline-specific curricula.<br /><br />But right now, such positions don’t exist within university departments. At UConn, the closest we probably come is the Early College Experience program, but even then we’re talking about a specific course or two being offered in the high schools, not wholesale curriculum alignment. And even then it can be hard to find someone at the university to be the ECE coordinator. Regular faculty are disinclined to serve in this capacity because the time commitment takes away from their own scholarship and teaching. And faculty like me, who perform lots of service, professional development, and outreach, are in short supply. I can think of one Biology professor who, like me, was a high school teacher for a long time, and who does work with the ECE program. But would faculty like us be able to take on the load of working not just with a few schools offering one course, but the load of working with all Connecticut high schools on full scale curriculum revision and alignment? Of course not. It would require a tremendous investment in personnel at the university level, as well as a certain realignment of the culture of the university to make such positions integral to the academic lives of departments.<br /><br />Other obstacles, as I said before, exist as a result of other state mandates, such as CAPT. For instance, a community college colleague and I went to a local public high school a couple years back and did a full day workshop on ‘college-level’ writing where we discussed expectations at our respective institutions. We talked about the academic essay, the importance of student inquiry, of drafting and revision, of avoiding formulaic approaches such as the five paragraph essay, and such. On the whole, the group of teachers was very receptive, but a core group of about four veteran teachers in the department felt strongly that such emphases would undermine their necessary efforts to prepare students for CAPT, as well as to prepare them for the writing required on other standardized forms of assessment, such as the SAT and AP tests. At one point, our discussion bordered on getting heated, and I had to walk away after telling one particularly vocal teacher that we were showing him what the expectations were at our colleges. I didn’t necessarily think that preparing students for these expectations was incompatible with or detrimental to preparation for CAPT, SAT, or AP tests, but if he felt so, then he simply had a choice to make.<br /><br />I’ve run into similar if less vocal and hostile responses at other schools, too. And in the work I have done with the ECE jadwal doing site visits to schools, the tensions between ECE and AP emphases are particularly strong, and though that is one not truly caused by the State, it is one reinforced by many superintendents, principals and boards of education. The pressure to offer AP courses, as well as the temptation to chase after the money dangled by Project Opening Doors, lures many administrators away from the more sound, truly college-preparatory work done by the ECE program. If we were to mandate something even more comprehensive, could we break administrators and classroom teachers from their infatuation with multiple choice questions and timed, short-answer essays? And would this jeopardize the state’s plans for assessing teachers if there were no canned assessments to use as data?<br /><br />I’ll state clearly that CAPT and AP don’t have to be incompatible with academic or college-level work, and that it is not only possible but worthwhile to have greater coordination between high schools and colleges, but any mandate to do so is going to need a great deal of creative planning and, sorry to say this, financial commitment. And then, after all, the biggest obstacle might be the attitudes of teachers and professors and the entrenched cultures of high schools and colleges.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-30144937124953015862019-04-29T05:12:00.000-07:002019-04-29T05:12:02.766-07:00A Family Affair: Or, Six Degrees Of Education<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Selamat Datang Kembali Di Blog Kesayangan Anda</br><a href="http://www.99bandar.cc" target="_blank" title="bandar ceme">bandar ceme</a></font></span></span></center>It was Saint Patrick’s Day, 1986. I was seventeen years old and celebrating the day with a few friends at the Knights of St. Patrick, where my paternal grandfather, a long-time New Haven city alderman, was the permittee. One of the men tending kafetaria was a New Haven cop whose daughter was dating my good friend Jack. I introduced myself as a friend of Linda’s boyfriend. Officer Mahan asked my name and of course recognized my surname when I said it. My father was the fifth of ten children. Officer Mahan asked me, “Whose son are you?†I told him I was Gary’s son, number five. His eyes widened, and Officer Mahan said, “The one who married Captain Fitchett’s daughter?†Captain Fitchett was my maternal grandfather. He was on the New Haven police force for thirty-five years, and had served as both Chief Inspector and Chief of Police at different times in his career. I said yes, and what ensued was like the scene out of <span style="font-style:italic;">The Adventures of Tom Sawyer</span> when Tom, Huck, and Joe Harper appear in church after everyone in town believed they had drowned. I was like the long lost Dauphin returned to claim the throne. Both families used to be like lesser royalty in New Haven, and I was the only son born to both lines. Among all the Irish cops, I was a prince.<br /><br />My family had lots of cops within my grandparents’ and parents’ generations. Besides my grandfather there were also my uncles Billy, Mike, Ric, and Wayne. But for all those cops, we were (and are) mostly a family of teachers. My mother, father, and step-father were teachers, and so were my aunts Winifred and Betse, and my uncles Red, John, and Joe. Within my generation, in addition to my wife and myself, my cousin Brian and his wife Jackie, and my cousins Jennifer, Nikki, Stephanie, Karyn, and Kevin are all teachers. My brother Steve is a PhD candidate in Math who teaches Introductory Calculus here at UConn, and my cousin Gabby is a UConn freshman who hopes to become a high school math teacher. More than likely, I’m also forgetting someone.<br /><br />So there are days when I feel as if I belong to teaching royalty, or as if I am playing a game of Six Degrees of Education. I used to joke that if you were from New Haven, someone in my family had either instructed you or incarcerated you. Now, as I work with more and more teachers each year, I know that if I ask enough questions, sooner or later I will find a connection to one of the teachers in my family.<br /><br />Earlier in the semester I discovered that my cousin Gabby was taking the same Calc class my brother was teaching, though a different section. Steve and Gabby are not related to each other, and before this semester didn’t know one another, but now Steve tutors Gabby. She gets some free help and he gets some practice being a teacher. And just a week or so ago I discovered that a student in my Advanced Composition class had been a student of my cousin Jennifer’s at Lyman Hall in Wallingford. He even traveled with her to New Orleans on a field trip. <br /><br />But that’s not as surprising as an incident that happened several years ago. I had a student named Lauren who mentioned in her literacy narrative that she had attended elementary school in Hamden. I asked her to name her first grade teacher, and she said, “Mrs. Zito.†That’s my mother. I asked Lauren to let me borrow her cell phone, and without explaining what I was doing, I called my mother. As soon as she answered, I handed the phone to Lauren and said, “Say hi to Mrs. Zito.â€<br /><br />Even today, I learned from my son’s third grade teacher that one of my advisees and current students is doing her clinical placement in her class. The three of them only just figured out today the relationships among us, and then it was like a race among the three of them to see who could tell me first. (The teacher won). <br /><br />With such a large family and so many teachers, I should get used to this sort of thing, but it continues to fascinate me. Like the time last semester when my colleague was singing the praises of one of her students, and when she named the student I just smiled and said, “Oh, that’s my cousin.â€Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-75155648474739064472019-04-22T05:12:00.000-07:002019-04-22T05:12:00.230-07:00It Only Takes One<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Hai.. Bertemu Lagi Di Website Kesayangan Anda</br><a href="http://77bandar.net" target="_blank" title="situs bandarq">situs bandarq</a></font></span></span></center>All these attacks on tenure are really getting me angry. I resent the implication that tenure makes us lazy and complacent and if we just eliminated it we’d all magically shape up or be shipped out. There’s relatively little discussion about professional development for teachers, especially those in critical needs districts. No, just make it easier to fire us and hire people from other states with lower standards, or even to hire other professionals with no educational training. <br /><br />Look, I know as well as anyone that some teachers besmirch our profession by abusing tenure to remain employed even though they’re doing a poor job. We could all name a few of those. But I know they are not the norm. Yet the public and the legislature and the governor and the commissioner and the journalists seem to think they are the norm. They seem to think that we sit around and do nothing for four years, get our tenure, and then do even less—just to paraphrase our governor.<br /><br />I’ll tell you what tenure is about. In my twelve years as a high school teacher, I was in one district. In that time, I had four superintendents and seven building principals. They were not all created equal.<br /><br />Early in my career, the year I was up for tenure, I had a ridiculous run-in with a new principal over an issue I actually supported him on. I made the mistake at a faculty meeting of voicing my support, with a caveat. He wanted to extend senior privileges, and I believed this would be manageable if he and the assistant principal were better about disciplining the students we wrote up when they abused these privileges. I had the gall to suggest that we would support his tawaran if he would assure us of administrative support. I was not the most vocal or critical voice at that meeting, but I was the least senior. Colleagues came up to me afterwards and expressed incredible levels of concern because they knew I was not tenured yet. Honestly, I was surprised, till the next day when he accosted me in a hallway in front of students and went up one side of me and down the other, screaming, swearing, dropping f-bombs. I was speechless. Thank goodness we had a strong union president at the time, and she marched into his office and lit into him like a mother upbraiding her misbehaving son. In the end, he offered me a half-hearted and private apology, but I walked on egg shells the rest of the year because I was so scared he would find some excuse to get me. And with good reason.<br /><br />The following year I was accused by a girl’s parents of sexually harassing her—because I was too explicit in the way I taught <span style="font-style:italic;">Romeo and Juliet</span>. Basically, after reading Act I, scene i, I explained that a maid was not a cleaning lady but a young virgin. Long story short, they wrote a scathing letter and insisted that the principal put it in my file, which he was more than happy to oblige. Thankfully, I did have tenure by this time, and I still had the same union president. She insisted on a little more inquiry in the matter, and threatened a grievance. Turns out, the student had made no complaint, and in fact loved my class. The parents even admitted that their child had no idea they were making any complaints about me and would, in fact, be upset with them if she did. Furthermore, we were told that these parents belonged to a group that had been petitioning the state department of education to remove certain texts they found objectionable, and one of them was, of course, <span style="font-style:italic;">Romeo and Juliet</span>. In light of this information, their attack on me now seemed part of a predetermined strategy. But were it not for tenure and my union president’s insistence on due process, that man would have gladly ruined my reputation and my career because he was still angry a year later about what he perceived as my insubordination on a minor issue.<br /><br />So, maybe Governor Malloy and Commissioner Pryor’s intentions can be trusted, but not everyone else’s can. I tell my undergraduates all the time that tenure is not about job security. Tenure is about academic freedom. It is about being protected from petty administrators, vindictive parents, and politically ambitious members of boards of education. And it only takes one to ruin a career.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-3371802408535653172019-04-15T05:12:00.000-07:002019-04-15T05:12:00.747-07:00The Case Against Sb 24<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Selamat Membaca Di Situs Kesayangan Anda</br><a href="http://77bandar.net" target="_blank" title="judi bandarq online">judi bandarq online</a></font></span></span></center>If you didn’t get to see it, <span style="font-style:italic;">The Hartford Courant</span> ran an op-ed piece by me on Sunday as the lead article on the front of their Sunday Opinion section. You can access it here: <a href="http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/hc-op-courtmanche-ending-teacher-tenure-wrong-fix--20120226,0,5934612.story">http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/hc-op-courtmanche-ending-teacher-tenure-wrong-fix--20120226,0,5934612.story</a>. <br /><br />It’s a defense of teachers and tenure. The basic argument is that tenure cannot be cited as the cause of the achievement gap. There’s another piece by a colleague from the Law School that argues that teachers’ unions should not be allowed to participate in education reform talks because the unions only advocate for teachers, and “the interests of children are not part of that discussion.†He got pretty slammed in the blogosphere.<br /><br />Anyway, the opportunity to publish the piece came about suddenly. I had wanted to attend the hearings at the Capitol on SB 24, Governor Malloy’s education reform bill titled An Act Concerning Educational Competitiveness, but I was unable to do so. I thought to write a letter to the editor on the issue, and, long-story-short, I ended up writing the op-ed piece.<br /><br />The response has been amazing. Besides all the friends, acquaintances and colleagues who have written me in Facebook or by email to thank me for the piece, the online edition of the <span style="font-style:italic;">Courant</span> has gotten tremendous traffic, with over three-thousand shares, recommends, and tweets, etc, which only account for a fraction of the views. I say this not to toot my own horn but to call attention to the relevance of the issue and to the affirmative response to my defense of teachers. Teachers, of course, but, more importantly, the public in general are not buying into the scapegoating, no matter what the governor, legislators, journalists, and pseudo-reformists like Patrick Riccard claim.<br /><br />Sunday, February 9, the <span style="font-style:italic;">Courant</span> ran the results of its own poll in its Weekly Buzz section. Question #1 asked, “Should teachers have to re-earn tenure once they’ve earned it?†An overwhelming 84% of respondents replied No. Of those respondents, 56% said that “Tenure protects teachers from arbitrary firings. Without tenure, school systems will save money by getting rid of better-paid tenured teachers and keeping cheaper teachers.†An additional 25% of those who replied No to the first question said that “This [SB 24] is a ploy to get rid of tenure altogether. What’s the point of granting it in the first place if it has to be re-earned?†There were a total of 2,102 responses to this question. By contrast, the third question, on the death penalty, drew the second most, with 679 responses.<br /><br />Today’s “Issue of the Day†section of the <span style="font-style:italic;">Courant</span> was also dedicated to tenure. The question was, “What’s The Problem With Education? Is It Bad Teachers?†The response, again, was overwhelmingly in defense of teachers. Respondents repeatedly cited poverty, lack of support for education in the home, and lack of funding as the root causes of the achievement gap.<br /><br />No one’s buying what the Governor is selling except the legislature and the media (and they probably like the sensationalism more than they believe the Governor’s claims).<br /><br />One colleague wrote to me today and asked what I thought could be done. I told him simple things: write letters to the editor, contact your local representatives, attend the upcoming Town Hall Meetings the Governor plans to hold. The schedule for these can be found here: <a href="http://www.cea.org/issues/news/2012/governor-announces-education-reform-tour.cfm">http://www.cea.org/issues/news/2012/governor-announces-education-reform-tour.cfm</a>. <br /><br />If you do any of these things, both the NEA and CEA have lots of helpful information on their websites. The NEA can be accessed at <a href="http://www.nea.org/">http://www.nea.org/</a>. The CEA is at <a href="http://www.cea.org/">http://www.cea.org/</a>. The CEA has even developed its own “comprehensive education reform plan†that was “developed by teachers†(imagine that!). You can download it here: <a href="http://cea.org/viewfromclassroom/">http://cea.org/viewfromclassroom/</a>. The AFT has good resources, too, of course, and you can access their site here: <a href="http://aftct.org/">http://aftct.org/</a>. <br />And if you want to slog through Senate Bill 24 itself, there are lots of places to access it from. Here’s one: <a href="http://www.mygov365.com/legislation/view/id/4f337ea949e51b5a636d0200/tab/versions/">http://www.mygov365.com/legislation/view/id/4f337ea949e51b5a636d0200/tab/versions/</a>.<br /><br />I hope there’s still time to stop or significantly revise this bill. I’d like to see education reform. I think we all would, but I think that means something very different to teachers than it does to the Governor and the Commissioner, neither of whom have ever taught. As I say in my article, we want and expect support in the form of funding and professional development, not blame, reprisal, watered down standards, and privatization. They seem more concerned with cost savings.<br /><br />Daniel Ward, editor of <span style="font-style:italic;">Language</span> magazine, a journal for teachers of world languages, states the case succinctly in his February editorial: “it is about time that we all stood up against teacher bashing and insisted that our media affords them the respect that they deserve.†<br /><br />Check out Kristal Bivona’s article on professional development and self-determination in the same issue: <a href="http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=3380">http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=3380</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-45851301157605350122019-04-08T05:12:00.000-07:002019-04-08T05:12:01.453-07:00Guarded Optimism<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Selamat Datang Di Blog Kesayangan Anda Dan Selamat Membaca</br><a href="http://77bandar.net" target="_blank" title="bandarq terbaik">bandarq terbaik</a></font></span></span></center>The good news is that the National Writing Project succeeded in being awarded federal funding for 2013. The NWP, along with the New Teacher Center and Teach For America, received a combined $24.6 million dollars in Supporting Effective Educators Development (SEED) grant funds, part of the 1.5% Title II set-aside we lobbied hard for after the cuts to direct funding. You can read the press release here: <a href="http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/education-department-awards-246-million-grants-support-teacher-and-principal-dev">http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/education-department-awards-246-million-grants-support-teacher-and-principal-dev</a>. The excitement is muted by the fact that the NWP received only $11.3 million, which sounds like a large amount but is significantly less than the $23 million it last received in 2011. And next year is still going to be an exceedingly lean year. <br /><br />However, the CWP is fortunate, as always, to have Aetna Endowment funding to help us sustain essential programs like the Summer Institute, and we are holding two fundraising events to help establish an endowment for ourselves as well as raise some additional operating funds. One will be the May 11 30th Anniversary Reunion, and the other will likely be a fall cabaret with Barry Lane, though this is still very much in the earliest stages of planning. Nonetheless, some programs will have to be tabled for a year, and others that were put on hold a couple years ago, like the Teacher and Student Writing Conference or the Academy for Young Writers, will have to continue to wait for the economy to improve. (Federal funds for teacher professional development cannot be spent directly on student programs, which is why these were the first to suffer).<br /><br />The SEED funds have three priorities: “Increasing the number of teacher-leaders prepared to improve the teaching of writing; increasing sustained professional development services in the teaching of writing to
 high-need schools; and developing and piloting new online professional development resources to improve the
 teaching of writing.†The former is clearly intended to help support Summer Institutes. The latter builds on the investment in technology that began with special funding for Technology Liaisons and the development of the Technology Initiative: <a href="http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/programs/ti">http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/programs/ti</a>. The second initiative gives the NWP the opportunity to partner with Title I schools, and also gives it the opportunity to collaborate with Teach For America, which it was already doing in places like Philadelphia, where the Philadelphia Writing Project was working with TFA teachers in Philadelphia schools to provide ongoing and advanced professional development intended to improve the instruction of TFA teachers and, hopefully, get more of them to stay both in the profession and in Philadelphia.<br /><br />Much of this is consistent with federal and state initiatives—Race to the Top and SB 24 proposals—to improve teacher training. Some of Malloy’s teacher pelatihan proposals, as you all know, I’m sure, are controversial, to say the least, but I am guardedly hopeful about one component that was announced Wednesday. The Board of Education voted to create an advisory council intended to improve teacher education programs. At face value, this might sound frightening, but the advisory council appears to be fairly well balanced. The Educator Preparation Advisory Council will include the new commissioner, of course, but also representatives from the Board of Regents for Higher Education, the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE), superintendents and other building-level administrators, and both teachers unions. For my part, I am glad to see building-level administrators and the teachers’ unions on that board, as well as the president of the BRHE, and that groups like ConnCAN and the Connecticut Business and Industry Association are not included. Honestly, I don’t think they belong in the discussion, and this council, as constituted (or at least as it appears to be constituted) seems more balanced than, for example, the one that made recommendations on tenure. We shall see. As I said, my hope is guarded.<br /><br />Part of my hopefulness comes from the fact that, at UConn, the CWP has been very involved in the preparation of at least the future English teachers, and I would be very excited to see the CWP use its new funding to be more and more deeply involved in teacher pelatihan and professional development, and perhaps to earn opportunities to work with TFA teachers in places like Windham, where Special Master Stephen Adamowski has announced plans to hire twenty TFA teachers. I think that the Neag School of Education at UConn is already doing many of the kinds of things Malloy and Pryor would like to see become more wide-spread and characteristic of teacher pelatihan throughout the state, and certainly the US Department of Education has recognized that the Writing Projects are capable of providing the professional development necessary to train new teachers and support veteran teachers.<br /><br />So today was warm and sunny. My son did not have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, as he did yesterday. I received good news on a tawaran I made related to my fellowship (that I will withhold discussing till I learn more). A colleague and friend I wrote a rec for got a big promotion. Six undergrads I wrote recs for got into grad schools. Neag just announced its new students, and I am very happy for the twelve students who got in for secondary English, the seven Elementary Ed admissions who are also pursuing English degrees, and the one Special Ed student who is. And four additional students I wrote recs for received a scholarship, a grant, admission to study abroad, and acceptance into TFA. And now the CWP will have federal funds again in 2013. So maybe circumstance has tinted my glasses rose, but I’ll take it for the time being.<br /><br />Spring break is next week, and I am going to take a week off from blogging. See you in two.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-5963410974752880962019-04-01T05:12:00.000-07:002019-04-01T05:12:01.730-07:00What Barbarians At The Gate?<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Hallo Jumpa Lagi Kita Di Website Ini</br><a href="http://77bandar.net" target="_blank" title="judi bandarq">judi bandarq</a></font></span></span></center>Last Saturday I went to see Jeff Wilhelm speak at Rhode Island College. The Rhode Island Writing Project Conference was ostensibly on the Common Core, but Jeff was there in part to promote his new book, <span style="font-style:italic;">Teaching Literacy for Love and Wisdom</span>. For those of you who don’t know Jeff or his work, Jeff was a high school English teacher for 15 years before getting his PhD and moving to higher ed. He started the Maine Writing Project and then the Boise State Writing Project. I first saw Jeff speak in Vermont at the inaugural New England Writing Projects Regional Network Retreat, in about 2000, a few years after <span style="font-style:italic;">You Gotta BE the Book</span> first came out.<br /><br />I have known Jeff for years and have really enjoyed his work. Jeff has always promoted engaged and interactive approaches to teaching and writing, but his new book goes much further than any previous. Some aspects will strike some readers as too touchy-feely or quasi-spiritual, but Jeff’s intentions are solidly humanist and democratic, and he backs up his ideas with a lot of research, including cognitive science.<br /><br />I was particularly struck by the way Jeff and his co-author Bruce Novak framed their argument in the context of political and social movements and consequent pedagogical responses. For instance, Jeff and Bruce talk about two important conferences, familiar to most students of composition but not necessarily familiar to most teachers. They are the Dartmouth Seminar of 1966 and the English Coalition Conference of 1987 at Wye Plantation in Maryland. Without getting into too much detail, the Dartmouth Seminar responded to the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) of 1958, which was a politically conservative response to Sputnik. The Wye Conference responded to the 1983 publication of <span style="font-style:italic;">A Nation at Risk</span> , which was another politically conservative call to educational arms. Both the NDEA and the <span style="font-style:italic;">A Nation at Risk</span> report pushed education toward standardization, assessment, and, especially for the field of English, a narrowing of the profession toward a skills-based understanding of literacy. Dartmouth and Wye were both push-backs against conservative trends.<br /><br />In <span style="font-style:italic;">Teaching Literacy for Love and Wisdom</span>, Jeff and Bruce identify the current climate under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Race To the Top (R2T) as one that demands another push-back. Their book is a clarion call for teachers, and especially teachers of English. And although Jeff is originally a New England guy, he’s in Idaho now, so he’s not particularly aware of Governor Malloy’s education reform proposal, but this book addresses exactly what’s going on now in our state. <br /><br />In the late 50s, the NDEA was driven by a militaristic mindset that stressed the need for math and science to help us defend against the Soviet barbarians at the gate. In the 80s, <span style="font-style:italic;">A Nation at Risk</span> spurred President Reagan to form the National Commission on Excellence in Education, which was largely comprised of private sector and government figures with a few token educators, and they too were charged with defending against the new barbarians (still the Soviets but with the Japanese on the ascendant). The 2001 NCLB act had similar private and governmental backing but little support from the education community, and it took aim at defending against foreign threats such as the Arab world and China. <br /><br />And if you look now at the individuals influencing Governor Malloy’s Senate Bill 24, you will see once again that ConnCAN is private sector and the Connecticut Council for Education Reform, the main body behind Malloy’s education agenda, is comprised of bankers, insurance executives, and members of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association. Nary an educator to be found. And while Malloy might not be influenced by a concern for outside threats, his proposals are clearly an attempt to get R2T money and a NCLB waiver. So the mindset of reforming education in order to compete against rising economic powers and defend against threatening military powers remains operative.<br /><br />By contrast, Jeff challenges us to reform education, especially the field of English, so that we reclaim and reassert the goals of the humanist and democratic traditions—nothing less than life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He urges us to resist the corporate reformers who would reduce Education in general and English in particular to a barren field of “information and skills delivery and test preparation,†and he insists that we regard teaching as “an artistic, creative, and imaginative endeavor†that shows students how to regard “reading, writing, and living as creative and imaginative pursuits.â€Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-49831304377094398462019-03-25T05:12:00.000-07:002019-03-25T05:12:07.701-07:00The Credibility Gap<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Hallo Ketemu Lagi Di Situs Kesayangan Anda</br><a href="http://77bandar.net" target="_blank" title="daftar bandarq">daftar bandarq</a></font></span></span></center><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; mso-font-charset:78; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:1 0 16778247 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal"> I'm in DC this week lobbying for the National Writing Project, and I'll blog on this next week. Meanwhile, I'm posting an op-ed I submitted to the <i>Courant</i> that they chose not to run.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> </div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Governor Malloy talks a lot about the Achievement Gap in Connecticut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His education reform plan, Senate Bill 24, is intended to close the Gap that exists between rich and poor, white and non-white, urban and suburban students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Setting aside for the moment that the most recent Brookings Institute Report suggests that the Achievement Gap<a href="" name="_GoBack"></a> is smaller than reported and, in fact, may have shrunk slightly over the last decade, there <i>is</i> undoubtedly an Achievement Gap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It might not be the widening chasm that it gets portrayed to be, but no doubt it exists, it is large, and it is persistent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Teachers more than anyone want to shrink the Gap.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> When Governor Malloy began his Town Hall tour to promote his reform agenda, he certainly must have known he was going to encounter criticism, but I don’t think he had any idea just how much resistance and rancor he was going to get from teachers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in all honesty, he seems genuinely perplexed by this resistance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the recent event in Windham, he kept repeating how incredulous he was, how he just couldn’t understand why the teachers were so upset, why they were focusing on the small part of the bill that dealt with tenure and not with the larger share of the bill that dealt with other issues like preschool funding or cost sharing. </div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Personally, I don’t doubt his genuine belief that his proposals are in good faith and can achieve their goals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in all fairness, the Governor’s anjuran certainly has many elements that should (and could) get the support of the teachers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reason why the Governor is not getting the teachers’ support, however, is because the Governor suffers from a Credibility Gap.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> And just as the Achievement Gap is intimately tied to the Income Gap, so the Credibility Gap is tied to the Trust Gap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Teachers don’t trust Governor Malloy because he has largely excluded them and, on occasion, insulted them publicly. </div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> The Governor likes to point out that the two unions, the Connecticut Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, were involved with the development of the new teacher evaluation formula.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s true, but it’s insufficient.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Look at the roster of the Board of Directors for the Governor's Connecticut Council for Education Reform:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>insurance executives, bank presidents, the President of United Illuminating, and the CEO of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>About the closest we get to an educator is Yale President Richard Levin or Roxanne Coady, who owns RJ Julia Bookstore. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even Commissioner of Education Stefan Pryor was never a teacher.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> I am not suggesting that these individuals are incompetent or have malicious intent or hate teachers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Quite to the contrary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am certain these folks are highly competent individuals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have families and children, and they probably have teachers among their families and friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much was made of the fact that both of Stefan Pryor’s parents were teachers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that’s great.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> But these folks are not qualified to reform education, and the teachers know it even if the Governor doesn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their presence as the driving force behind the Governor’s education reform kegiatan is the source of the distrust that leads to the Credibility Gap.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> As a point of contrast, let’s imagine what the response would be if the Governor proposed legislation to reform banking or insurance and he formed an advisory group that included AFT-Connecticut President Sharon Palmer or CEA Executive Director Mary Loftus Levine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would be unthinkable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> As Director of the Connecticut Writing Project at the University of Connecticut, I am involved in budgeting state, federal, corporate, private, and discretionary funds, but I would never presume to be qualified to sit on a committee to reform the finance industry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My brother is a pediatric nephrologist and the grandparents who raised me were a dietician and a police officer, but I would never assume myself qualified to discuss pediatrics, kidney disease, nutrition, or criminal justice.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> If the Governor is really serious about reforming education, and I think he is, he needs to start listening to teachers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Close the Credibility Gap and we might all be able to start working together to close the Achievement Gap.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-61242954066057856352019-03-18T05:12:00.000-07:002019-03-18T05:12:00.773-07:00Mcteachers<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Terima Kasih Telah Kunjungin Web Kesayangan Anda</br><a href="http://77bandar.net" target="_blank" title="bandarq terpercaya">bandarq terpercaya</a></font></span></span></center>Did you see that Windham teachers and PTO members raised funds for their school by working at the Mansfield McDonald’s? It was called McTeacher’s Night. A principal, several classroom teachers, and members of the PTO flipped burgers, scooped fries, and manned the drive-through window for two hours at the end of the day, with some of the proceeds going to the school. Now don’t get me wrong. I think it’s great that the local chain owner wanted to do something to help Windham teachers raise funds for their school, but honestly, is this what we’ve come to? McTeachers? Is this even a profession any longer?<br /> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> I was on the phone tonight with a representative from the Parthenon Group, a private consulting firm hired by the National Writing Project to survey site leaders for information about the future of the organization, particularly the future of funding in the wake of the loss of direct federal funding. The guy I spoke with was nice, but he got a little snarky with me when I told him that I was uncomfortable with the direction the National Writing Project seemed to be forced into. Increasingly, the national office is looking at private sources of funding, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (which seems pretty close to The Parthenon Group, several of whose members have worked for the Gates Foundation and other charter-friendly education groups), and even Wal-Mart. And I told him that I have deep reservations about this direction.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> My objection is not so much that I disagree with the vision or values of the Gates Foundation or the Walton Family Trust, which I may, but that I object to the fact that these organizations are being put in a position to define the mission of the Writing Project or other professional organizations for teachers. No longer are we as an organization in a position where we can define what we do, ask the federal government to provide funding, and then prove the efficacy of our work. Now, with private donors as well as with current competitive grant funding structures at the state and federal levels, it is the funding agent who gets to define the work we are to do, after which we customize a anjuran to conform to their demands, and only then can we receive funds. This is, to say the least, troubling.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> We have seen this sort of thing many times over the decades—notably after Sputnik and after the publication of A Nation At Risk—where the federal government has taken it upon itself to reform public education from the top down, but this time seems worse. This time around, we’re seeing even greater involvement from the private sector, and we’re seeing much more effort from the private sector to exert control. Even though, as I wrote last week, financial firms and the president of New Alliance Bank simply aren’t qualified to reform education. (By contrast, when the Aetna Insurance Company endowed a chair of writing at UConn back in the 1980s, there was no attempt by them to tell the university what to do with the money, other than to trust the faculty to fund programs that promoted writing and the teaching of writing. The teachers and professors were the experts on that, and so were entrusted to use their expertise).</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> In a March 20 opinion column in the <i>Willimantic Chronicle</i>, Eastern Connecticut State University Professor Emeritus James Lacey offers an alternative anjuran to corporate reform and privatization. Professor Lacey urges us to “[turn] the system upside down.†He suggests that we abandon systems with “a top-down hierarchy†and replace them with “a democratic, bottom-up approach†that values the experience and expertise of teachers, first and foremost, with input from parents and students.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Interestingly, the original charter school act of 1996 made frequent mention of community interest and both teacher and parent approval. Many at the time hoped, in fact, that applications to establish charters would come from coalitions of teachers and community members. And some did. But that’s not what we’re seeing now. Now, we’re seeing hedge fund management firms and large corporations pouring millions of dollars into the establishment of charters. This is anything but democratic, public, or community based innovation. This is, what, investment? Speculation?</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> What we have more and more now is a corporate model where competition rules and democracy takes a back seat. Where 34 literacy programs competed for Title II SEED grant funds, and only three received them. Where students have to participate in a lottery to go to a school with adequate funding (and if you’re in New York, this might be merely different floors of the same school building!). And where programs and schools have to hold bake sales, auctions, and cabarets in order to acquire funds that are not ensnared by someone else’s agenda.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Is this the choice we have been pushed into? On the one hand, degrade ourselves with begging and performing song and dance routines, flipping burgers on second shift, or capitulate to the demands of the wealthy corporations that have the money but might not share our educational beliefs? And on top of that to possibly offer up our academic freedom by relinquishing tenure? Ugh.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-56873673680174247322019-03-11T05:12:00.000-07:002019-03-11T05:12:04.799-07:00Television And Other Guilty Pleasures<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Selamat Datang Di Website Kesayangam Anda</br><a href="http://77bandar.net" target="_blank" title="bandarq online">bandarq online</a></font></span></span></center><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --> </style> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal"> For years I have been trying to locate this interview with Norman Mailer in which the author defends television. I don’t recall where I read it, but Mailer’s main point was that television was just a new form of story-telling. His only real objection was to commercial interruptions. Otherwise, TV was just a new medium for the ancient art of narrative.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> I suppose one of the main reasons I was excited by that interview was that I grew up a television junkie. I watched tons of TV. I loved cartoons and sitcoms. I was addicted to <i>Happy Days</i> at one time. I remember it always came on right after my cub scouts den meeting at Trevor Hill’s house. We’d have the meeting in his parents’ finished basement and then run upstairs to huddle up in the TV room to watch the show. My grandfather used to love watching wrestling, which I never really got into, but my grandmother loved crime shows, courtroom dramas, old black and white thrillers, and old comedies. She loved <i>Perry Mason</i>, <i>Columbo</i>, <i>Barnaby Jones</i>, <i>Murder She Wrote</i>. With her I watched all the Sherlock Holmes movies with Basil Rathbone as Holmes, or <i>Robin Hood</i> with Errol Flynn as Robin and Rathbone as Guy of Gisbourne. She and I watched a lot of Abbott and Costello movies, <i>I Love Lucy</i> episodes, and Agatha Christie films.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> When I was in eighth grade I had a huge crush on this seventh grade girl that I considered way out of my league. One day on the bus home from school, she made my day when she confessed that she loved old movies and asked if I’d ever heard of a movie called <i>Some Like It Hot</i>, which was perhaps my favorite movie of all time. (I still love when Jack Lemmon describes Marilyn Monroe’s walk as “Jell-O on springsâ€). Suddenly I forgot all about my preconceived notions and we fell into a great conversation about old movies.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Years later, in college, I went through a phase where I shunned television and aspired to be one of those hip, literate adults who doesn’t own a TV. But then I read Robert Probst’s <i>Response and Analysis</i>, in which he has a chapter titled Visual Literacy, where he defends TV in much the same way Mailer does. He challenges teachers to drop their pretensions, admit they read sufficiently trashy beach novels every summer, and accept TV as just a new media. In that chapter, Probst suggests we assign a show to our students that the whole class can watch as homework and then discuss and analyze as a text in class. He argues that this will prevent TV from becoming a bad influence upon students’ literacy because it can teach them to be critical viewers of visual texts.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> These days I openly watch TV. Some nights I read in the quiet of late night, after everyone else has gone to bed. But many nights I want to just chill out and watch a show. I like to watch DVDs or programs in Netflix so I can avoid commercials. My favorite shows all have cool anti-heroes and often deal with the supernatural, which strikes me as odd since I’m not a religious believer of any variety. (I like to tell my son that there’s a lot of mystery in life and that I’m cool with the mystery).</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Amy and I have been making our way through the early seasons of <i>Mad Men</i>. We blew through the first four seasons of <i>Californication</i>. On my own I’ve been watching <i>Weeds</i>, but lately my real favorite has been <i>Supernatural</i>.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> The one thing all these shows have in common that appeals to me is the cool anti-hero: Don Draper, Hank Moody, Nancy Botwin, Sam and Dean Winchester. Kinda dark and edgy, conflicted, contradictory, but essentially good people. I like how their flaws make them sympathetic to other outcasts, kind of like Hester Prynne. I liked how in season one of <i>Weeds</i> all the messed up high school kids gravitated toward the Botwin residence because Nancy was the only adult who seemed to get them and accept them. (Though the producers seem to have decided to move away from that angle).</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <i>Supernatural</i> appeals to me for a variety of reasons, but I especially love all the literary allusions sprinkled throughout the episodes. (<i>Californication</i> does this too, perhaps since Duchovny was ABD in English at Yale). Sam and Dean are basically Sal and Dean from <i>On the Road</i>, and the whole series is a modern take on <i>Paradise Lost</i>, which I think can be said of Kerouac’s novel, too. Remember that scene toward the end of <i>On the Road</i> when Sal Paradise says, “Suddenly I had a vision of Dean, a burning shuddering frightful Angel, palpitating toward me across the road, approaching like a cloud, with enormous speed, pursuing me like the Shrouded Traveler on the plain, bearing down on me. I saw his huge face over the plains with the mad, bony purpose and the gleaming eyes; I saw his wings; I saw his old jalopy chariot with thousands of sparkling flames shooting out from it; I saw the path it burned over the road; it even made its own road and went over the corn, through cities, destroying bridges, drying rivers. It came like wrath to the West. I knew Dean had gone mad againâ€?</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> The only thing is that in <i>Supernatural</i> the characters have their roles reversed, so that Sam is the demonic one and Dean is the Michael-like angel.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> So these shows are my guilty pleasures, my late night escapes from jadwal reports and budgetary crises and attacks on the teaching profession. Some day maybe I’ll even get to teach a course on TV anti-heroes.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-51595139375068785082019-03-04T04:12:00.000-08:002019-03-04T04:12:00.143-08:00Ambition In The Afternoon<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Menambah Ilmu Dengan Membaca Di Situs Kesayangan Anda</br><a href="http://www.99bandar.cc" target="_blank" title="judi ceme online">judi ceme online</a></font></span></span></center><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --> </style> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal"> I used to enjoy having the same breaks as my wife and kids but now we are on different schedules.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nonetheless, when Amy and the kids are on break, even though I still have to work, the pace of life and work changes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yesterday, for instance, I only went in for some afternoon meetings and then my late afternoon class, and since the day was so nice, I actually walked to work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(It takes about 35 minutes from home to office).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the way home after teaching, I bumped into a student on his way to the dining hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We walked and talked about class, his writing, the approaching end of the semester.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the verge of graduating, he just won a nice award.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Today I took the day off, sort of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amy and I have a good friend from college who now lives and teaches in Paris.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We hadn’t seen her in years before last summer, when we spent a terrific day walking around New Haven, where I grew up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As fate would have it, our friend has a beloved student who will be attending Yale this fall, and Amy also has a student who will be there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To make a long story short, this week was Bulldog Days at Yale, a sort of incoming freshman orientation, and Amy and I—with the kids in tow—headed to New Haven to meet Helene and Kevin (and their mothers), introduce them to each other, and spend the day touring the campus.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Both students were incredibly excited to start this next phase of their lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one point, Kevin and I were crossing Wall Street near the Beinecke Library when he pointed to a bench and said to me, “Just yesterday I sat on that bench to people watch, and some kid sat down at the next bench, broke out his violin, and just started playing.â€<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kevin was enthralled by this simple but beautiful experience.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Later, over coffee in Claire’s Cornucopia, Helene said to me that one of the main reasons she was excited to attend school in the United States was because she’d get to live on a campus where students congregate and socialize, and where everyone pursues at least two years of liberal arts courses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She pointed out that in France there are no campuses, and students make career-oriented decisions about education much sooner, so that you only see students studying the same thing as you, and you only see them for classes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are no quads or dining halls where students toss Frisbees or where a pre-med student like Kevin can listen to a music major play his violin.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Both Kevin and Helene were drunk with the possibilities that lay before them, but Helene was perhaps even more so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kevin was clear that he wanted to study neuro-science and ultimately go to med school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Helene, by contrast, had considered a pre-med major, but when I asked her what she was considering now, said, “I think I would like to double-major, perhaps something like math/philosophy [she said this as if it were a unified major] and literature.â€<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I asked what literature, she said, “Well, I could do French of course, or British or American, but I’d really like to learn Russian and be able to read Tolstoy in his own language.â€<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Truly, her height of her dreams were only matched by the breadth of her ambitions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not that she couldn’t do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her English was impeccable and colloquial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She said she learned it in school but also from watching every episode of <i>Friends</i> over and over again.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> The other thing that was sweet to see was the reaction of Helene’s mother, who will be sending her only daughter to school thousands of miles and an ocean from home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sophie was clearly delighted and contented to know that her daughter was happy and excited, that she was meeting people already, and that there were adults here who were good friends of her daughter’s favorite teacher, and that we could be available in some sort of unforeseen and unlikely emergency.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> At the end of the afternoon, the two soon-to-be freshmen walked off together toward an orientation class of some sort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kevin’s mom headed home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amy and I and the kids walked Sophie up Chapel Street to the British Art Museum, where she wanted to buy things in the gift shop to bring home to her youngest, a seventeen-year-old boy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then Amy and I met up with another former student of hers, about to finish his sophomore year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’d just gotten out of the last English class of his first year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He walked us past the library, chatting about his plans for the summer, till it was time for him to head to the dining hall and us to head home.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-85568998416478710712019-02-25T04:12:00.000-08:002019-02-25T04:12:01.973-08:00Crawling To The Finish Line<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Hai.. Jumpa Lagi Di Blog Kesayangan Anda</br><a href="http://www.99bandar.cc" target="_blank" title="ceme online terbaik">ceme online terbaik</a></font></span></span></center><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --> </style> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal"> The end of the semester insanity is upon me at UConn. Do you remember those monster.com commercials from about six years ago? They were shot in black and white and featured children talking about their dreams—except these kids all said things like, “When I grow up I want to file all day,†or “I want to climb my way up to middle management.†The end of the semester often makes me feel this way. (Actually, administration often makes me feel this way, in general, but it is worse at semester’s end). I sometimes joke that I feel like Bartleby, and if you have ever been to my office, you know why. Don’t get me wrong; some folks don’t even have windows, but I have this funny little office at the back of an office with a window that looks out onto a small enclosed courtyard. Thank god there is a Japanese maple in the courtyard that is vibrant green through spring and summer and a brilliant red in fall, because otherwise I look out onto a brick wall with oblique sunlight and blue sky coming from four floors above. That and it’s everyone’s smoking lounge, which is great for redolent ambience.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> But I digress. My little office is all right. What I was really complaining about was end of semester and end of year administrative tasks. There’s the personal merit report we each have to complete. Not that there’s any money for merit, but we still have to complete the form. And the kegiatan report for the department. And the data mart report for the dean and provost. And the pembinaan session for using the new digital data mart system. And we must provide an up-to-date CV for the upcoming departmental review. (Thankfully mine was pretty up-to-date). And a report to the Aetna Advisory board, with a budget request for the coming year. And a no-cost extension form for the federal government. And new grant application deadlines, and a rebudgeting. You get the point. These are mostly due between April 30 and May 4, though a couple have more extended deadlines. My students’ selesai is May 3, and grades are due before the May 6 graduation ceremony. So, I will be spending an inordinate amount of time at my computer, writing and submitting one thing or another for the next two weeks.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> No sooner are these report done then we have the CWP’s 30<sup>th</sup> Anniversary Reunion Celebration May 11, the <i>Connecticut Student Writers</i> Recognition Night May 15, and the Summer Institute Orientation May 19. All those things are cool and exciting, but having to organize them makes a part of me eager for them to be over, just because I will worry about their success until they are past.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> And then there are the stressed out students coming to office hours. The very sweet girl who broke down in tears and couldn’t explain why. The desperate email from the young man who doesn’t think he will be able to get the courses he needs to graduate. The student who just realized he never filed his plans of study for graduation back in January when they were due.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> I really had to exert a great deal of self control a couple days ago when I got an email from University Information Technology Services detailing the elaborate procedure I was going to have to perform on all the networked computers in my office in order to update their network security software. The email stressed that this needed to be completed before next week or my computers would be denied access to the university servers. I thought that maybe this was a phony email—we get a lot of those—but it didn’t look like it. So I called UITS and was told that, Oh yes, that email was for real, and I really did have to drop everything and upgrade my computers or be denied access to the servers. Well, don’t let anyone ever tell you that being an agitating jerk doesn’t pay off, because after a couple of phone calls and a couple of terse conversations, I received an anonymous but otherwise apologetic email from someone in UITS that also granted me permission to upgrade my computers later this summer.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Anyway, I feel like Andy Rooney ranting like this, but it helps prevent ulcers. That and red wine. I hope your end of semester involves less paperwork than mine, and eases you gently into summer.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-71048274135476098752019-02-18T04:12:00.000-08:002019-02-18T04:12:00.254-08:00Teacher Appreciation Week<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Hello.. Selamat Datang Kembali Di Blog Kesayangan Anda</br><a href="http://www.99bandar.cc" target="_blank" title="bandar judi ceme">bandar judi ceme</a></font></span></span></center><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} </style> --> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal"> About this time of year, Amy and I both receive lots of thank you cards from students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amy got a beautiful note from a father the other day thanking her for all she did for his daughter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Earlier this week, I got two very sweet handwritten notes from former students for whom I wrote letters of recommendation for graduate school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have kept all such notes over the last, well, 21 years if you count student teaching and three years teaching as a grad student at Humboldt State.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have a very swollen folder in a file cabinet in my office at home, and many of the most recent notes are propped up or affixed somewhere in my office at UConn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also have several tchotchkes and other gifts, like books, that I have been given lining the shelves of my office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One very considerate former student sent me a Spanish-language edition of <i>Moby-Dick</i> this year for Christmas and a very nice copy of Dos Passos’ <i>U.S.A.</i> trilogy for my birthday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another from my first year teaching in Connecticut just sent me a signed copy of her first novel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Of course social media has changed this dynamic, and often I now receive emails and Facebook posts or messages to thank me, and of course Facebook lets me keep in touch with so many of these former students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just today I wrote a happy birthday message on the wall of a beloved former student I named my daughter after.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love being able to stay in touch with so many former students this way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They send me articles they think I’ll find interesting, or write me with funny classroom stories. </div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> I’m also really amazed and pleased to see how many of my former students have become not just teachers but English teachers!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The same is true for Amy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of her former students have gone on to study languages, travel and study abroad, and go into teaching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last two Outstanding Scholars in Spanish at UConn were Amy’s former students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And at this point, I’m starting to see more and more former students come back to take graduate coursework with me in the Summer Institute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Four of this year’s participants are former undergrads!</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> I, too, have managed to locate and be in touch with several of my favorite former teachers, like my high school Spanish teacher Kathy Bonn or my English teacher Joe Miata, both of whom are still teaching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there are so many, especially from elementary school, that I have completely lost touch with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One former teacher I’d love to locate is Mr. Brucker, my second grade teacher at what was then High Hill Elementary School in Madison.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr. Brucker was an amazingly kind and gentle man who softened a difficult year of transition for me after my family moved from Hamden to the shore line.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> When I first sat down to write this evening, I debated whether or not I wanted to rail against Malloy’s reform proposals, or promote some of the CWP’s May events, like our 30<sup>th</sup> Anniversary Reunion or Recognition Night for <i>Connecticut Student Writers</i> magazine (the 11<sup>th</sup> and 15<sup>th</sup>, respectively, in case you’re wondering).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then I got thinking about the thank-you’s Amy and I received this week, and I also realized that Teacher Appreciation Week is coming up next week, and it made me think about the teachers I appreciate most, not just the good teachers, of whom there were many, but the ones who made more than just an intellectual impact.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> I know from the stats page that Blogger provides that many more people read this blog than ever post responses. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I might get only two or three posted responses but a typical post gets about 125 views).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’re all so, so busy, but if you can find a moment, please post something brief about your favorite teacher or about a student whose appreciation made you feel special.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> I imagine most of you have read the reports about how demoralized teachers are these days, so let’s all give ourselves a boost by celebrating our profession.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Use this space (or my Facebook wall, which often times gets more posted responses to the blog than within the Blogger account!) to share a good anecdote, or even shout out a name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who do you appreciate for their teaching?</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> OK, so this is the last week of the semester at UConn, and I’ll be taking a break from this blog for the summer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do check out the CWP’s website for upcoming events, and think about us next year for PD in your school or maybe a recommendation for the Summer Institute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have a good last few weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Enjoy your students, read some good books this summer, do a little writing for yourself, and I’ll see you in September!</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-37322909564344314132019-02-11T04:12:00.000-08:002019-02-11T04:12:00.411-08:00What I Did For My Summer ‘Vacation'<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Kembali Bertemu Lagi Di Blog Ini, Silakan Membaca</br><a href="http://www.99bandar.cc" target="_blank" title="bandar ceme 99">bandar ceme 99</a></font></span></span></center><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --></style><br /> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As soon as finals ended the first order of business was the annual Recognition Night for <i>Connecticut Student Writers</i> magazine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This year was successful, with a little more than 1,000 submissions, 150 students published or honored, and about 450 students, parents, and teachers in attendance at Jorgensen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next year will be the 25<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the magazine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wally Lamb has agreed to be the keynote speaker, and we are still waiting to hear if we have received a grant from Pitney-Bowes to help fund the event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark May 14 on your calendars!</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>From there we dove right into the Orientation for the 30<sup>th</sup> Invitational Summer Institute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had a great bunch of teachers representing third grade through college—and we even had a science teacher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three of my former undergraduate students attended, and two more former undergrads of mine attended the CWP-Fairfield’s Summer Institute, which is very rewarding to me.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No rest for the weary as a few days later we held an anniversary celebration for the CWP-Storrs, attended by 75 Teacher-Consultants, UConn faculty and grad students, local children’s authors, and a handful of teacher-friendly elected officials, including Susan Johnson, Greg Haddad, and Mae Flexer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Got a nice proclamation from Governor Malloy (had mixed feelings about that), a nice certificate from the legislature, a nice certificate from Senator Blumenthal, a letter from Representative Rosa DeLauro and another one from UConn President Susan Herbst. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Representative Chris Murphy’s education aide Linda Forman actually flew up from DC to attend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She also accompanied me on a site visit to EO Smith High School to observe the Writing Center we helped establish there, and to observe Denise Abercrombie’s creative writing students.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At that point I switched hats and departed for Florence, Italy, where I organized and ran an international literature conference for the members of the Nathaniel Hawthorne Society, Ralph Waldo Emerson Society, and the Edgar Allan Poe Studies Association.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had great weather, great food, and 110 scholars from 19 different countries, including Brazil, Israel, India, Japan, Russia, and Taiwan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I even got to spend some time with friends and family while I was there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I was elected to be the next president of the Nathaniel Hawthorne Society, which sounds prestigious but I think will be less work than organizing an international conference.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Returned to the states just in time to run the Summer Institute, which went extremely well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My son and daughter attended four weeks of summer day camp while my wife took her own vacation, thanks to points on our credit card and the generosity of friends who let her stay with them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ran around like a mad man playing single parent.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Summer Institute ended July 20, and on July 23 I was driving a 19 foot U-Haul with faulty steering as we moved for the second time in ten months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our new home is exactly 1.5 miles from the place we were renting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have a two year lease, maybe an option to buy, poor cell phone service but a lovely wooded yard, and the kids get to stay in the same school district.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"> Once that was done, we were off to Maine to spend one week in a somewhat rustic cabin on a lake with two other educator couples and our collective brood of children—eight kids ranging from four to 14.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lots of swimming, bickering like siblings, and trips to Hannaford’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seems like every day ended with marshmallows over the fire pit, and then lots of alcohol after the kids were asleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Between camp and occupational therapy, both of our kids are now swimming and biking independently, just in time for me to strap four bicycles onto the back of Amy’s car and pray they didn’t fall into the highway and cause a multi-car pile-up.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Back in Connecticut, it was just the mad rush to be prepared for the start of the school year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The CWP was awarded two SEED grants, one for Teacher Leadership and one for Professional Development in a High-Need School.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were honored with a literacy award by the New England Reading Association, and I have a new course to teach, one for freshmen and sophomores interested in becoming high school English teachers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plenty of preparatory work to go around.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And then, on the first day of school for my kids, they were put on the wrong bus and I drove around town trying to locate them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Elsa thought it was a big adventure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so the new year begins.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-58024769831945975552019-02-04T04:12:00.000-08:002019-02-04T04:12:03.653-08:00Am I Ready To Parent A Teenager?<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Selamat Datang Dan Selamat Membaca</br><a href="http://77bandar.net" target="_blank" title="play bandarq">play bandarq</a></font></span></span></center><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --> </style> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal"> Sunday, I became the proud father of a teenage girl.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said this to my colleague Doug yesterday as we walked together to our offices, and I believe he thought I was confessing that I had fathered a child out of wedlock seventeen years ago and she had just emerged from the recesses of my shady past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But no, in fact, the truth is simpler and less shady.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amy and I have taken in an American Foreign Exchange student for the year.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> I must be crazy.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Or I just can’t resist my wife when she comes to me with the look of a kid asking if he can bring home a puppy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amy and her siblings all studied abroad (as did I) during high school, and they had a great experience hosting a student for a year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jose and Amy are still close more than twenty years later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amy has visited him and his family a couple times in the recent past, and he and his wife and daughter came to visit us just two years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So when AFS contacted Amy, desperate to find a few more families in the Storrs area to host students, she came home ecstatic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now that we have moved into our new home and we have a finished basement with a bedroom and private bathroom, etc, etc …<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course I said yes.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Originally we were going to host a boy from Bolivia, but he withdrew from the kegiatan suddenly, and I thought that was it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amy was pretty crushed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then AFS sent us several packets of students to review and select from.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was oddly like buying a car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You look at the photos, check out the specs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Really.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m only being slightly facetious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One student jumped out at us as a good fit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maria’s from Remini, Italy, not far from where our friends and my cousins live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amy speaks and teaches Italian, so that will make communication easier than if we accepted one of the German kids they offered us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She has a little sister about my daughter Elsa’s age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She likes to read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She loves American movies and music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Classic rock and Johnny Depp are favorites.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She studies languages and law at her high school, and her grades are fantastic.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> So suddenly I have all the typical responsibilities of being a father to two elementary school children—monitoring Cormac’s homework, driving Elsa to gymnastics, making breakfast, packing lunches, screaming “Go brush your teeth now like I asked ten times already!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’re going to be late!â€<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That sort of thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I have added teen issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I’m trying to avoid the word drama).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In one week, we have had to change one teacher because the first one had the social skills of an inanimate object and neither introduced Maria to the class nor spoke to her, for that matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have pushed the envelope for getting to school on time each day because of hair drier issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve encountered pickiness with food (no onions) and funny cultural differences with food (the Italians pour the milk first and then scoop the cereal into the bowl).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We went shopping for posters for the walls of her room (Pink Floyd, the Beatles, James Dean, and Audrey Hepburn—at least she has good taste).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These now adorn the walls of an incredibly messy room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She brought one suitcase, but from the looks of the clothes strewn everywhere, I swear she had four more brought in under cover of dark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we went shopping for cleats for JV soccer, which turned into a shopping spree at Dick’s where she purchased several cute outfits, shorts, tops, and a new swimsuit, all of which prompted her biological Dad to declare, “How did you spend $500 already?!â€).</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> In all seriousness, however, Maria has been a delight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She and Amy have bonded like big and little sister.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s been terrific with Cormac and Elsa, playing with them, reading to them at night, and showing them affection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She and I have bonded over shopping but also over school work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We spent an hour last night reading and discussing the first 400 lines of <i>Beowulf</i>, which I haven’t read or taught in years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s also very excited to take classes at EO Smith that she can’t typically take in the Italian system, like art classes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s going to try her hand at painting and sculpture.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> We’re all still adjusting to the newness of everything, but I think we’ll make it to June.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-39068197484532249342019-01-28T04:12:00.000-08:002019-01-28T04:12:00.224-08:00Soccer Girls<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Senantiasa Menyambut Kedatang Anda Untuk Membaca</br><a href="http://77bandar.net" target="_blank" title="bandarqq">bandarqq</a></font></span></span></center><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; mso-font-charset:78; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; mso-font-charset:78; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} </style>My daughter Elsa first expressed interest in soccer after she got an American Girl Doll for Christmas. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a catalogue, Elsa saw a soccer outfit that came with a matching set for the child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She asked if she could get the matching soccer outfits for herself and her doll—Jeanette—and then asked if she could play soccer, too.<br /> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Once we told her she could play soccer, she really got into the idea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, this summer, she became captivated by the Olympics, and every day begged to watch the girl athletes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She loved the swimmers, the gymnasts, and the soccer players, especially.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> She began soccer two weeks ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She plays on Saturdays in the morning, and since she is in the K-2 group, they only have six sessions, but she has loved it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are girls with more skill than her, but no one can match her will.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She scored three goals in her first four-on-four game, and five in her second.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> At the same time, our adoptive 17-year-old daughter Maria (she’s an exchange student from Italy, in case you didn’t read last week’s blog) is also playing JV soccer for EO Smith High School.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She played soccer as a little girl, but not since, so no one—including her—has unrealistic expectations about her performance, but she has enjoyed playing, and even got to participate in her first game earlier this week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She played defense for ten minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I asked her about the game on the car ride home, she was excited they won, but did not recall the score, and when I asked her what school they played, she could only tell me their uniforms were blue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that wasn’t the point, anyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maria was just happy to be playing soccer with the other girls.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> All this made me think about my freshman year at UConn when I covered the women’s soccer team for the <i>Daily Campus</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t know, little yet appreciate at the time, that we were only fifteen years from the passage of Title IX, and that these girls I was watching and interviewing were the first generation to benefit from the new law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of them, like me, were no older than seven when the law was passed.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> That team started five freshmen, including Beth Grecco, who would become an All-American, Kristin Janosky, who used to throw in the ball by doing a flip that would propel the ball farther than she could throw it (I believe she was one of the first girls in the nation to use this technique), Britton Arico, who is still one of the all-time leading scorers, and Angela Gibbons, whose family had sued her school district to allow her to play on the all-boys soccer team, and then went on to be co-captain and leading scorer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They also had a goalie named Bonnie Miller who is still the all-time saves leader, and who had achieved a certain degree of fame for saving two men from drowning the summer before her senior year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, perhaps the most impressive athlete on that team was midfielder Kim Prutting, who would go on to be a three time All-American and play on the US National Team.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That team lost in the NCAA quarterfinals to UMass, and the biggest reason was probably a thigh injury to Kim Prutting that severely limited her mobility.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> At that time, women’s sports was still very second class, despite Title IX, and I had an uncommonly high level of access to the coaches and the players.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <i>Daily Campus</i> used to print an annual Fall Sports special issue, and I interviewed several of the girls for feature articles, just talking with them in their dorm rooms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also traveled with them on the team bus to the NCAA Tournament.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The night before the quarterfinal game, head coach Len Tsantiris invited me out to dinner with him, his assistant coaches, and the UMass head coach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the girls lost 3-1 the following day, seniors Bonnie Miller and Jen Kennedy invited me out to dinner with the team, and all the girls thanked me for the good coverage I had given them all season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They weren’t accustomed to it, and they wanted to show their appreciation.</div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> That was 25 years ago this fall, and I’d like to thank all those young women for making it possible for Maria to use soccer as a means to make friends and for Elsa to score eight goals on a co-ed team.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-3108818226350687832019-01-21T04:12:00.000-08:002019-01-21T04:12:04.119-08:00Classical Myths And Modern-Day Heroes<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Selamat Membaca Di Blog Kesayangan Anda</br><a href="http://77bandar.net" target="_blank" title="bandarq">bandarq</a></font></span></span></center><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ï¼ï¼³ 明æœ"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} </style><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;">I’ve been reading <i>Beowulf</i> with my on-loan teenage daughter, helping her wade through translated old English verse. It is painstaking at times but can also be fun, making Maria laugh by pantomiming the killing of Grendel’s mother with the giant sword he finds in her lair. And Maria is smart, and so we also talk about important concepts from the work, like heroism and the conflicts between pagan and Christian heroic codes that permeate the work.</span><br /> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;">At the same time, Cormac is studying comparative mythology—Greek, Roman, Norse, and Egyptian—in his 4<sup>th</sup> grade enrichment class. They’ve been talking about heroes, too, and sooner or later his teacher will pose the question of what constitutes a pendekar today.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;">Then the other day with my undergraduates, we were discussing Faulkner’s <i>Sanctuary</i>, and I was pointing out some of the various allusions in the novel to <i>Paradise Lost</i>, <i>The Scarlet Letter</i>, and Classical myths such as that of Narcissus and Odysseus. (My undergrads are sadly not very well read, and only a handful had read either Hawthorne or Homer, and none had read Milton). The protagonist of <i>Sanctuary</i> is a small town lawyer named Horace Benbow, who’s fleeing a morally compromised situation with his step-daughter, and winds up defending the husband of a prostitute against charges that he raped the daughter of a local judge. One young woman in my class made an astute observation that Horace seemed like a modern, common man’s hero, going on a journey and battling metaphorical monsters. I enthusiastically agreed, and pointed out that Horace’s surname even alludes to the scene in the <i>Odyssey</i> when Odysseus challenges the suitors to bend and string his bow, which none of them can do. Odysseus then bends the bow, which allows him to kill the suitors and thereby cleanse his home, defend his wife, and restore order to a world fallen into chaos and disrepute.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;">All this talk of heroism got me thinking about heroes in this masa when so many athletes have been discredited as cheats, and politicians have been reduced to mud slinging power seekers, and public servants like teachers and state troopers are routinely demonized by legislators and journalists alike. I thought, who and what is a pendekar today?</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;">On Wednesday, I brought my daughter to art class after school, over at UConn’s Depot Campus, and on the way out I ran into an old friend and his kids. I’ll call him Ben, for the sake of privacy. Ben’s about 52 and looks it. He has not seen the inside of a gym in decades. He smokes, though he has been trying to quit for as long as I have known him. And he probably drinks a little too much. Ben grew up working class, had an undistinguished high school career, and worked many unglamorous jobs before attending Avery Point and then transferring to Storrs. Upon graduation, Ben worked here and there, was often out of work, and then briefly owned his own business. For many years now he has worked in retail. </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;">In terms of heroic codes, Ben does not come particularly close to meeting any Classical criteria.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;">But let me tell you a little about Ben. In his twenties, Ben fell head over heels for a slightly older woman who had recently divorced her abusive husband and was struggling to raise her two daughters as a single mom. Ben married that woman and loved and raised those girls as his own. Both girls went to college (one to an Ivy League school). And both are now happily married with children. </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;">Ben and his wife made decisions back in the day to not have children of their own. They were busy enough raising the two girls. But after the girls were grown up and moved out, Ben and his wife decided it was time to try to have a child together, before they were too old to attempt it. The short version of the story is that they lost the baby in the third trimester. Enough said. </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;">As soon as their grief subsided sufficiently, Ben and his wife contacted the state about pre-adoptive foster care. Initially, they were told there’d be a long wait. They were surprised, and asked if there weren’t plenty of children in need of homes. The agent told them there were plenty of kids, but they were all black and Hispanic. If they wanted a white child, they’d have to wait. Once Ben and his wife assured the woman that they did not care about the race of the child, they were told they could have a foster child within days. In fact, they had twins in less than a week.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;">The twins had been born prematurely to a heroin-addicted prostitute. Their biological father, as determined by DNA testing, was serving a life sentence for first degree murder. The kids had (and have) myriad medical needs, and the fight for full custody took three years and was exacerbated by an activist judge who refused to give custody of Latino children to non-Latino parents. In the end, Ben and his wife won that battle, which was seven years ago now.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;">Today, the twins are middle schoolers. They receive all the medical care they need, they take dance and music classes, study martial arts, and ride their bikes up and down their street. They have a stable home, a loving mom and dad, two older sisters, and even nieces and nephews.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;">Ben does not have the noble lineage of Aeneas, the ripped torso of Achilles, or the flowing auburn locks of Odysseus. Nor does he have the academic or professional resume of a renowned scholar or a wealthy entrepreneur. But Ben is a loving husband, and, more impressively, he has stepped in where other men have failed, slayed the demons of prejudice and bureaucracy, and helped raise four children into healthy, happy, successful people. Perhaps you’ll never read his story in an epic poem or a best-selling novel, but his heroism is arguably peerless.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156696052556666489.post-19244271587760721222019-01-14T04:12:00.000-08:002019-01-14T04:12:13.240-08:00Being In The Classroom Is The Best Part Of My Day<center><span lang=EN-GB style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><pont color=#0000ff><strong>Jejak Panda</strong>Jumpa Lagi Kita Diblog Kesayangan Anda</br><a href="http://www.99bandar.cc" target="_blank" title="ceme 99 online">ceme 99 online</a></font></span></span></center><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">One of the most frequent complaints I hear from teachers these last few years is that more and ever more is being demanded of them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I would say ‘us,’ but, at least for now, I don’t think it’s quite as bad in higher education).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve seen gradual mission creep for years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve been expected to teach not just the content of our subjects but skills in reading, writing, thinking, computing, research, et cetera, et cetera.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I doubt I have to spell it out for most readers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know the drill.</span><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">But to this we have now added untold layers of assessment, data collection, data analysis, and data-driven instruction.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">As one former colleague used to say, “We’re still supposed to have the kids read books and write papers, right?â€<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another used to say, “Once you close your door and it’s just you and your kids, that’s the best.â€<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’d utter this like a chant to remind himself what he loved about teaching and why he taught in the first place.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">I’ve been thinking a lot about this since I got a sad message from a former undergraduate a couple weeks ago, a brilliant and talented high school English teacher, just entering her fourth year.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">She wrote, “I'm so burnt out. I get these frantic urges to just run like hell to anything else. It's such a deep feeling of dread going into school. It's not the kids or the people I work with at all. Being in the classroom is the best part of my day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I've grown so tired of the bureaucracy and red tape and paperwork and phone calls and meetings and evaluation forms that tear me away from the actual teaching and learning part. I feel like I'm suffocating in paperwork. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but man, is it supposed to feel this way? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe I need to move on.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">My needs and my ambitions are bursting at the seams and I feel my impact is so menial.â€</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">At about the same time, I received a different message from a former high school student who has become an elementary school teacher.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This young woman wrote, “I just wanted to share with you a story from school today. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had asked my students to bring in their most prized possession to get to know one another, and one of my fifth-graders brought in a letter from the Connecticut Writing Project, congratulating her on one of her pieces being honored [in <i>Connecticut Student Writers</i> magazine]. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was so proud of it she was absolutely beaming, and when she asked me to read it afterwards, I saw it was signed by you! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just wanted to let you know how far your impact is spreading and that you most certainly made a ten-year old girl very confident in her abilities as a writer. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So from one teacher to another, THANK YOU!â€</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This note, of course, delighted me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m happy that we made this little girl feel such confidence in her ability, and I’m proud of my former student.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I’m always so proud when my former students go into teaching).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in the context of the other note, I felt a little sad, too.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Principally, I'm very cognizant that this ten-year old and her teacher were deeply moved by something from outside any curriculum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Something creative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Something unassessed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Something that is not collected, disaggregated, analyzed, charted, and used to inform teaching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which is in most ways a good thing, except that I fear the creativity, authenticity, joy, and pride so central to this student’s experience are becoming increasingly separate from the core focus of most classrooms, and certainly separate from most of the initiatives born of this current reform movement that has held us in thrall for the past decade.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The experiences of these two young teachers underscore two things for me:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the obvious limits of reform, especially corporate reform, and the positive influence teachers can have upon their students, even if it has to be exercised surreptitiously once we close our classroom doors and are left with just our kids.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13181140837644548182noreply@blogger.com0