be a better teacher

to some extraordinary high school English teachers from New Hampshire and California describe how they taught and motivated students. The featured speaker at the dinner on Monday evening was author Pam Munoz Ryan. Ryan wrote the following books:

Esparanza Rising
Hello Ocean
Riding Freedom
Paint the Wind
Nacho and Lolita
Becoming Naomi Leon

and many others. If you’re interested, you should check out her website. She’s an excellent children and young adult author. If you have children, you should think about her books for your children. She is also an excellent speaker. A person can always learn from a published writer of any genre.

I can’t seem to overcome the fatigue. Perhaps, I will feel better in a couple of days.

this summer. I’ll try to make next year better for the students.

weekend. Next year, I’m going to institute more Reader’s Workshop and Writing Workshop and grade less. Julius Caesar has been stabbed and done away with and the battle at Phillipi is almost over. History via Shakespeare lives again.

I’d love to hear how other teachers are faring.

talking to kids. I need some time off. I think homeschooling should be mandatory.

do you think you learned anything of importance? Do you think high school should be eliminated? Should students graduate from middle school and work for a few years, and then be able to go on to college or some other type of training if they choose to do so. Do you think high school just exists for the sports?

Should high school for American students be abolished or is it actually serving some legitimate purpose?

new classes started. In one class, I had the students write three things about themselves. Two things had to be true, and one thing was supposed to be false. They read them and then the other students had to guess which one was false. One boy read his and one thing he said was that he had fifteen toes, and another thing he said was that a doctor did not amputate his leg. I forget what the other thing was. The kids guessed. Both of the ones listed above are true; can’t remember the false one. Turns out he was born without the part of his leg below the knee on his one leg. Of course, we were intrigued by his fifteen toes, so he quite willingly showed us his prosthetic device, and told us that on the end of the stump of his leg there were toes. He was cheerful, matter of fact, cool, accepting, and fun about it. He is a young man that has already learned, at least in part, to take what life throws at him and bounce over and above it. I hope it doesn’t sound bad because it wasn’t. I would have never even have known he had a prosthetic leg if he wouldn’t have brought it up. It was a learning moment for everyone. How to take something bad that life throws at you and rise above it. I bet he has really neat parents.

Does anyone have any solutions/suggestions for burn-out? Maybe it’s just because it’s Friday, and I’m tired. Or is the whole world going to hell in a handbasket?

Help. Any answers? Let’s just abolish public schools in America—just think of all the tax money that would be saved. Everybody can homeschool his or her own child. How’s that sound?

I must be patient. They are only kids, albeit, teenagers, but still kids in adult bodies. They will grow up just fine. I talked to one freshmen boy today about the movie Hotel Rwanda, which he watched two years ago. He was very moved by it and understood it quite well. What a nice young boy. The other ones that are not as far along as he is will catch up someday—I hope.