Hmmm. Well, that’s what showed up on my wordpress dashboard yesterday as the search terms that led someone to my site: “writing assignments for bad kids.” Nothing like promoting the idea that English is torture. Give ‘em some grammar exercises, too, why don’t ya?!
I have a student this semester who is so far [...]
Filed under: children, education, fear, writing | 5 Comments »
BRAVE (adjective): “having or showing courage, especially when facing difficulty, danger, or pain”
Bubby is a brave boy. I need to remember that and not worry so much.
I admit that the fact that he still cries easily at eleven years old and is very sensitive emotionally sometimes makes me worry that he is wimpy. I shudder [...]
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“I’m sad, Mommy.” (Yes, he still calls me mommy though he has now turned eleven. For a while he wanted to change to mom and I said fine, but it was too hard for him to make the shift, I guess.)
“I’m sad, Mommy. I’m going to have to wear glasses and have braces and… be [...]
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Because students like B. come to my office and are confused when they sit down and shakin their heads and looking at the floor. And when they leave, they high-five me. Seriously. High-five.
Because students like M. write an essay about how their mom was just diagnosed with lung cancer and they are [...]
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When I had skin cancer, I thought a lot about what would happen to my family if I died. I also thought a lot about what I would change immediately about the way I was living my life. How would my teaching alter? Would I even be able to continue teaching? [...]
Filed under: creative non-fiction, family, fear, health, women | 8 Comments »
Yeh. It has. It’s been 20 years. I first stepped foot in a college classroom as an instructor in 1988, as a first-semester TA at California State University Sacramento, where I was studying for my MA in English. I didn’t actually throw up that day, but I almost did. Made it [...]
Filed under: education, fear | 5 Comments »
I’ve read two unrelated articles in the last day that have really made me stop and think. I’ve been in mega self-improvement mode for the last year, and two weeks from tomorrow my sabbatical ends and I go back to teaching full time, so I’m trying to tie up some loose ends.
Looking back [...]
Filed under: children, family, fear, food, good books, health, marriage, parenting, religion, weight watchers | 6 Comments »
No doubt you’ve heard. Another shooting. This one strikes a little closer to home for me. It was a church in my denomination that was hit. What was not immediately in the news, though, is that this crime was apparently motivated by hatred. See this excerpt of a news article I [...]
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Sorry that I’ve been off-line for a while, folks. Odd that it’s been harder to get internet in Scandinavia than in Peru…. Anyway, here’s a recap on the last part of the Scandinavian portion of my trip. Tomorrow I’ll post on the UK part.
TRONDHEIM: Discovered a few key things of use there for my book.
(1) [...]
Filed under: Scandinavia, creative non-fiction, family, fear, food, health, immigration, memoir writing, religion, research, travel, travel writing, war, weather, writing | Leave a Comment »
They stood on the platform at Herrljunga, laden with their heavy luggage, surrounded by relatives who had come to see them off. A hopeful turn to the conversation at one point: ‘I hope you will find what you are looking for.’ At another moment tears: ‘I hope we will see you again some day.’ Then [...]
Filed under: Scandinavia, creative non-fiction, family, fear, grandma, grief, immigration, memoir writing, research, travel, writing | Leave a Comment »
