Education
Cursive as a Font Option?
In the 18th and 19th centuries, cursive was one’s special signature. It distinguished one individual from another. The most elite received special training, and possessing a “fair hand” was considered a desirable trait for both men and women. By the 1960s, a standardized method called D’Nealian Script had been introduced into schools all over the United States, and handwriting became more homogenized. I didn’t know any of this, of course. All I knew was that during “cursive time,” each of us learned to write the same way: on thin, gray paper that consisted of rows of lines: two straight continuous horizontal lines with one dashed line in the middle. We sat with our pencils poised “at the basement” of the line ready to “go all the way up to the attic” or to stop “at the first floor.”…
My Brain is About To Explode
For real.
It’s happening.
I’m. Having. A. Total. Meltdown.
I’ve been trying to figure out this anti-plagiarism program called turnitin.com, and while the program appears easy enough to use, well, it isn’t working for me. And I seem to have found the ugly truth: apparently no one works at this company. There is no technical support. No phone number provided at which to reach a human. After major investigation, I found a phone number. Elated, I dialed. And then I got that automated voice that tells you to please wait. Please wait. Please. Wait. (I watched an entire DVRed episode of Survivor while the music played in the background.) …
'Sup With Grammar in America
The other day I was in the grocery store when I distinctly heard a woman declare, “I should of gotten a salad.”
Should of?
What?
Should of is the equivalent of fingernails on the chalkboard for English teachers.
I believe the person meant to say, “I should have made a better lunch choice instead of opting for these nasty, greasy chicken wings.”…
School Is Not the Time To Make Friends
In 1976, we had so many opportunities to practice civility. It was okay to have a little chitter-chatter time built into our day. The classroom was where we learned our academics, but we also practiced our social skills. These days, I would imagine that most administrators would tell parents that there is simply not time for idle chitter-chatter. In fact, a few years ago an administrator told me that “school is not the place for children to make friends.” She argued that kids needed to get involved in extra-curricular activities to make friendships. That teachers needed to make the most of classroom time to prepare their students for standardized tests. That teachers have more to teach than ever.
In 2010, I would argue “the civility piece” has fallen out of the curriculum — along with idle time….
I Hit a Wall
I fell down an entire flight of cement stairs, hit my head really hard, and I think I actually suffered a slight concussion. I’m okay now, but I don’t want to do that again. Picture me in my sassy, short skirt and tall boots with black stockings. I’m looking very professional and confident and competent when, suddenly, I miss a step and I am rolling head over heels down down down about 12 steps where I proceed to slam into the wall (somehow) face-first. Amazingly, I never let go of my rolling bag with my gradebook. I hit my head really hard, and I think I actually suffered a slight concussion. I’m okay now. (What do you mean I am repeating myself?) Plus the plagiarism stuff has left me exhausted. (Did I say that already? I think I might have said that.) …
Nabbed a Cheater!
I just busted someone for crazy, overt plagiarism.
I hate this part. I hate this part. I hate this part. I hate this part of being a teacher.
My thought is to have The Despicable One take a look at his paper and a copy of the Plagiarism Contract which he signed earlier in the semester and write me a letter explaining why he thinks I am having him review this document (thus having HIM document the offense). When he is done writing, I would listen to what he has to say and explain to him how serious an offense this is. We’re talking honesty here: Integrity. Basic values which everyone agrees seem to be on the decline….
Stuck Behind a Bus
Ever been stuck at a red light behind a school bus? Of course you have. You know that moment when the kids suddenly realize, “Hey! We’re not moving! And there’s a car back there with a person in it!” And then they all start frantically waving?
It’s definitely a decision moment….
The Teenage Years: It's All in the Brain
Apparently in the last decade, a fair bit of research has been conducted to gather biological evidence as to why teenagers go a little bit haywire. Apparently, the teenage brain begins a massive shift around the pre-frontal cortex around 12-13 years of age. The pre-frontal cortex is the thinking part of the brain that allows us to consider the consequences of our actions, and that part of the brain kind of stops working as well as it had before. Parents don’t always understand the neurological changes that their children’s brains are undergoing: changes that can cause their once docile children to take big risks and make big mistakes. …
Turn Down The Noise
I cannot tell you how many times I have sat in the halls at the community college where I work, and have heard students approach before I have ever seen them coming. So many of them wear their ear buds between classes, to get from point A to point B, I have often thought the constant noise has to be having some kind of impact on their hearing.
Turns out, it is….
The Empty Blue Desk
Fall Semester 2009. Last year. He sat in the back row. In the only blue desk in a room filled with brown…