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Moments of Authenticity
I’ve struggled for a long time to find “my path”–my most authentic wave. Many years ago, I auditioned to work at Princeton Review (as a side job to supplement my teaching income). As part of the interview, we had to do a sample lesson about anything. I chose to do a tutorial about how to make an envelope out a recycled magazine page.A co-interviewee decided to teach about quantum physics. (Please forgive me as I botch his lecture through the lens of my metaphor-obsessed brain.) He talked about how everything in the universe is essentially a wave. He also mentioned that waves can collide and cancel each other out.… Read More -
Collecting and Developing Ideas in Notebooks
I just bought a new notebook, and I figured it was time to hunker down and write a post about the concept of a Writer’s Notebook. I’ve been promising to do it for a while now. I think I’ve been reluctant to do it because I had a sense that it would take me f-o-r-e-v-e-r. Going into one of my old notebooks is like going through a photo album or a box of memorabilia from the past. You know how you just get sucked in and one thing leads to another?The idea of a Writer’s Notebook comes from the writing workshop approach to teaching writing. The gurus of… Read More -
Cultivating Independence in Children
Now that I’m safely on the summer side of the school year, I have a bit more time to reflect on the end of the school year. I experienced one of my most memorable teaching moments of all time: I stood back while my third graders planned and executed their very own field trip.First, they collected and developed ideas (just like we do in writing and research!) about where they wanted to go. They brainstormed lots of ideas, including going back to the Houston Arboretum or the zoo, to our pen pals’ school across town, to Rice University, downtown Houston to see the “highest” and “lowest,” etc.
Then ended … Read More
