These last four months have been positively seismic (sp?) I got my first cell phone, dropped my land line computer for dsl, actually BOUGHT my first items on line ( shoes, CDs, and a round trip ticket to Europe for the summer), and am now blogging for the first time (when did blog become a verb?). Considering that I grew up thinking that an electric typwriter was the zenith of technological innovation, that's quite an accomplishment.
I feel kind of like my grandfather must have felt when he realized that the Model T in the barn did not need to be fed twice a day, didn't need to be brushed and watered, didn't produce an ocean of horsesh..t, and would't get sick and die! Ain't progress grand!!!
With help from Judy Miller, Shanell Eastman and a couple STUDENTS who know a crap load more than I do, I'm proud to have set up this blog site for students in Creative Writing to form what we arrogantly call a "Writing Community." (although I did spend an hour-really- last night screaming at the computer because I forgot my password and needed my password to get to the site that would remind me of my password so that I could enter this darn site)...three minutes with a 16 yr old know-it-all, and the problem was solved.
This Creative Writing class is, in itself, a new thing for me. I used to teaching clases where a) I know it ALL, b) I plan and the kids work, c)students do specific things that I grade, and d) we have tests. This class ain't gonna be that way. The plan is (teachers ALWAYS plan) that students will work, each in his/her own w ay to write better, write more, and discover how to write, what writing is, and maybe something about themselves. For those as daunted by this UN-structure, I do have a pikle of "assignments" to fall back on---their choice. Giving students CHOICES is pretty uncomfortable for control freaks --which, of course, is what ALL tgeacher are all about.
installment 2: Andre Waters-age 44 , 11 years in the NFL, stopped counting concussions at #15, killed himself in November, autopsy discovered the brain of an 85 yr old man
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