Stuff We Are Reading
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For me, every English class should be a book club. I mean to really elevate our writing skills, we need to be reading consistently. Stephen King once famously said, “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to write.“ My goal is to push my students a little bit. I provide them…
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This week I’m planning blog activities to give my winter students a platform to express themselves. We’re reading a sixties novel replete with sexism, racism, and political unrest. I want them to connect their thoughts and feelings with the struggles of other people. My hope is their writing will help them recognize themselves as part…
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This just occurred to me — More frequently, we are assigned technology-based articles to read with our English composition students. The debate surrounding in-class instruction versus online classes. The advantages and disadvantages of smartphones. Should concert fans have to give up their phones/cameras upon entrance to the facility? This month I read a novel about…
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When I was the age of my students, you wouldn’t hear much from me in class. I was very quiet. I wish now it wasn’t the case, but if I could get in there and out of there ( the classroom) without talking to anyone, that was a good day for me. Now that I’m…
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If you ask me, our students will become much more interested in their reading when they learn of the story behind the story. I like reading about the lives of my favorite authors. Sometime in the near future I’d like to introduce a juicy memoir as part of my classroom curriculum. Anyone who sits down…
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Pedro Martinez is/was my favorite baseball player. Pedro Mentiras is a big liar. ( From Spanish, “Mentiras” translates to “Lies” ) The idea to write about Pedro Mentiras came to me from watching the Republican and Democratic presidential conventions. Politifact reports that 75 percent of what comes out of Donald Trump’s mouth is suspicious. This…
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On my shelves here in Mexicali, I have books written by or about people with the names that end in “man”, like, Goldman, Zimmerman, and Hoffman. I don’t know if you have read of any of them or know anything about them, but from their names you can draw two conclusions: 1) they are Jewish;…
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I think every English professor should be his/her own book club. I live in Mexicali, and when I’m invited over to a house of a friend or neighbor, I don’t see a lot of books around. I have the feeling many of my students come to class with a very limited reading experience. I don’t…
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This is what I think: we are losing “touch” with our own learning process. Holding physical a piece of paper in our hands is an important tactile experience. I’m talking in regards to literacy, comprehension skills, and retention. Our critical thinking is being crushed with all the copying and pasting we do. Today, I’m creating…
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This week many of my students are turning in community profiles. They’ve selected an interesting person from their lives who in some way represents an important idea, social situation, trend or problem. We worked HARD! I’m happy many of them explored the stories of family and friends. They were able to obtain knowledge and perspective…