Two young student athletes in my Intro to Literature took important lessons from “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and a Wendell Berry poem.
Our Commencement was jolted by a reading of Martin Espada’s “Imagine the Angels of Bread.”
“The Ballad of Bathtub Gin” looks back to the days of Appalachian moonshine.
Willa Cather and Lucille Clifton were quoted in our end-of-the-year awards ceremony last week.
Phi Beta Kappa’s John Churchill lectured our new inductees on Emily Dickinson and the vital importance of a liberal arts education for all.
The Right Wing’s “war on women” is affecting the way my students read Aphra Behn.
The Common Core State Standards deemphasize literature. In fact, we need more literature taught.
Jacques Prévert’s lyre bird comes to the rescue of bored students everywhere.
To excite students, teach good writing–not writing that torments.
The new Common Core State Standards are pushing literature out of English classes.
Find out what Jane Austen character you are with my class’s Jane Austen Personality Profile test.
College students continue to find Jane Austen’s “Persuasion” compelling.
In this Scott Bates fantasy, a renegade scholar breaks library protocol with a bright red yo-yo.
Serving my students a Jane Austen high tea made the novels come alive.
Celebrating the agreement between the Chicago teachers and the city, here’s a humorous poem about school band.
Otsuka’s “When the Emperor Was Divine” excited our incoming students upon the upcoming school year.
Ritually enacting a piece of fiction, such as Andre Dubus’ “Adultery,” can lead to special insights.
David Brooks argues that today’s “nurturing, collaborative” educational system would have kept Shakespeare’s Prince Hal from becoming one of England’s great kings.
Essayist Dylan Nice describes how Orwell’s essay “Shooting the Elephant” pulled him out of kneejerk rightwing prejudices.
“Monsieur Lazar” is a film about real learning, which sometimes can only happen in spite of school regulations.
Parents pressure schools to ban books because they want to protect their children. Their children want the books because they have a different set of needs.
Posted in Blume (Judy), Chbosky (Stephen), Rowling (J. K.), Salinger (J. D.) | Also tagged adolescence, Are You There God It's Me Margaret, Book banning, Catcher in the Rye, censorship, Harry Potter, J. D. Salinger, J. K. Rowling, Judy Blume, Perks of Being a Wall Flower, Stephen Chbotsky |
During our commencement ceremonies this past Saturday, my creative writing colleague Karen Anderson was asked to read an appropriate poem. (Previous posts on Karen’s poetry have appeared here and here.) Karen chose a villanelle by Theodore Roethke and then, in a very nice touch, explained how the poem’s intricate form as well as its content [...]
Stephen Vincent Benet has a perfect poem for students worn out from end-of-the-semester studying.
In this Scott Bates poem, the poetry of basketball is surpassed by the poetry of frisbee throwing.
Our students, displaced by mold, are being housed in a cruise ship. A campus production of “As You Like It” may have given administrators the idea.
Posted in Dahl (Roald), Melville (Herman), Porter (Katherine Anne), Shakespeare (William) | Also tagged 2000 Leagues under the Sea, As You Like It, Beatles, Herman Melville, Jules Verne, Katherine Anne Porter, Moby Dick, Mold, Ship of Fools, St. Mary's College of Maryland, William Shakespeare |
Adam Gopnik argues that Norton Juster’s “The Phantom Tollbooth” is a manifesto for the liberal arts.
Our College has closed down two dorms after a mold attack. Among the many remedies has been an Emily Dickinson poem.
On Sunday my Jane Austen First Year Seminar students came to my housefor a meal that we took out of the “Jane Austen Cookbook.” The meal took two days to prepare and four people to serve.
Posted in Austen (Jane) | Also tagged Food, Jane Austen |
Michael Gerson writes that “Lord of the Flies” gives kids a picture of the bullying they experience and “To Kill a Mockingbird” the courage to stand up to it.
Developing what John Keats described as negative capability can help students be more successful in college.
A student wrote, “By forcing myself to examine my ideas and Dr. Faustus more carefully and within the lens of my experience, I had several epiphanies that I feel were transformative both to my essay as well as to my understanding of my experience with depression.”
