Listen to the poem “I, Too, Sing America” by Julia Alvarez: My students and I just read this poem last week alongside Walt Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing” and Langston Hughes’s “I, Too.” In his poem, Whitman celebrates the dignity of the working class person as an embodiment of American values. Hughes then enters theContinue reading “I, Too, Sing America”
Tag Archives: education
Sacrificing Our Sacred Cows: Rethinking the Literary Canon in Secondary English
In my class, I refer to literature in two categories: Real Lit and Junk Lit. Real Lit means texts that you need to unpack, that have layers, that speak to the human condition. Junk Lit is mostly comprised of those free titles on the Amazon e-books list—you read them fast, but neverContinue reading “Sacrificing Our Sacred Cows: Rethinking the Literary Canon in Secondary English”
Stay Curious
“How do you fight cynicism? Stay curious.” This is my third year teaching at a school in the Kansas City area. Each of the past two years we have begun back-to-school teacher training with a sermon from a local pastor, a message reminding us of our duty to mold the children and young men andContinue reading “Stay Curious”
“Back to School” Is Not Just for Kids
“The time has come to revive an idea that once seemed natural: the student’s life as a Christian calling.” Dr. Leland Ryken, author and professor, writes this in a chapter that he contributed to Liberal Arts for the Christian Life. For Ryken and many Christian educators (like myself), education is not a season of life meantContinue reading ““Back to School” Is Not Just for Kids”
College Kids (and applications)
someone please save us, us college kids! what my parents told me is what i did they said go to school and be a college kid but in the end i questioned why i did -Relient K, “College Kids” It’s the time of year when seniors are sending off some last minute applications and juniorsContinue reading “College Kids (and applications)”
“Anne Frank Today is a Syrian Girl”
I love how literature stirs the imagination, takes us to Fairy Land, Camelot, Narnia, Middle Earth, and beyond. And based on my own worldview, I don’t see these motifs as escapism but actually congruous with my own beliefs in a way (another discussion). Nevertheless, literature is also supposed to keep us right where we are Continue reading ““Anne Frank Today is a Syrian Girl””
a great, real place 