Archive for October 2014
The difference between playing school and teaching school
Budo, from Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend, is credited as saying that there are two types of teachers: Teachers who play school and teachers who teach school. In truth, he stole that one from me. But he’s right. I’m often asked to expound upon this line from the book, which is one of the most…
Read MoreA race to the bottom: Which state will be the last to legalize same sex marriage?
Over the weekend, a judge overturned Alaska’s ban on same sex marriage. On Tuesday, Alaska and North Carolina began issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples for the first time. Thirty states and Washington, D.C. now allow some form of marriage for same-sex couples. Can you believe it? This seemed impossible just a few years…
Read MoreTeachers: Stop commenting, positively or negatively, on your student’s physical appearance. It’s only hurting them.
As an elementary school teacher, I have made it my policy for more than a decade to avoid commenting on a student’s physical appearance. A student’s appearance should be the last thing of concern to a teacher, but more importantly, these comments, even when positive, can be damaging and hurtful to kids. This policy has…
Read MoreHemingway was an idiot. Write sober.
It sounds clever, and the association between writing and the consumption of alcohol is a powerful and lasting one, but I disagree with Hemingway on this one. Frankly, I think he was an idiot when it came to this idea. How about we all just write and edit sober and do our best work instead?
Read MoreJohn Steinbeck was an unrealistically and obscenely mature man
The Mystery of Prince Rupert’s Drop: A small piece of glass made amazing
This is six of the most fascinating six minutes of video on the Internet today. Both in terms of subject and presentation. Stop and watch. The Prince Rupert Drop is named after Prince Rupert of the Rhine, who I recommend you don’t spend any time reading about lest you end up feeling terrible about your…
Read MoreProductivity tip #11: What “I didn’t have enough time” really means.
Remember: When you say you didn’t have enough time, you are actually saying that there are other things more important to you. On your list of priorities, other things were higher on the list than the thing you didn’t have time to complete. “I didn’t have enough time” actually means it wasn’t important enough to…
Read More“Guess what?” You sound like an idiot when you say “Guess what?”
Request: No. Check that. Demand: Remove the rhetorical “Guess what? from your lexicon immediately. Not every “Guess what?” is bad. “Guess what?” is perfectly acceptable much of the time. But the rhetorical “Guess what?” is never acceptable. “My boss wants us to do so-and-so? Well, guess what? It will be a cold day in hell…
Read MoreLearning to be a grandfather from the best
I feel so blessed to be able to watch the way that my father-in-law interacts with my children. Whenever possible, he is on the ground, crawling around, playing with their toys, giving of his time and self in order to occupy an important and meaningful space in their world. The world seems to stop spinning…
Read MoreFunnier than some big budget comedies
It’s a GE commercial designed to sell light bulbs. Nevertheless, it’s honestly funnier than a lot of movies that I’ve seen.
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