Archive for October 2014
How I establish the rules of my classroom
A teacher recently asked me if my students and I collaborate on the rules of my classroom at the beginning of the year. Actually, the teacher used the word “norms” instead of rules, because norms is quite the buzzword these days. One of these words that filters into education for a while, only to be…
Read MoreI hope they remember this moment when they want to kill each other.
Saturday morning cartoons are no more. A sad day for someone whose 27 year friendship may have been predicated on a Saturday morning cartoon theme song.
For the first time in 50-plus years, you won’t find a block of animation on broadcast this morning. Saturday morning cartoons are over. It’s the end of an era. I’m a little sad. Saturday morning cartoons were a staple for me growing up. Shows like Super Friends and The Smurfs kept me entertained for hours.…
Read MoreThere can only be one explanation for a Republican campaign ad as sexist and stupid as this.
I suspect that the Republican Party has been infiltrated by some undercover Democratic strategists who have convinced them that stupid, sexist political ads are effective. There can be no other explanation for the existence of this political ad (and others like it, which are exactly the same except with different Republican candidate’s names). No right…
Read MoreIs it wrong for me to find this Wallkill Mighty Mites clip nearly as entertaining as the Patriots victory over the Bengals?
The New England Patriots 43-17 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday night was the highlight of my weekend, and it gave my students reason to celebrate. I’m never in a good mood on Monday if the Patriots have lost. But a close send in terms of football highlights from the weekend was the Wallkill…
Read MoreHot Buzz About Books and Book Clubs
I’ll be speaking on the panel below alongside RJ Julia Bookseller’s President Roxanne Coady and Books on the Nightstand hosts Ann Kingman and Michael Kindness. If you’re a reader and a book lover, you should come. Before I joined the panel onstage, Elysha and I attended this event for years. It will be fun. I…
Read MoreNo one wants to see your photos of the sunrise or the sunset.
On Saturday morning, I posted the following to Facebook: At 6:38 this morning the sky turned an orange that I have never seen before. It was as if it was on fire. The whole world was bathed in an eerily beautiful orange glow. It lasted for less than ten minutes. I took my son outside…
Read MoreLet’s put an end to the Miss America pageant by making anyone who watches it feel small and stupid and uninformed.
John Oliver’s takedown of the Miss America pageant on HBO’s Last Week Tonight was brilliant. The Miss America pageant is admittedly an easy target, but Oliver’s segment is both surgical and hilarious. I could not stop laughing. The Miss America pageant and all its bastard step children are like moldering, vestigial organs that should have…
Read MoreI have never used an em dash. I don’t even know how to make an em dash. But you can still find them in my books.
Noreen Malone of Slate argues against the em dash. The problem with the dash—as you may have noticed!—is that it discourages truly efficient writing. It also—and this might be its worst sin—disrupts the flow of a sentence. Don’t you find it annoying—and you can tell me if you do, I won’t be hurt—when a writer…
Read MoreBeautiful wife. Scolded boy. Molded in plastic.
My wife posted this to Facebook today. It was too good not to share here. ____________________________ I just overheard Charlie in the other room saying, “Sit down! Time out!” I went in and found these Playmobils set up on the floor. You don’t have to be a child psychologist to analyze this one. (At least…
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