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Clifford Baker

Raymond Carver reviewed by James Campbell TLS - 0 views

  • Carver was Hemingway (most of whose fiction is located abroad) transposed to the blue-collar American margins, populated by men and women who seldom think about the world beyond – a land of bad marriages, cramped living rooms, truculent children, and unharnessed addictions of the old-fashioned sort.
  • But what is the real thing? In the original manuscript of “Why Don’t You Dance?”, before Lish’s blue pencil descended, the girl's sympathetic words to the yard sale vendor, “You must be desperate or something”, are not uttered while the pair are dancing. The sentence is adapted from an earlier remark she makes to her boyfriend when they first inspect the items for sale. “They must be desperate or something.” The vendor has yet to make an entrance. It was Lish who changed the words and placed them in her mouth as she “pushed her face into the man’s shoulder”, making it the emotional high point of the narrative.
  • As with other restored or revised texts – in this case, unrevised – the appearance of Beginners prompts some awkward questions. Does the emergence of the “real” stories undermine the reality that the most Carveresque of Carver’s books has had for almost thirty years in the minds of readers? Characters who appear sane turn out to have been mad originally. Characters who smoke didn’t do so in 1980, on their entry into the world. They are the children of Raymond Carver, but their identities were altered by the midwife, Gordon Lish.
James Miscavish

BookGlutton - 1 views

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    We set out to create a better way to read on-line; our goal was to make something different, engaging, intelligent and digital. The concept was born, as many good ideas are, on a crumpled cocktail napkin late one evening in 2006, and we've been working to
Nik Peachey

SafeShare.TV - The Safest Way To Share YouTube videos - 6 views

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    Srtips out lnks and other distractions
Adam Babcock

College Applications Continue to Increase. When Is Enough Enough? - NYTimes.com - 4 views

  • “They want you so they can reject you,” says Mr. Stewart, a senior in Burnsville, Minn., who has a 3.5 grade-point average and scored a 27 (out of 36) on the ACT. Those numbers are well below the freshman averages at some of the big-name colleges that sent him applications along with brochures.
Dana Huff

Tutoring Center, Hand Outs - 15 views

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    Great tutorial handouts from Bucks County Community College.
Leslie Healey

Students Know Good Teaching When They Get It, Survey Finds - NYTimes.com - 11 views

    • Leslie Healey
       
      we are teaching an added SAT review class to all juniors this year--there has been much consternation about the conflict between teaching to a test in SAT and our methods teaching lit and writing in the Brit Lit course.
  • One notable early finding, Ms. Phillips said, is that teachers who incessantly drill their students to prepare for standardized tests tend to have lower value-added learning gains than those who simply work their way methodically through the key concepts of literacy and mathematics. Teachers whose students agreed with the statement, “We spend a lot of time in this class practicing for the state test,” tended to make smaller gains on those exams than other teachers. “Teaching to the test makes your students do worse on the tests,” Ms. Phillips said. “It turns out all that ‘drill and kill’ isn’t helpful.”
Clifford Baker

2¢ Worth » It Was Good Enough for Me - 4 views

  • We are not working under these conditions because of our zip code or because of some unavoidably cyclical function of our reality. These constraints do not happen like weather patterns that we simply have to hunker down and wait out. They happen because of decisions that people make due to greed, misinformation, politico-social agendas, or ignorance.
  • “What was good enough for me is good enough for ‘your’ children.”
  • What interests me are products that help students learn to learn by empowering them to gaze upon the world they are learning about and to interact with the world, not by giving them better access to the classroom and instructor.
Leslie Healey

What Fictional Fantasy Means: better libing through Beowulf - 13 views

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    one fo my all time favorite lit blogs--what's not to like about BETTER LIVING THROUGH BEOWULF?????? read it jsut for the sheer joy of recognizing another soul who finds his /her religion in literature
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    will I ever become a good typist? I'm running out of time!
Victoria Keech

Technology: figuring out how the pieces fit: MoreThanWordles - 18 views

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    Ways with Wordles in English teaching
Mark Smith

George Orwell - James Burnham and the Managerial Revolution - Essay - 0 views

  • Socialism, until recently, was supposed to connote political democracy, social equality and internationalism. There is not the smallest sign that any of these things is in a way to being established anywhere, and the one great country in which something described as a proletarian revolution once happened, i.e. the USSR, has moved steadily away from the old concept of a free and equal society aiming at universal human brotherhood. In an almost unbroken progress since the early days of the Revolution, liberty has been chipped away and representative institutions smothered, while inequalities have increased and nationalism and militarism have grown stronger. But at the same time, Burnham insists, there has been no tendency to return to capitalism. What is happening is simply the growth of "managerialism", which, according to Burnham, is in progress everywhere, though the manner in which it comes about may vary from country to country.
    • Mark Smith
       
      The misssing link between socialism (as it deforms and plays itself out) and managerialism, or "bureaucracy", as I might say, socialism's bastard son.
  • Burnham does not deny that "good" motives may operate in private life, but he maintains that politics consists of the struggle for power, and nothing else.
  • Lenin, indeed, is one of those politicians who win an undeserved reputation by dying prematurely.
Tracee Orman

Crisis in Dairyland - For Richer and Poorer - Teachers and Wall Street - The Daily Show... - 8 views

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    Jon Stewart exposes the hypocrisy in America regarding teachers.
Adam Babcock

The Failure of American Schools - Magazine - The Atlantic - 3 views

  • recalcitrant
  • From 1960 to 1980, our supply of college graduates increased at almost 4 percent a year; since then, the increase has been about half as fast. The net effect is that we’re rapidly moving toward two Americas—a wealthy elite, and an increasingly large underclass that lacks the skills to succeed.
  • in education, despite massive increases in expenditure, we don’t see improved results
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  • That leads too many people to suspect that poverty is destiny, that schools can make only a small difference, and that therefore we’re unable to fix this problem, regardless of its seriousness. So why try?
  • That Kafkaesque outcome demonstrates precisely the way the system is run: for the adults. The school system doesn’t want to change, because it serves the needs of the adult stakeholders quite well, both politically and financially.
  • “Listen, they’re trying to get rid of a principal in my district who runs a Democratic club for us. If you protect him, you’ll never have a problem with me.” This kind of encounter was not rare.
  • President Obama was on to something in 2008 when he said: “The single most important factor in determining [student] achievement is not the color of [students’] skin or where they come from. It’s not who their parents are or how much money they have. It’s who their teacher is.” Yet, rather than create a system that attracts and rewards excellent teachers—and that imposes consequences for ineffective or lazy ones—we treat all teachers as if they were identical widgets and their performance didn’t matter.
  • The result: too few effective math and science teachers in high-poverty schools.
  • Many have candidly told me they are burned out, but they can’t afford to leave until their pension fully vests. So they go through the motions until they can retire with the total package.
  • And why give all teachers making $80,000, or more, a 10 percent raise? They’re not going to leave, since they’re close to vesting their lifetime pensions. By contrast, increasing starting salaries by $8,000 (rather than $4,000) would help attract and retain better new teachers.
Tracee Orman

The Potter Games - 12 views

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    This is an interactive website based on the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books/games. The characters of Harry Potter have been thrown into The Hunger Games (as tributes or mentors) by Lord Voldemort. The player chooses one of the characters and must read each passage, then makes a decision for that character, which could result in becoming the Victor...or "Reenervate" to try again. If you have students who like Harry Potter or The Hunger Games, they will have fun on this website. New characters are unlocked daily & we plan on writing more stories - one with the characters rebelling against Lord Voldemort and breaking out of the arena. It is great practice for reading skills - some characters have longer passages, some shorter. Some have up to 144 different scenarios (that's 144 pages of text). The least amount of reading for a player is 19 pages. So think about your low readers - that may be more than they read in a week by just playing one character. The writers who have/are contributing to this non-profit project include teachers, high school students, college students, professional writers, graphic artists, musicians, librarians, and so many more. We're all fans of both series, of course. :) (For grades 7 and up) I have a free download of lesson ideas for using The Potter Games in your classroom here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Potter-Games-Using-Interactive-Fiction-to-Improve-Reading
Dennis OConnor

Education Week Teacher: High-Tech Teaching in a Low-Tech Classroom - 6 views

  • How can we best use limited resources to support learning and familiarize students with technology?
  • get creative with lesson structure
  • Take advantage of any time that your students have access to a computer lab with multiple computers.
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  • Relieve yourself from the pressure of knowing all the ins and outs of every tool. Instead, empower your students by challenging them to become experts who teach one another (and you!) how to use new programs.
  • "Pass it On" Buddy Method
  • Students assist one another in creating digital products that represent or reflect their new learning. It’s a great way to spread technological skills in a one-computer classroom.
  • Group Consensus Method
  • Small groups of students engage in dialogue on a particular topic, then a member uses a digital tool to report on the group's consensus.
  • Rotating Scribe Method
  • Each day, one student uses technology to record the lesson for other students.
  • Whole Class Method
  • Teachers in one-computer classrooms often invite large groups of students to gather around the computer. Here are a few suggestions for making the most of these activities
  • When we are faced with limited resources, it is tempting to throw up our hands and say, "I just don't have what I need to do this!" However, do not underestimate your ability to make it work.
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    Might help create a blended classroom, even when you have to share the blender.  Common sense advise for the real world of underequipped classrooms and stretched thin teachers.
Nik Peachey

Nik's Daily English Activities: A City Love Story - 0 views

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    Today's activity is about talking about your city and the things you love, and was inspired by a YouTube video that tells a short love story. The Story is set in Beirut in Lebanon and tells the story of how two young people meet and fall in and out of love. The video though is also a tribute to the city that they both love and the things that they like about it.
Mark Smith

Philip Larkin, the Impossible Man - Magazine - The Atlantic - 3 views

  • In somewhat different ways, Orwell and Larkin were phlegmatically pessimistic and at times almost misanthropic, not to say misogynistic. Both also originated from dire family backgrounds that inculcated prejudice against Jews, the colored subjects of the British Empire, and the working class.
  • In somewhat different ways, Orwell and Larkin were phlegmatically pessimistic and at times almost misanthropic, not to say misogynistic. Both also originated from dire family backgrounds that inculcated prejudice against Jews, the colored subjects of the British Empire, and the working class.
  • In somewhat different ways, Orwell and Larkin were phlegmatically pessimistic and at times almost misanthropic, not to say misogynistic. Both also originated from dire family backgrounds that inculcated prejudice against Jews, the colored subjects of the British Empire, and the working class.
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  • In somewhat different ways, Orwell and Larkin were phlegmatically pessimistic and at times almost misanthropic, not to say misogynistic. Both also originated from dire family backgrounds that inculcated prejudice against Jews, the colored subjects of the British Empire, and the working class.
  • In somewhat different ways, Orwell and Larkin were phlegmatically pessimistic and at times almost misanthropic, not to say misogynistic. Both also originated from dire family backgrounds that inculcated prejudice against Jews, the colored subjects of the British Empire, and the working class.
  • In somewhat different ways, Orwell and Larkin were phlegmatically pessimistic and at times almost misanthropic, not to say misogynistic. Both also originated from dire family backgrounds that inculcated prejudice against Jews, the colored subjects of the British Empire, and the working class.
  • In somewhat different ways, Orwell and Larkin were phlegmatically pessimistic and at times almost misanthropic, not to say misogynistic. Both also originated from dire family backgrounds that inculcated prejudice against Jews, the colored subjects of the British Empire, and the working class.
  • In somewhat different ways, Orwell and Larkin were phlegmatically pessimistic and at times almost misanthropic, not to say misogynistic. Both also originated from dire family backgrounds that inculcated prejudice against Jews, the colored subjects of the British Empire, and the working class.
  • In somewhat different ways, Orwell and Larkin were phlegmatically pessimistic and at times almost misanthropic, not to say misogynistic. Both also originated from dire family backgrounds that inculcated prejudice against Jews, the colored subjects of the British Empire, and the working class.
  • In somewhat different ways, Orwell and Larkin were phlegmatically pessimistic and at times almost misanthropic, not to say misogynistic. Both also originated from dire family backgrounds that inculcated prejudice against Jews, the colored subjects of the British Empire, and the working class.
  • This is the world of wretched, tasteless food and watery drinks, dreary and crowded lodgings, outrageous plumbing, surly cynicism, long queues, shocking hygiene, and dismal, rain-lashed holidays, continually punctuated by rudeness and philistinism. In Orwell’s early fiction, all this is most graphically distilled in Keep the Aspidistra Flying, but it is an essential element of the texture of Nineteen Eighty-Four, and was quarried from the “down and out” journalism of which he produced so much
Adam Babcock

The Sad, Beautiful Fact That We're All Going To Miss Almost Everything : Monkey See : NPR - 5 views

  • What I've observed in recent years is that many people, in cultural conversations, are far more interested in culling than in surrender. And they want to cull as aggressively as they can.
  • It is the recognition that well-read is not a destination; there is nowhere to get to, and if you assume there is somewhere to get to, you'd have to live a thousand years to even think about getting there, and by the time you got there, there would be a thousand years to catch up on.
  • If "well-read" means "not missing anything," then nobody has a chance. If "well-read" means "making a genuine effort to explore thoughtfully," then yes, we can all be well-read. But what we've seen is always going to be a very small cup dipped out of a very big ocean, and turning your back on the ocean to stare into the cup can't change that.
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