I have been invited to speak at Diplocon, held on the campus of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA the weekend of March 21-22. I’ll be speaking and signing on Saturday but hanging out both days.This event came up suddenly when my former Pocket Books editor Dave Stern reached out, asking if I’d be […]
Last week, I wrote about the dismal numbers my students had earned in the first half of the third quarter. Sadly, I was not the only teacher with such horrible scores so our principal is asking everyone to try and analyze and quantify the causes and issues involved. Yesterday, I asked my students why they […]
No sooner do I write about the rhythms of school than we lose more time. So, even though we’ve lost a bunch of days this quarter, we’re still closing the books on schedule, March 28. Which means tomorrow I have to enter the interim grades for distribution on Wednesday. As I result, I’m becoming a […]
One of the subtler things about teaching is that there is a rhythm to the lessons as we strive, day after day, to keep from repeating ourselves, varying the lessons so both teacher and students don’t grow stale.Weather, though, has an insidious way of upending the routine and rhythm, making us hastily readjust as days […]
Several of the people who organize Shore Leave are teachers and have therefore spoken well of Towson University. When Robbie started talking about becoming a teacher, they advised him to check it out.Last August, we did. It was a week or two before classes began and the Admissions people were unavailable. In fact, no one […]
As I type this, a foot of snow sits piled around the townhouse. Another 3-5 inches are expected overnight and a three day weekend has become a five day weekend.But, spring is in the air.I keep getting reports from Port St. Lucie where the temperature is in the 70s and a variety of men have […]
It’s hard to believe that this will the 21st Farpoint convention but I am looking forward to it as I always do. Now that’s its local, it has a slightly different vibe for me and I have kiddingly offered my students extra credit for attending (I’ll be curious who I may actually see there).Meantime, my […]
Last night I attended another book discussion at the Library. Unlike the previous two, which focused on baseball, this will be regarding mysteries. Our speaker, a dean at Yale, decided our four books and discussion would involve the eternal triangle of the reader, the book and the author.There are times, he argues, where we challenge […]
As I was wrapping up my work on The Art of Howard Chaykin in 2010, the folk at Dynamite Entertainment asked if I would edit The Art of Ramona Fradon. Apparently, Howard had several conversations with Ramona, the legendary artist best know today for her work on Aquaman and Metamorpho. I would need to weave […]
There are some weeks where you feel on a treadmill, routine carrying you through the days. Other weeks are so jam-packed with a variety of events; you never know what will happen next. This was obviously the latter and hence worth a look back.Monday began with my third formal observation, postponed from the previous week […]