A School Closure That Was Nothing Like a Holiday
We now live in a time when school shootings happen so often that we don’t wonder if there will be another one; we only wonder if there will be another one today.
Teaching
The College Admissions Scandal is Not About Education
The drive to get your kids into competitive colleges is usually not about what they’ll learn, but about who they’ll meet. It’s about connections, not education.
Do Good, Feel Great
As most of you know, I am a member of Lighthouse Writers Workshop. Lighthouse is a non-profit writing community that offers workshops for all ages. I teach adults, but I am fortunate to teach in the Young Writers Program as well. This means I sometimes teach in Denver-area schools either as part of an after-school …
My Heart Is Not Easily Opened
On Thursday mornings I take a yoga class at my local rec center. I like this class. It’s held in a large sunny studio overlooking a park. Between yoga poses I see squirrels scampering up trees in the fall. I see snow falling in the winter. I see dogs racing across an open field in the …
The Kids Are All Right
Yesterday I taught a creative writing segment to a group of elementary school kids. It was my last teaching gig of 2016. This year, thanks to Denver’s Lighthouse Young Writers Program, I worked with third graders and high school seniors and middle school students. I taught suburban kids and city kids. I taught one ninth grader who …
My Father’s Daughter
I taught a high school class this morning in the Denver suburbs. It’s homecoming week and the whole school was decked out in black and gold. In the middle of all this manufactured enthusiasm, I told the students to pay attention to those things that truly light a fire in them, to be aware of the ideas …
Observations from Summer Camp, August 2016 – Lighthouse Writers Workshop
These kids are smart and outspoken. Also compassionate and humble. And talented. Were you any of those things as a teenager?