finally resurfacing

Okay. It is now February and I have finally figured out a way to post to this blog. While my creative writing students “warm up,” I will compose my entries.

There are too many things wrong about the teaching profession for me to rant about them here, but I will take Anne LaMotte’s father’s sage advice and take it “bird by bird.”

I teach five classes. For three years I taught grade 9 English. First three separate levels, then two. This year I have only two honors classes because I am teaching two new classes: grade 11 English (American Literature) and Creative Writing. If you are also a teacher, it is needless to say that I spent my summer reading American literature: Huck Finn, the Crucible, Great Gatsby, Ethan Frome, The Scarlet Letter, Grapes of Wrath. For most of these texts it was a second or third read, but of course, one reads a text differently when she is preparing to “teach” it. So, if you are one of those people who dismiss teacher complaints of low pay because we “get summers off,” please edit yourself next time you are tempted to regurgitate this inanity.

Although I race to develop lessons every night for my new American Lit course, I am thrilled to be teaching juniors. After years of having to alert my freshmen students to the jokes I make, now, not only do the students recognize my humor, more importantly, they aren’t afraid to laugh. We are having a great time together and I anticipate an exciting and rich year of literary exploration.