bad teacher/failing writing: blogging by telepathy?
[Migrated from my original blog, "Mockingbirds Nest Here."]
Well, ok. Much like this beautiful rhinoceros at the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler, I have had my head in the wall regarding this blog. I suck at blogging. My last entry was 8 months ago.
Apparently I was blogging via ESP - I mentally sent the blogs while I ate, slept, taught, graded - yet, nothing appeared on the blog wall.
Hmmm. Guess that doesn't work. And I had been cooking along so well... but I just fizzled. I quit. Life happened and blogs moved to the back of the filing cabinet in my brain.
But I am not a quitter.
So here's the deal - to my 1 follower, I make this promise: I will be blogging at least once a week. I will try to get on and blog about what is happening in my classroom at least once a week.
Yoda: There is no try. There is only do or do not.
Ok, so not trying - DOING. I am teaching freshman composition and rhetoric now, ENGL 1301. The Big Show. No little regular class now -well, I have a few still - but teaching that class has brought me to a new level of anxiety: how do I stay ahead of the curve? Right now, I am hoping to move them towards writing more confidently, with gusto and no holds barred, going for the "jugular" as Natalie Goldberg says (it's one of our favorite tips and truths about good writing), and in my test kitchen of 1301, I am trying some new things.
As a PBL teacher, I do really want to explore the marriage of writing workshop and PBL. With presentations and opportunities to submit to journals coming up, and as I grow as a dual credit college teacher, with one foot in the regular high school world and one foot in the world of higher education, I have to evolve myself. I have to write about what is happening - even if it is just for me.
So it is my solemn vow to blog more. To write more. To explore. To question. To hope. To not try but do. And to push my 1301 students to new heights as writers who publish. Do as I say, AND as I do. :)
Dear One Reader who Subscribes to This Blog: I give you permission to tweet terrible things about me if I don't keep my promise to write and publish each week.
I hear that web-based cattle prods are now available on Amazon, if you feel that is more effective....
