Humble rewards of teaching: “Eureka! They get it.” (on their own!) Thursday, Nov 5 2009

I took my English 1002 class to the library today for a kick-off activity to get them started on the obligatory research paper that has afflicted second semester freshman writers since the Industrial Revolution when my pedagogical forbears invented the two-semester freshman comp. sequence.  What a boring  tradition!  The challenge, then, is to make what one writer I read in grad school refer to as “the vast unflowering desert of freshman composition” into a fertile pasture.

The class today encouraged me.  Clutching the  “location/citation worksheets” I devised for the task,  they attacked the reference section with  grim determination.  The reference librarian was my aid and assistant, greeting them in the stacks with questions, “What is your topic?” and then pointing them to this reference set or that dictionary or this encyclopedia.  As the students found the articles in the books and took them to the tables to read and evaluate their newfound treasures, I sensed their pride of achievement: They had chosen a topic, and now they were becoming subject matter “experts!”   More than one student made remarks like, “This is cool!”

I really was humbled in the process.  I realized (for the zillionth time in 22 years of teaching) that so much of what I do as a teacher ultimately depends on my getting down from the high horse, stepping out from behind the lectern, moving to an obscure post in the back of the class, and watching them take control.

I saw that happen today in English 1002.  Those kids were awesome!!

Leave a Response »

 

The Marvels of Technology: A mini-review of the iPhone Tuesday, Nov 3 2009

The tech department at work finally had a change of heart about Apple products, so about a month ago I got to trade in the abominable Blackjack I used for the past two years for the latest iPhone 3g.

I shouldn’t call the Blackjack abominable–when I first got it, I thought it was pretty cool.  But when I use the iPhone now and recall the Blackjack, I think of the Dixie cups on strings we used to play “phones” with when we were kids.

Of course, it’s not really the phone feature of the iPhone that’s striking.  A phone is a phone is a phone.  The coolest thing about the iPhone is that it’s so much more than a phone.  The Blackjack did other stuff, too, I admit.  I could even take video clips with the Blackjack (the iPhone just takes static shots).  But the Blackjack gets a D- for web navigation while the iPhone gets an A+.

The touch keypad on the iPhone is another point of comparison to the Blackjack’s push-button keypad.  Although the iPhone keypad takes a little getting-used-to, it’s truly digital in comparison to the Blackjack’s truly push-button.  Sure, you use fingers to push buttons the same as you use fingers to touch the screen on the iPhone, but the touch screen elevates “digital” to a higher meaning.  This is 2009, after all!

The best feature of the iPhone has to be its “Internetability.”  My old phone went online, but it moved slow and clunky.  The iPhone, in comparison, surfs  gracefully.  It seeks out and joins (with my permission, of course) wi-fi networks or uses, with equal alacrity it seems, whatever 3g network it finds within range.

So I’m sold on the iPhone.  How did I manage before?

Ah, the marvels of technology!

 

Leave a Response »

 

Billy Cannon, Halloween, and LSU Lore: I was there! (50 years later) Sunday, Nov 1 2009

To a Louisiana football fan, just driving by empty Tiger Stadium at LSU on a weekday lifts the spirits.  Three national championship banners float gracefully atop the stadium’s rim, bearing witness to the tradition and the state pride that we associate with our LSU brand.

LSU's Only Heisman Trophy Winner Ever, Billy Cannon

But to be IN Tiger Stadium on Saturday game night is really something special.  Happy for me, that’s where I spent my Halloween eve this past Saturday.  The night was particularly memorable, and I’m extra happy I could be there, because October 31, 2009, Halloween night, was the 50th anniversary of former LSU Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon’s legendary punt return to beat Ol’ Miss on October 31, 1959.   That was one of the most famous battles ever played in Tiger Stadium between two bitter rivals who both were at the top of the national rankings that year.  LSU was, in fact, the defending national champ from 1958.

The University commemorated the anniversary during Saturday’s game by showing  this video clip.  To enrich the celebration, Dr. Cannon appeared on the field, fifty years older but still looking every bit the hero.   So sorry I wasn’t there in ‘59 (I was 7 years old), but at least I was there these 50 years later.  The occasion was a proud Tiger memory moment.

One Response »

 

More Joys of Grandparenting: Papa’s Halloween Treat (as opposed to “trick”) Thursday, Oct 29 2009

Payton Elizabuff Pulling: The spirit of LSU!

Although I missed the door-to-door trick or treat with Payton because I was on the road working until after-hours, I was on hand for Payton’s return from her door-to-door rounds in the neighborhood when she got back with her parents and her Honey.  Honey took this shot of  jubilant Payton, all decked out as an LSU cheerleader with a plastic pumpkin full of candy stowed somewhere off-camera.

I am moved to this conclusion: Parents think their kids are cute; But, Grandparents KNOW their kids are cute!!!

It’s a generational perspective: Our poor kids!   They won’t get it until they’ve reached their parents’ stage of life.

May they be so blessed to last as long!

 

2 Responses »

 

More humble rewards of the profession: A peculiar coincidence prompts this latest chapter Tuesday, Oct 27 2009

I have revisited this topic off and on in the blog over the last few years as former student testimonies show up from time to time to reassure me that this craft of teaching really does touch lives; as well, encouraging feedback whispers back from time to time, often years alter, to touch the teacher’s life.  To wit, my latest episode . . .

We were discussing the poem “I think I shall paint my nails red”  this morning in English 1002, preparing for an upcoming explication assignment.  I recalled a particularly adept explication a student had done on this poem two or three years ago, but  I couldn’t recall the student’s name.  Some of that student’s former school mates are in the present class, so I asked them to help me recall, and they reminded me her name was Abby.

Abby tested out of English 1001 with high ACT scores.  She took my class to get a double head start on college, and she frequently set the standard for quality work and writing.  I took a moment  after Abby’s friends helped me recall her name to praise the work Abby had done explicating the very poem we were discussing.  And the discussion moved on.

The best came after class.   Abby’s former schoolmates approached me.  Katie in particular was almost incredulous that I had recalled Abby on this day, because this very day, Katie was bearing a personal message to me from Abby, whose name I couldn’t recall a few moments earlier, but whom Katie had recently seen in their home town.  Katie’s message to me from Abby was to tell me that of all the professors Abby has had at UL-Lafayette (where Abby enrolled after high school graduation), I was the best!

Gosh. Should I be stunned?  Humbled?

(O.K.  I admit–I wasn’t humbled.  Just the opposite.  I like hearing my horn tooted as much as the next dude!)

How about the coincidence?  The very day I randomly recalled Abby,  her friend in my class has a personal message for me.  If I have to choose between Providence and coincidence, I’ll choose Providence!

So I end, “Thank you, Lord, for the humble rewards!   And bless Abby, my former student.”

Leave a Response »

 

Have paws, will dig: A “Marleydillo” in the Back Yard Monday, Oct 26 2009

Marley and Sadie frolic in the ploughed up patch of the back yard where Marley digs.

Sarah and I sat on the patio this afternoon, lamenting the ugly patch of lawn adjacent to the patio where Marley the Dog has destroyed the yard, scratching and rooting for God-knows-what.  All we know is that our  stretch of healthy, green grass has been clawed and plowed and scraped bare right before the onset of winter, assuring a winter’s worth of mud to dirty the doggie pattes (paws) all the more as they track up the patio (and into the house!).

Sarah lamented the condition of the yard this afternoon: “Look at that!  It looks like we have armadillos in the back yard.”

I corrected her: “No, not armadillos.  But we do have a “Marleydillo.”

Why he digs is beyond us.  He’s almost two, so the propensity doesn’t owe to puppyhood.  And we’re pretty sure there’s no buried treasure.

 

Leave a Response »

 

Louisiana football: Not the meaning of life, but maybe the life of meaning? Friday, Oct 23 2009

This evening, we cheered the home town Eunice high school Bobcats to a 49-6 halftime lead on Homecoming night and went home before the granddaughter got too grumpy.  We’re waiting to hear the final score of the rout on the Friday night sports show.

Tomorrow, I’m bound for Baton Rouge to tailgate and see how the Tigers manage Auburn, a significant game with national ranking repercussions.

Sunday, I may have to skip choir practice because the undefeated Saints are on at 3:15 against the Dolphins.

How important is football in Louisiana?  It’s not the meaning of life, but it sure does add meaning to life!

2 Responses »

 

King David and the Point of View Shift: An English Teacher’s Consideration of Inerrancy Wednesday, Oct 21 2009

The dogma-mongering bibliolatrers of recent years in the Southern Baptist Convention made inerrancy an acid test of orthodoxy (or at least their orthodoxy).  These over-wrought “doctrinaries” made a big issue out of the inspiration of Scripture and the insistence that everything in the “Word” was “without error.”

O.K., let’s carry their point beyond it’s logical extension (which is kind of what they did, but in the opposite direction of what I’m about to do).  Let’s look grammatically at the 23rd Psalm, one of the most famous passages in the Old Testament.

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk

through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil, for you are with me .  Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Aha, King David!!  If you had turned this essay in for English 1001, I would have marked verse 4 a usage error: “point of view shift.”  The passage starts out in third person, but suddenly and without purpose in verse four, the intrusive second person you shows up.  Surely, King David, you knew better?  What a silly grammatical error!

So much for inerrancy?

Or, “Who needs inerrancy?”  It’s a pretty good Psalm, POV shift or not.

Leave a Response »

 

New York State Football Champs: New Orleans Saints! Monday, Oct 19 2009

The Giants defense couldn't figure out the Saints. Pic borrowed from neworleanssaints.com

I heard this title, “New York State football champs,” on WWL radio over the weekend after the Saints pulled off the trifecta: Three consecutive NFL wins in as many games against New York opponents:

Saints 27, Buffalo 7

Saints 24, NY Jets 14

Saints 48, NY Giants 27

What are the odds of the schedule maker lining up consecutive games against all 3 of New York’s teams?  And what were the odds of the Saints running the table, considering both the Jets and Giants were undefeated when the Saints “entertained” them?

Well, we don’t know what the odds were, but we do know what the results were: The Big Easy has taken a couple of big bites out of the Big Apple!

Geaux, Saints!

Leave a Response »

 

Dogs and Possums: Nature’s Course Friday, Oct 16 2009

Friday evening, I let Sadie and Marley (the dogs) out as usual around mid-evening to do their business.  Within minutes, a grand raucous erupted, with shrill barking and snarls from the corner of the back yard where we stack the fire wood–, the

“wood yard.”

By the time I could

get the spot light and check out the gnashing of teeth,

the job was fait accompli.   All I found was a truly dead possum (as opposed to a possum “playing possum.” )  I will spare the gory details of the possum’s woeful condition, but obviously, Sadie and Marley had done their guardian-dog duty.

Poor puppies, they just do what comes natural.  I guess it’s good.

But I sure felt bad for the poor little possum.

By the end of the evening, Sadie and Marley rested from their exertions.

Leave a Response »