Blogging is a stunted guttural utilitarian verb. Hopefully that doesn't mean the writing coming out of blogs is the same. I wanted to name this blog Backdraft after my favorite coffee from Carrabassett Coffee Company- dark, smokey and strong. Plus I like drafting in the back on bike rides and hikes- that way nobody is rushing me. However the real definition of backdraft involves that nasty puff of smoke that comes out of your woodstove when the wind blows back down; not quite the image I had in mind for a blog. So this is Maine musings because I love living in Maine. When I'm not teaching high school classes, or reading students' writing or doing the readings I've assigned, I am outside recharging. There's no other place I've lived that supports a simple lifestyle with the mountains, lakes, and rural space to play in that we have here. I hope to write about teenagers and teaching writing and literature with them, as well as some of the places and things I enjoy.
At the end of class Friday we had a few minutes and I was chatting with several kids. I asked what good books they'd read over the summer. The first replied, Cry the Beloved Country (by Alan Paton) the next Stephen King's On Writing and the third I asked had read a biography of Malcolm X commenting how schools never talk about him. Who says kids are illiterate? I am awed by their curiosity and range of interests.
On a slightly mischievous note this is a fun essay I read this summer suggesting the beauty in not always googling the answers to our questions. "In Praise Of Not Knowing"
It's exciting to hear the titles your students are choosing to read - speaks well of free choice reading!
ReplyDeleteThanks for directing me to "In praise of not knowing." This is another aspect to the issue of skim-reading across a universe of information that has come up in some recent discussions with colleagues ;-)