A back-to-school playlist, interviews with Sam Lipsyte & Amanda Shires, Leslie Jamison on Barbie, an excerpt from Edan Lepucki's new novel, inside the new Jay-Z retrospective, and more
You will be a compassionate, enthusiastic educator. As one of those history PhD people I can only encourage you to teach your students why history matters -- chronology only matters because it matters what happened when in response to what. I’ve seen so many cases of college-level history class trauma that boiled down to “I’m terrible at memorizing dates/names/places so I was terrible at History.” My first task, before I could teach them history, was thus to teach them why names/dates/places are not actually history, only the coordinates for locating the history in time and place and connecting it with individual people, like call numbers in a library are not books or stories but a way to organize them.
Omg ty so much for sharing Sam Lipsyte's interview on Kurt Vonnegut Radio! Also huge congrats on your shift into new career as teacher (imo the most noble profession.) your students will be incredibly lucky to have you as teacher and I know you will inspire countless young people!
I am going back to teaching myself, although this time in special education (with sections of ELA resource classes). I can’t say I really have any tips yet except to maintain a work/life balance and be consistent with expectations while necessarily being flexible with schedules and content sometimes. Good luck!
Welcome to teaching! I'm about the start my 7th year as a 5th grade teacher and started the profession at 46. It will be difficult to find balance, especially at the beginning, but make sure to take time out for yourself. The work will always be there. In order to do the best that you can for students, you need to make sure you're doing the best for yourself too. Good luck!
Thanks for sharing my excerpt! And wow congratulations on the career shift! We need more passionate readers in the classroom!
You will be a compassionate, enthusiastic educator. As one of those history PhD people I can only encourage you to teach your students why history matters -- chronology only matters because it matters what happened when in response to what. I’ve seen so many cases of college-level history class trauma that boiled down to “I’m terrible at memorizing dates/names/places so I was terrible at History.” My first task, before I could teach them history, was thus to teach them why names/dates/places are not actually history, only the coordinates for locating the history in time and place and connecting it with individual people, like call numbers in a library are not books or stories but a way to organize them.
Omg ty so much for sharing Sam Lipsyte's interview on Kurt Vonnegut Radio! Also huge congrats on your shift into new career as teacher (imo the most noble profession.) your students will be incredibly lucky to have you as teacher and I know you will inspire countless young people!
I am going back to teaching myself, although this time in special education (with sections of ELA resource classes). I can’t say I really have any tips yet except to maintain a work/life balance and be consistent with expectations while necessarily being flexible with schedules and content sometimes. Good luck!
Welcome to teaching! I'm about the start my 7th year as a 5th grade teacher and started the profession at 46. It will be difficult to find balance, especially at the beginning, but make sure to take time out for yourself. The work will always be there. In order to do the best that you can for students, you need to make sure you're doing the best for yourself too. Good luck!