Blogs on Student Engagement

"The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war."
-- Douglas MacArthur

Why Teach Classical Greek Literature?

Near the end of the 2008-2009 school year, I had started reading The Iliad with my students and was struggling to connect them with the text. The language of the poem, the extended metaphors, the repetitious patterns of phrases and names bogged my students down, and they constantly questioned to the value of reading the text. I spent weeks answering questions about Greek culture and the Trojan War, showing short videos and PowerPoint presentations and rereading passages with them -- but the buy-in still wasn't there.

You have to read David Brooks' New York Times article about empathy. He challenges our emphasis on empathy as the main reason why people do good things for others. The essence of his argument is that the research on the relationship of empathy to being willing to do for others, and especially to go out of one's way to do for others, is not impressive.

Whether it's with a moment of silence or an outpouring of service, schools across the country are considering how to help their students observe the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. A wide range of resources are available to assist educators as they seek learning opportunities around this emotion-charged date.

As we move deeper into August, teachers start to get antsy as the first day of school approaches. Some teachers are thrilled and others are despondent. But most of us are somewhere in the middle -- sad about the end of summer, but ready to get back in the saddle. Over the years, I have come up with a system to let me know when it's time for a teacher to pick up the chalk again.