Thoughts on all things reading
This is a list of literature, current YA and older, more “classic” literature that could be taught together that have similar messages. See my post “Books Are Only Powerful If People Read Them” for an explanation of why teaching newer literature with older literature can …
The “Classics” of Today “We cannot have expression till there is something to be expressed” Margaret Fuller writes in her famous essay “American Literature; Its Position in the Present Time, and Prospects for the Future” in 1846 and states that Americans do not have their …
Henry David Thoreau’s Instagram would probably be very beautiful if he had one. In his work “Walking” he admits to taking around 4 hour walks every day. I’m sure if we got a smartphone in his hand he could come up with some gorgeous images, …
Children are often known as being “brutally honest.” They’ll say stuff like, “your hair is really frizzy” or stuff about their own life in the strangest times such as saying “my parents are getting a divorce” while they are playing with legos. To them, the …
“The Female equally with the Male I sing” “One’s Self I Sing” in Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman Right off the bat, the first poem in Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman speaks to equating male and female. Walt Whitman first published Leaves of …
There is pretty much is no question that a psychological thriller is a thousand times scarier than a horror movie filled with jump scares. The reason being thinking about our minds is scary because we all have one. Jump scares are an instant scare but …
If someone random were to ask you the question, “How are you?” would you actually tell them how you are? Unless they were your really close friend or family member you are most likely to just say something along the lines of “Good,” “Great!” or …
“No, dearest Georgiana, you came so nearly perfect from the hand of Nature that this slightest possible defect, which we hesitate whether to term a defect or a beauty, shocks me, as being the visible mark of earthly imperfection.” Nathaniel Hawthorne “The Birthmark” Imperfections, flaws, …
In my AP English Literature class I told my teacher I was reading a Young Adult book and she told me, “Okay but next time choose something with some substance.” And so my fight for Young Adult Fiction began. Young Adult Fiction, “YA” books if …
But books are good only as far as a boy is ready for them. He sometimes gets ready very slowly. Ralph Waldo Emerson “The Conduct of Life/Culture” There is more to life than being “book smart.” For centuries the education system has relied on books …
Science and Literature, a combination we do not seem to put together much today. In higher levels of study, there is the humanities (including English) and science. Classified in two separate places. There is science writing; lab reports, observations, experiment procedures, data analysis, where there …
The name Alexander von Humboldt sounded familiar when I first heard it, but the more I read about him, the more I realized I had no idea who this extraordinary man was. It’s a shame I didn’t know who he was and it’s a shame …
