Comments for The English Major's Blog

Comment on Why Can’t I Write Like The Other Guy? by suzanne

suzanne — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:20:07 +0000

She is beautiful; breathtaking.

Comment on Guide the Guidance Counselor with a Leash by theenglishmajor

theenglishmajor — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:52:13 +0000

Fair point. But I know lots of kids – and adults – who went to school who have never heard of Shakespeare and have terrible grammar. In fact, I think there are more “schooled” idiots than “unschooled” idiots in my life.

If I meet one or two stupid guidance counselors, are they all stupid? (Okay, maybe guidance counselors aren’t a good example….)

Comment on Guide the Guidance Counselor with a Leash by justmakingitup

justmakingitup — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:29:12 +0000

I knew an unschooled kid (who was 21 at the time and no longer doing schooling of any sort) who had never heard of Shakespeare and had grammar that hurt my ears. It is possible that the guidance counselor had met other unschooled kids who actually hadn’t learned a thing and was basing it on that. You never know.

Just disturbing the shit a little over here.

Comment on Standardised Testing by Margaret Kunji

Margaret Kunji — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:10:16 +0000

I’m the cousin. Actually I teach Reading Recovery half the day and an an”Intervention Specialist “the other half. The Reading Recovery part of the job is wonderful. Everything is very sensible and the kids do incredibly well. It is the other half of the day that makes no sense.

Comment on Standardised Testing by theenglishmajor

theenglishmajor — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:33:51 +0000

Ah, but are the tests *reasonable* tests? Given that Rudolph Steiner suggested that children aren’t ready to read or write until at least age 7, is age 6 a good time for “testing” reading?

Comment on Standardised Testing by justmakingitup

justmakingitup — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:46:03 +0000

Wow. We just started a Reading Recovery program at our school. Only in our case, each child will be tested for reading readiness, and if there is any sign of trouble, that kid gets extra 1-on-1 attention every day until the problem is resolved. Forcing 1st graders to spell nonsense words doesn’t seem to be recovering much.

Comment on Becoming a Garbage Collector by theenglishmajor

theenglishmajor — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:53:54 +0000

Yes, it’s garbage. I will name it garbage and, therefore, it will be garbage. I have the power to decree absolute definitions; that comes with being an English major. I think it says that somewhere on my degree….

Comment on Becoming a Garbage Collector by justmakingitup

justmakingitup — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:28:00 +0000

Yeah, but there’s still the question of: is it garbage or is it not?

Comment on Salaam aleikum by Walaikum returns! « The English Major’s Blog

Walaikum returns! « The English Major’s Blog — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:09:59 +0000

[...] Walaikum is in Grade 12 this year. He’s absolutely frantic about his marks, of course. (Did you think he’d change?) This is bothering me more than usual because he has The Best English Teacher Ever and I think if anyone could get Walaikum to actually enjoy English, it’s this teacher. I’ve never had any of her students before, and her students only have wonderful things to say about her; even Walaikum says she’s funny and interesting. She seems to know about Walaikum, though, and is expecting a lot of him. This is fine by me (oh, wait, except for the verb tenses; I don’t think she understands English is his third or fourth language, so harping at him about the use of modal verbs in a personal journal really isn’t going to get him anywhere). [...]

Comment on Why Can’t I Write Like The Other Guy? by Gibran-in-the-making « The English Major’s Blog

Gibran-in-the-making « The English Major’s Blog — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 16:09:10 +0000

[...] Language, Writing) Tags: imagery, James Chaarani, T.Dot Writers I did manage to get a copy of the Really Great Imagery piece from the writers’ [...]