Last night, I sat down to grade my CCSU class’s blog posts. We are writing a blog, and the students mostly appear to take it seriously.
It’s hard to describe how much grading takes over your life, when you’re a teacher. It can start to feel rote and when I start to feel that way, like I’ve already graded this paper, I take a break.
There are some students who dive in, and some who only dip their toe in. I feel for them. They’re not accustomed to being cheeky, or swinging a hammer, or even a fly-swatter, when it comes to writing. They’re grounded in research papers (as well they should be) and sourcing (not linking) and long, ponderous paragraphs that don’t work well on blogs.
And then, every once in a while, one of them will write something that just makes me gasp, it’s that good. Or maybe the writing could use some work (what writing couldn’t?) but it’s obvious the,student got the concept. That happened three times as I was grading last nightthree times where students who don’t speak up much in class certainly knew what to say in a blog post.
There’s an old movie, “Teachers,” where the final scene is Nick Nolte looking at a colleague and saying, “I’m a teacher.” Scroll to 1:32:04. It’s inspiring, as are these blog posts. And I’m grateful for those posts.
Dating Jesus 
I, too, am grateful for good writing…especially on the internet where the bulk of my reading is centered these days.
So, I suppose, I must be grateful for the internet as well, even though I’m not sure it has contributed all that much to quality writing in general.
But this morning…after coffee…I think I’m mostly grateful that I’m not Terry Collins.
Yeah, that’s a bonus. The Royals just came out swinging.
The Royals’ talent for late inning heroics this season were certainly no mystery to anybody…except, perhaps, Terry Collins.
Too many mistakes this post-season. Uncharacteristic? Maybe. But I’ll be surprised if The Mets pick up his option for 2016.
Your students are so incredibly fortunate to have you for a teacher in these interesting times.
That’s kind of you to say. Mostly, I think I’m the fortunate one.
What sharon said. Your students are very lucky.
I’m grateful for your columns, writings and blogs. Without them, I would not have gotten to know you and leftover and sharon and others. And, I’m grateful my pup is hanging in there so far.
Go, Kipper!