I saw a link to this blog entry the other day. I think the guy is on to something. Let me know what you think... (this is my first attempt to link to something, so let's hope it works...)
I have been thinking about hope lately. How hope is defined, how we find hope, and who can really offer us hope. I came into my local coffee house today to find they were selling "inauguration" cookies. The lovely cookies had one word written on them--hope. This has become a word strangely synonymous with our soon-to-be president, and I'm not totally sure how I feel about that. On one hand, I think it is good to hope--good to hope that things can and will get better. Good to hope that people really can make a difference. Good to hope that traditions, mindsets, obstacles can change. I find it a good thing to hope for all of these. But I also worry about hope. Worry that sometimes we put all of our hope in people, circumstances, words. I'm not sure that something as powerful and vital as hope can be managed by something as small as a person. Or even a group of people. Partly I think this because hopes are so easily dashed and regaining hope is so hard. So ...
I've been reading a TON of my students' work lately. Grades are due in the next few days. By far the most interesting reading has been my students' freewriting on who they admire. We are currently working on the beginning of our research papers (I say we because I'm writing with them--I am becoming more and more convinced that this is something every teacher needs to do. It helps me know how effective or ineffective an assignment is, and it gives me a serious dose of sympathy for my writers. But anyway...back to the topic at hand...) The research assignment is to come up with someone they think should go on the "Ms. Taylor's Wall of Fame." They can choose anyone they want as long as they can find enough research on the person; I'm researching Frank McCourt . They are going to have to write a persuasive research paper explaining why that person is worthy of the wall (they also have to come up with a title--mine is "Best Teacher-Turned-Writ...
So...I'm a girl. Sometimes people forget this, but it's true. I am currently sitting at a fabulous coffee shop/bakery--eating cake, grading papers, listening to good music..and I'll admit it, occasionally eyeing the cute boy sitting at the table across from me. I can't help it, he's cute. I think he might be eyeing me too. But I'm really bad about picking up on clues like that. And even if he was checking me out, how do you make a move on that? The sad part of this story is how little game I have. You wanna know what I just did in response to the cute boy looking at me? I decided to add some of my strawberry lip gloss to my lips. How sad is that? Awe--he's just so cute with his Sunday scruff, blazer, and baseball cap. :) Okay--back to giving my students constructive responses to their thoughts on To Kill a Mockingbird .
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