I judged Prospero once. However, this morning when I savagely arose from my bed, hunched from achy sleep, my Caliban shell offered a new knowledge. I am Prospero. Even worse, I am Prospero in a Caliban body (as I struggled to straighten myself). In the style of my teen pupils, I offered my spring apprentice […]
My Tempestuous Journey with The Tempest: A Confession Read More »
Here are a few ideas. Let me know if they help or distract you: First, you must lower your standards. It is not possible to achieve as much as you could with an easy book when it comes to scoring well on a test or developing the bad reading habits that endeavor forms in you
Four chapters into our latest read-aloud, The Scarlet Pimpernel, the ninth-grade student whom I was tutoring spontaneously commented, “This is a really good story . . . it keeps you wondering what’s about to happen!” Heartily assenting, I turned the page to begin the next chapter of mounting mystery. But hours later, having left behind
Suspense, Anxiety, and the Life of the Good Reader Read More »
It was an aesthetic education to live within those walls, to wander from room to room, from the Soanesque library to the Chinese drawing-room, adazzle with gilt pagodas and nodding mandarins, painted paper and Chippendale fret-work, from the Pompeian parlour to the great tapestry-hung hall which stood unchanged, as it had been designed two hundred
Wandering from Room to Room: Waugh, Caldecott, Socrates, and an Aesthetic Education Read More »
We as Americans need to see the Gospel as presented in Melville’s masterpiece.
Hands and Hearts: The Surprise of the Gospel in “Moby Dick” Read More »
Wordsworth and his contemporaries sparked an artistic revolution, the effects of which we’re still feeling.
When we idolize the glories of civilizations past, we often mistake flowers for seeds, and put our hope in something which has already withered and fallen
Neither Beowulf nor Hrothgar is the correct exemplar in Beowulf, for the poem offers no exemplar. Instead, it offers a chance for readers to identify with the plight of all mankind.
On boredom, busy work, homeschooling, and courage
Advice for Starting the School Year from Scout and Atticus Finch Read More »
It is said that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who distill people into two kinds of people, and those who do not. I am a member of the former group and my favorite way to do said categorizing utilizes two archetypes within the prodigal son narrative: Prodigals and Older Brothers.
Killing Ophelia: Variations on the Theme of the Older Brother Read More »
Or: Don’t let your students be fledglings forever
8 Starters That Can Guide Conversation on Any Great Book Read More »
Classic literature gives readers a glimpse of their own human condition, and then offers them the comfort of fellowship
Satan Is Just Like Me: On Milton, Sympathy, and Protagonists Read More »
