In David Denby’s recent book, Lit Up, the New Yorker magazine writer embeds himself with several quite varied American high schools in order to explore the state of reading and teaching literature at the secondary level. A few items caught my attention as they affect the middle level and the “onramp” to secondary school language … Continue reading
Author Archives: trn1956
Only a School, Only a Teacher
School is still, at its heart, a dance of men and women of character. A school is its teachers. An experienced and wise school head once exclaimed to his teachers during a faculty meeting: “I wish we could put a sign out front of the building saying ‘Only a School.’” Intended as humor, his lament … Continue reading
Miss Kellham, Third Grade Teacher
The Weekly Packet, September 10, 2015 Todd R. Nelson She was from Virginia and drove a Navy Blue (not Black) Volkswagen beetle. She said “y’all.” And when my mother dropped me off at the new school, with the new teacher, and the new kids, in a new city…I balked big time. It did not bother … Continue reading
Paean to a Season Foretold
Kerplink, kerplank, kerplunk. You know what I’m talking about. This is a summer sound. It will be heard on a windy, sunny day here in Robert McCloskey country. One morning I will think, Atop our favorite blueberry picking hill the berries are finally pickable. We will have come to gather food for the winter, like … Continue reading
The Education Watershed
The Weekly Packet, June 11, 2015 Graduation season turns my thoughts to our watershed—our education watershed. Perhaps it was our 5-6th graders visiting nearby Snow’s Cove to learn about the Bagaduce. They now know why oysters that grow in the top layer of water at Little Island Oyster Company are sweeter and less briney than … Continue reading
The Snowball Commissioner Holds a Press Conference
By Todd R. Nelson The first significant snowfall of the year had blanketed the school playground—the raw materials for sledding, building forts, and sculpting snow. It also meant the opening day of snowball season! So the Commissioner of Snowballs called a press conference. “Good Morning. I’ll read a brief statement and then answer questions,” said … Continue reading
Monsters, Ink
Chad is drawing a monster. Or dinosaur, from the looks of it. Monster sounds so threatening…but that was the assignment: “You are an explorer in an undiscovered land. You have just seen prehistoric monsters still roaming around. Draw one.” So! Dinosaurs are monsters. It is art class, and the substitute teacher, Mr. Nelson, is observing … Continue reading
March Hill
The wild things are on the move. Last night during the lunar eclipse I passed two skunks meandering on the verge of the road at dusk. At the Unitarian church in town, Larry Redman has set out the traps to try and relocate the amorous skunk pairs from beneath the Parish Hall—again. He gets $30 … Continue reading
Time travel by train
The Philadelphia Inquirer Monday, December 23, 2013 We live within the sound of trains. We always have, through five different houses and five different states, West Coast, Midwest, and East Coast. And the trains sound the same whether we are listening in Maine or the Main Line, Illinois or California, for their sound seems to … Continue reading
Strangers become Brothers
Outward Bound in Scotland was an epic moment. A photo of Churchill Watch sits on my bookcase. I am the tall, skinny, bushy-haired kid in the back row. Hands in pockets, I peer at the camera, scowling, uncertain. Brian Todd sits in the front row beside our instructor, Mr. Cliff. His hands are on his … Continue reading
