karma
Student 1: I heard you practicing.Student 2: No, don’t listen, it isn’t finishedStudent 1: I liked it.Student 2: But it isn’t finished don’t listen to it.Student 1: I can’t not […]
cancel
student: I can’t read what I wroteteacher: why not?student: because it’ll piss people offteacher: that’s ok, it’s a writing class. if you piss people off so be it.student: I can’t […]
the spotify student
The sequence of ideas in our class conversations never stops amazing me. I have a lot of international students. When reading from their journals, which is where they explore writing […]
The Piano Solo on Sea Cruise
I was looking up the 50s song Sea Cruise for a student and found a version by Johnny Rivers. Turned out a monster was on piano I had never heard […]
left hand teaching
Teaching at Ryerson was fun. Had my last class and a few stuck around in a shy nervous way. They wanted to personally say goodbye or ask if I’m returning. […]
counting minutes
As soon as they lowered me into the chair and froze my mouth and stuck things inside it so I could not communicate and went to work on the two […]
poetry
In my classes student write poetry or lyrics and many, for whom English is not their first language, make unexpected ideas in their writing I enjoy like this today, “I […]
itch
What are the odds, I am running late, I go into the subway station, I select the car that will be the best for my transfer and after finding a […]
one brain two of us
The student who sits at the front but never speaks had an answer when I asked what she thought of the last student’s writing. It was a song about being […]
feedback
Student reviews from the University came back. Each term less than 10% fill them out but always interesting. They are anonymous and run the spectrum from I hate your guts […]