Erica Jacobs is the Education columnist for the DC Examiner, and has taught high school and college for 33 years. She has been around the education block! Email her at ejacob1@gmu.edu.
convergence--the approach toward a common view or opinion
This word appeared in the title of a poem students had to analyze on the AP test a few years ago, ("Convergence of the Twain" by Thomas Hardy) and, to hear the graders speak of the students' essays, it seems most did not know what either convergence or twain meant (although many guessed Mark Twain.)
Although it looks doubtful at times, there seems to be a growing convergence toward one Democratic presidential candidate. I don't know which it will be, but there will be considerable ignominy to face if the Democrats don't get themselves together, put aside all their turgid and fatuous palaver in order to unify the party. But will the Democrats be able to put either Clinton or Obama on a pedestal after all the damaging rhetoric? I like to think that someday this race for candidacy will be just a piece of arcana in a textbook, too trivial to ever impinge on people's thoughts.
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In my classroom today, a former student took the lead. Anna Laura came back to the classroom she had left two years ago to attend James Madison University, but the model of writing, respectful discussion, and reflection remained with... Read More Topics:
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The phenomenon of "The National Examiners" is only five weeks old, but already I have discovered something about the writing process as it has been affected by my (almost) daily posts. Twice my Monday column for the DC Examiner has grown out... Read More Topics:
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Today I will going to the Shakespeare Theatre's performance of Julius Caesar with a few students and several other teachers, so it's fitting that the quote below comes from that play. My column for Monday calls my current students my best ever... Read More Topics:
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The word of the day comes from the very beginning of Elizabeth George's new mystery: Careless in Red. Inspector Lynley is on the forty-third day of his solitary walking tour--an effort to cope with his wife's recent death. He sees a solitary surfer and... Read More Topics:
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We all can picture a politician who fits the contempt expressed in this quotation from Henry lV, Part 1:I am whipp'd and scourg'd with rods,Nettled, and stung with pismires, when I hearOf this vile politician.Choose your own example!... Read More Topics:
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This last month of teaching at Oakton High School is the last time my students experience all sorts of events: dances, ceremonies, lunch lines, bells, early start times, nightly homework assignments. I am in the interesting position of going through... Read More Topics:
graduation ,
forward ,
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Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett, was published in 2001 , and would seem to have been influenced by September 11--except that it was written before that event. It is a study of hostages and terrorists, their differences and similarities. If your world is... Read More Topics:
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pecuniary--of or relating to moneyThe word of the day comes from the 2004 Advanced Placement literature tests where students were challenged by a Henry James passage from one of his short stories. A tutor interviews for a job because, "as yet one's... Read More Topics:
advanced placement ,
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This quotation from Taming of the Shrew might come to your mind as you realize that many schools, including George Mason University where I teach, have just announced a tuition increase of close to 10% for next year:O, I am undone, I am undone!... Read More Topics:
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