Can you believe I'm posting three times in one day? How lucky are you!
ESPN.com pisses me off. What is the f'ing deal with their "insider" crap? You put ads on your site - which is in itself and ad for your television station, which is also not free. So why the hell do I have to subscribe to ESPN Insider to read half the crap on the website?
The reason I'm so upset is this: I'm working on revising a lesson plan I created for my class on teaching writing. Since part of the plan is to go through an article in class and create an outline, I wanted to include an actual article and a sample of what the end-product would be.
When choosing random things for students to read, you have to be careful. You want something that makes a point but isn't too political, because you don't want to offend anyone (or their parents). You want something with broad appeal, because students learn better when they're engaged with the topic at hand. Even though this isn't something they're reading to be tested on - they need the experience of creating an outline, not knowledge of whatever it is they're reading - you have to be careful.
Personally, I like to choose things relating to baseball. I love baseball, it is fairly politically neutral, something nearly every American child is fairly familiar with and, being that it is popular in Latin America and most of Asia (or at least China and Japan) any foreign students you might have will also have some background knowledge of the subject. Plus, if they don't, they still won't have too hard a time with the assignment.
Anyway. I wanted to use a baseball article. Specifically, I wanted to use an article written by Jayson Stark for ESPN back in the 2005 post-season, when the White Sox won the World Series. Stark is an excellent writer. He turns baseball into poetry and he did an excellent job writing about the Sox and what the win meant to Chicago. I can't remember what the specific article I'm thinking of was called, but I remember its brilliance. Plus, at the time, it was one of the few articles that was free. Stark is, I'm assuming, one of ESPN's best writers (I don't care about ... well, any other sport, so I'm really only familiar with baseball writers. They might have some awesome guy (or lady) writing about basketball. I wouldn't know). Anyway, most of Stark's articles are part of the "insider" and you can't read them without a subscription.
But this one wasn't part of the insider, because I read it.
However, when I tried to find it today I discovered that ALL of Stark's archives, and probably all of ESPN's archives, are only available to "insiders." Why? What the fuck is the point? Why can't I go read that article again?
Newspapers are no better - if it has been out for more than two weeks or so, you have to buy the article. HOWEVER, that sort of makes sense since a paper costs $0.50. Plus, you can buy just whatever article you want. ESPN doesn't do that.
So, now I'm a little stuck. I don't yet have all of my books unpacked (I don't have much shelf space in my office, so I don't know where I would put them if I did have them out. I need an essay or article that would interest high-schoolers, not offend them or their parents and not assume any background knowledge that they might not have.
Showing posts with label Teaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teaching. Show all posts
Friday, March 02, 2007
Monday, January 29, 2007
Inspired by Television - and a Weekend Recap
It has been an interesting weekend. Actually, just Sunday was very interesting. Saturday, I was too distracted with the Illinois Certification process. I took the Basic Skills Test at Harper College - the first step towards becoming a teacher. I had to be at the testing center at 7:30 am, which wasn't too bad, since I'm about 20 minutes away from Harper college. However, this is an important test and they said if you show up after 7:30, there's a chance they wouldn't let you in. I had to pick up some #2 pencils before I got there, so I got up early. 5:45. In. The. Morning. This was not entirely by choice. I mean, I set the alarm and stuff, but I almost didn't need it. Whenever I HAVE to be somewhere very early in the morning, I worry so much about oversleeping that I basically don't sleep at all. So, I was really fast after I woke up, decided not to make breakfast and instead grabbed a granola bar. I ended up leaving my house at about five after six. By the time I went to Walgreens and got on the road, it was about 6:15. I decided to treat myself to an Egg McMuffin (no cheese) and coffee from McDonald's. I got to Harper at about 6:40, and ate in my car. As I pulled in, I totally thought I'd be the first person there. I was not. There were at least three other people sitting in their cars. Around 7, I went to the school where I ran into a sign informing me that they would not be opening the doors until about 7:20.
7:20.
That's ten minutes before the time they said we would not be allowed in to take the test. It's January and kind of cold outside. So, you have a group of people who have to take this test (or some other very important test, related to teaching). If you were at Harper on Saturday, it was either to be able to perform your chosen profession or to move forward in your career. And these are teachers, people who tend to follow the rules and come prepared. By 7:05, there were 25 people standing outside in the cold. By 7:10, there were at least forty. I'm not exaggerating either. I was standing out in the cold, I didn't have much to do, so I counted. It was ridiculous.
Anyway, so that was my Saturday. I was done with the test around 11:30, but the day was sort of wasted. Three and a half hours of tests involving scantrons wear a girl out.
So, Sunday.
Sunday started well. Hank let me sleep in. I got to eat breakfast in my pj's - a luxury I rarely get anymore because Hank generally needs a walk before I eat breakfast. I decided to take a shower before Mr and I took Hank for his morning walk. I shower, Mr does some laundry. He comes up from the basement and sees water. In the living room. Coming from the ceiling.
When we first saw the house, we saw the water mark in the living room ceiling, under the tub. We were assured that it was old damage, that the problem had been solved when the previous owner (before the people we bought it from) remodeled the bathroom. But, here we were, watching water pour into our previously dry living room.
Yikes.
So, I'm home. It's Monday morning at 8am and I should be at work, but instead I'm waiting for the plumber. Thankfully, Plumber should be here in about half an hour so I might be able to get in to work.
Hopefully it won't be a big problem to solve. On the upside, Mr has now agreed to remodel the bathroom.
So, TV. As I was sitting here, waiting for the call from Roto-Rooter, I was watching the Today Show. Bill Gates was on, touting Windows Vista. Now, I like Meredith Viera. I think she's pretty good and generally avoids Katie Couric's interview approach, where she seemed to know nothing about anything. However. I can't stand when people are all "Oh, I don't understand computers. It's a big mystery." Which she did. She also asked if you had to buy a new computer to get the new operating system. Gah. You're an idiot.
She asked Bill Gates about Apple's competition, and how much of a threat they are, or if Vista is a response to Apple's growing popularity. First of all, it has been a while since Microsoft released Windows XP. It's time for a totally upgraded system. Secondly, Apple is making huge strides outside of the personal computer market. I use a MacBook and I love it. But I'm in the minority. Most people own Microsoft computers. However, Gates said that 90% of the market (I don't know if that's in the US or world-wide) uses Microsoft. That seems high to me. I know they're the overwhelming majority, but I'm surprised to hear 90%. I know a lot of people with Macs.
Meredith ended the interview by asking Gates if he'd help her install it. Because she's not very good with that "stuff." Come on. Have you ever installed something from Microsoft? You put in the disc and the "wizard" walks you through the process. You don't need to do anything. He said to give him a call if she had any trouble.
7:20.
That's ten minutes before the time they said we would not be allowed in to take the test. It's January and kind of cold outside. So, you have a group of people who have to take this test (or some other very important test, related to teaching). If you were at Harper on Saturday, it was either to be able to perform your chosen profession or to move forward in your career. And these are teachers, people who tend to follow the rules and come prepared. By 7:05, there were 25 people standing outside in the cold. By 7:10, there were at least forty. I'm not exaggerating either. I was standing out in the cold, I didn't have much to do, so I counted. It was ridiculous.
Anyway, so that was my Saturday. I was done with the test around 11:30, but the day was sort of wasted. Three and a half hours of tests involving scantrons wear a girl out.
So, Sunday.
Sunday started well. Hank let me sleep in. I got to eat breakfast in my pj's - a luxury I rarely get anymore because Hank generally needs a walk before I eat breakfast. I decided to take a shower before Mr and I took Hank for his morning walk. I shower, Mr does some laundry. He comes up from the basement and sees water. In the living room. Coming from the ceiling.
When we first saw the house, we saw the water mark in the living room ceiling, under the tub. We were assured that it was old damage, that the problem had been solved when the previous owner (before the people we bought it from) remodeled the bathroom. But, here we were, watching water pour into our previously dry living room.
Yikes.
So, I'm home. It's Monday morning at 8am and I should be at work, but instead I'm waiting for the plumber. Thankfully, Plumber should be here in about half an hour so I might be able to get in to work.
Hopefully it won't be a big problem to solve. On the upside, Mr has now agreed to remodel the bathroom.
So, TV. As I was sitting here, waiting for the call from Roto-Rooter, I was watching the Today Show. Bill Gates was on, touting Windows Vista. Now, I like Meredith Viera. I think she's pretty good and generally avoids Katie Couric's interview approach, where she seemed to know nothing about anything. However. I can't stand when people are all "Oh, I don't understand computers. It's a big mystery." Which she did. She also asked if you had to buy a new computer to get the new operating system. Gah. You're an idiot.
She asked Bill Gates about Apple's competition, and how much of a threat they are, or if Vista is a response to Apple's growing popularity. First of all, it has been a while since Microsoft released Windows XP. It's time for a totally upgraded system. Secondly, Apple is making huge strides outside of the personal computer market. I use a MacBook and I love it. But I'm in the minority. Most people own Microsoft computers. However, Gates said that 90% of the market (I don't know if that's in the US or world-wide) uses Microsoft. That seems high to me. I know they're the overwhelming majority, but I'm surprised to hear 90%. I know a lot of people with Macs.
Meredith ended the interview by asking Gates if he'd help her install it. Because she's not very good with that "stuff." Come on. Have you ever installed something from Microsoft? You put in the disc and the "wizard" walks you through the process. You don't need to do anything. He said to give him a call if she had any trouble.
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