Rereading Moffett – Month One

While I haven’t posted in my long off-again-on-again blog in some time, this seemed good inspiration for chronicling a journey.

Photo: James MoffettLast week, I entered a reading group focused on the work of the late English teaching giant James Moffett with a bunch of National Writing Project colleagues. When I first heard the group was being created I immediately jumped in and couldn’t wait to get started.

Moffett is one of those foundational figures of the early Writing Project. It took me years to glean just how significant his contributions have been to the field of K-12 English teaching. At first, he was just a name that wasn’t mentioned on the mouths of experienced NWP folks. As often is the case, my interest piqued, I started to dig and read a little.

Over time I came to realize just how much of my own thinking about teaching English and his overlapped. It has always felt like the more I read his work the more I nod and think to myself, “Why don’t more people I know and work with realize some of this stuff?” Although to be fair, that is, in part, what has always drawn me back to the writing project. It is always the people. Even opening the virtual session to see the number of familiar faces was an emphatic affirmation.

A few years ago, I started a deeper dive into Moffett while working on a fellowship I was doing in writing instruction. However, a fair amount of his work has fallen out of print and combined with the time it took to secure some of the books and the pressures of deadlines ultimately stalled the depth of the dive. I certainly was able to make use of some of it, but I finished the project feeling slightly unsatisfied with my exploration of Moffett.

In the interim, I picked up some of those hard to find volumes but haven’t had the time to dedicate to them as I would like. Despite my desire to know more, I sometimes need a push to restart the kind of in-depth study that I had hoped. This group looks like just the motivation I needed to reopen the exploration. Already it has been an invitation to that deeper dive I started but went unfinished a few years ago.

Even before the first meeting, I began pouring over the selection of articles for the second session. My curiosity and desire reignited almost instantly.

Best of all, this opportunity already feels even better. Reading and discussing the work in a community of like-minded individuals with an array of deeper knowledge and experience with Moffett and his works is a boon that can only eclipse any individual passion project of my own. There are even members of the group who knew the man personally and worked with him some capacity while he was alive, which is all the more exciting.

More on My Publication The Pressures of Teaching

As I mentioned previously, my first major published essay, in the book The Pressures of Teaching, has been getting a lot of renewed promotion of late. It is available for purchase in a store or online, and there is even a preview copy available (my chapter not available in preview). In the last post, I mentioned that the nice folks at Kaplan Publishing have been giving away free ebook downloads for a limited time, which has now been extended through January 17. It is one of a number of free books available. So anyone with a Nook, Kindle, iPad, or eReader can get a free copy.

Additionally, last week the Maureen Picard Robins (editor), Bryan Ripley Crandall,  Bruce Green, and I all recorded a program for NWP Radio that will be released tomorrow, January 13. It was great fun and it is always delightful to chat with host and co-director of the National Writing Project Elyse Eidman-Aadahl. NWP Radio is a podcast program, providing information and resources to leaders of National Writing Project sites. Many of the authors in the book are fellow NWPers, including all that appeared on the program: Robins (NYC) Crandall (originallyLouisville), Green (originally Bay Area), and me (Boston).

So tune in and have a listen and let me know what you think.

Reflecting at Year’s End

With the holidays fast arriving, I have been thinking back on this past year with some amazement. Ali’s Christmas letter always runs down the best hits and reading it before she began sending out cards spurred the thinking.

I suppose it is sign of age, but it does seem like this year went faster than normal. Of course the calendar year does run at odds with the academic year which might also have something to do with it. Being a teacher, the beginning of school through Christmas often seems a bit of a blur. Also, this was a World Cup year, which, for me, has always seemed to make the end of the school year longer than it should be with three first-round matches a day during school’s final weeks and then the summer shorter as the matches run into early July. Regardless, time does seem to be speeding up on me or it could just be that my son is now speeding up on me, making everything else seem to be moving faster. I also keep noticing a lot more gray hair when I get a haircut. That might be contributing too.

I have definitely seemed to travel more this year than normal. With various Writing Project activities, I have been all over Massachusetts and Connecticut. I spent some time up the Hudson from New York City, as well as a recent trip to Orlando. Apart from that, we all took a trip back home to Chicago so Ali and I could attend our twentieth high school reunion. I suppose it is at this point where anyone starts to feel a little bit older. As the impending reunion came more into sight a few years ago, I did have to force myself to simply stop thinking that I wasn’t in high school that long ago, let alone saying something like that to my students. I mean, how ridiculous would that have sounded. I had been out of high school longer than any of them had even been alive!

I realized that I hadn’t really mentioned a lot about this year finally seeing my first piece actually published in a real book that anyone could buy in a store or online. It is a funny thing seeing your writing printed in what most people see as legitimate publication. There is a definite sense of accomplishment. I didn’t mention it as much once the book was finally available, probably because it seemed like it took an eternity. Still, it was cool to receive a small check for writing and a couple of free copies of the text this fall. I even had an acquaintance discover the book and my piece all on their own. It was a truly pleasant surprise when he congratulated me out of the blue and had a copy of the book with him. It was the first time I had seen the actual thing.

Overall, getting something published like that was a great feeling I only wish that they would have got the spelling of my last name right. Seeing my my last name misspelled has become a pretty commonplace experience in my life. Apart from the sound not readily giving the spelling away, I am convinced that the proximity of the “A” and “S” keys on a keyboard further increase the chance of error. Still seeing it misspelled in print gave the goof a kind of permanence that is a bit disheartening. I guess I will just have to write enough more material to make sure that no one is confused about who I am or how you spell my name.

Photo: Kids with Santa

The Santa Scare

Apart from all that, Christmas is just around the corner. It is really time to put up the tree, since we’ve been running a little late on that, and the house will soon smell like cookies, lots of cookies. That smell alone makes me happy, and I am fairly certain the kids are rather fond of it too. This year marked the first real chance for the two of them to get their picture with Santa, always a dangerous proposition with the the young ones. For Fritz terror clearly is now officially part of the Christmas experience. Amazing to me is that my bashful daughter is in the picture at all, since as she puts it, “I am not always talkable to mans and ladies.” Nevertheless, it will prove to be a vintage shot.

So here’s hoping for  Happy Holidays to all.