The Polliwog Journal

This was the question (paraphrased):
What assessment will you use to help you choose materials for your class?
When I heard it, I wondered how I would answer it. I also wondered what the question implied.
I think the intention of the question was to get a new teacher candidate to think about how to assess varying reading [...]

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AP students are often asked to analyze the diction of a passage. Diction means to some degree the author’s style, such as formal diction, but more technically diction means the author’s choice of words. I sometimes have students highlight words and phrases that have a similar tone or meaning. They may use more than one [...]

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You never know when you’ll find yourself out there on the Web, something I tell my CyberEnglish students all the time. I tell them that creating content on the Web means that your real audience is potentially anyone. I also say that not too many people, probably, will be interested in their essays on To [...]

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I got an IPod for Christmas and I love it. With 30 gigs, I know I could put more songs on it than I own, but that doesn’t matter. I have pictures there, too. And podcasts. About a month ago I subscribed to Stanford’s Philosophy Talk. Until today I had not listened. Until today.
Being the [...]

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