Tag Archives: pedagogy

Pour Me a Draft of Heartsick with a Shot of Hope

Posted on November 5, 2024 by JMN

“For every Karen we lose, there’s a Julio and a Jamal ready to sign up for the MAGA movement.”  (Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida) I knew an English professor who remarked during the season of final exams that it was … Continue reading →

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Teacher Gets Schooled

Posted on April 6, 2023 by JMN

I taught in a country high school in deep rural Texas. I was rubbish at it for 9 out of 10 years — mine is the discredit, I make no excuses. Teaching still gives me bad dreams: A roomful of … Continue reading →

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‘We Were Limpid, So We Were Not Turbid’

Posted on December 5, 2022 by JMN

A verse of classical Arabic can be tightly packed. Besides immersion in grammar, what’s most useful to this student of the language is a highly Congruent (1) translation. It amounts to what’s called a “trot,” and is the least likely … Continue reading →

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(Not) Learning to Read

Posted on September 4, 2022 by JMN

The most important thing schools can do is teach children how to read. If you can read, you can learn anything. If you can’t, almost everything in school is difficult. Word problems. Test directions. Biology homework. Everything comes back to … Continue reading →

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Crear con arcilla – Las Creaciones Artísticas

Posted on June 14, 2021 by JMN

Partiendo de un dibujo sobre un plano de arcilla, se pueden crear formas plásticas: con el bajo y el altorrelieve las figuras emergen, se separan del… Crear con arcilla – Las Creaciones Artísticas Alba, me encanta el objeto y la … Continue reading →

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‘El Borracho’ de Joaquín Sorolla

Posted on March 24, 2021 by JMN

“As if in preparation, with this deeply human painting he returned to his engagement with the Spanish peasant and, perhaps as important, to making brilliant use once more of the indispensable Spanish colour – black.” (Mark Brown, “National Gallery buys … Continue reading →

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‘Bad Boy’ Harpsichordist

Posted on March 10, 2021 by JMN

Scott Ross moved to France when he was 12 years old. He studied harpsichord and organ at the Paris and Nice Conservatories, and in 1971 won the Bruges International Competition, in Belgium. Five years before dying of AIDS in 1982 … Continue reading →

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Ether, Either, Eater

Posted on February 8, 2021 by JMN

I’ve had a unique opportunity to parley with a friend over how the intervocalic “d” sounds in Spanish word endings such as “-ado,” “-edo,” “-ido,” “-odo,” and “-udo.” English-speaking students of Spanish will tend to say such endings with the … Continue reading →

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Language and Music

Posted on December 25, 2020 by JMN

“It takes a lifetime to learn shakuhachi. The earlier you start, the longer it takes.”(Japanese saying quoted by Zac Zinger on Adam Neely’s podcast. The shakuhachi is a bamboo flute.) I learned Spanish because I had to. From puberty forward … Continue reading →

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Balanced Learning

Posted on February 17, 2020 by JMN

The “science of reading” approach is based on phonics, which sounds out the letters of words: Bit. Buh! Ih! Tuh! The “balanced literacy” approach believes “exposing students to the likes of Dr. Seuss and Maya Angelou is more important than … Continue reading →

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