One of the skills I am teaching is interviewing skills. Over the Thanksgiving Holiday I had my students interview a family member about their family history. I believe I actually said wait for grandma to have a couple drinks and then interview her, tipsy grandmas spill the best stories Basically it becomes a collection of immigrant stories from Mexico which are very cool. One that comes to mind was a 1870s era stagecoach ride. What I found wonderful about the story is it survived so many generations. Oral histories are so fragile. But I digress.

 

As I was reading these and offering feedback I noticed a trend, the stories that my Pre-Ap students wrote were filled with rich details. At first I attributed that to those students having larger vocabularies to draw from and taking more time with the assignment. But then I began to contemplate nature versus nurture. Could it be that those students who wrote more elaborate stories were told more elaborate stories? Could it be that environment helped them to become better writers and students. It is also a dose of those parents generally can help their kids with homework more because they themselves understand the material and assignment.

 

Think about how helpful your parents are when you are doing something they did. Now think how helpful they are when they are doing something they have never done before. A kid being the first at something in a family is more special than I ever dreamed.

 

I also have become less sympathetic to these kids' plights. As I read their stories, and some of my students come from absolute poverty, I see ones that are working hard to be educated who are with a parent(s) who is/are trying their best to raise them right, while surrounded by the temptations and dangers that infiltrate poverty areas. I still have my liberal empathy, but I've stopped caring so much about where the kids are coming from and instead focused on where they are going.

One of the skills I am teaching is interviewing skills. Over the Thanksgiving Holiday I had my students interview a family member about their family history. I believe I actually said wait for grandma to have a couple drinks and then interview her, tipsy grandmas spill the best stories Basically it becomes a collection of immigrant stories from Mexico which are very cool. One that comes to mind was a 1870s era stagecoach ride. What I found wonderful about the story is it survived so many generations. Oral histories are so fragile. But I digress.

 

As I was reading these and offering feedback I noticed a trend, the stories that my Pre-Ap students wrote were filled with rich details. At first I attributed that to those students having larger vocabularies to draw from and taking more time with the assignment. But then I began to contemplate nature versus nurture. Could it be that those students who wrote more elaborate stories were told more elaborate stories? Could it be that environment helped them to become better writers and students. It is also a dose of those parents generally can help their kids with homework more because they themselves understand the material and assignment.

 

Think about how helpful your parents are when you are doing something they did. Now think how helpful they are when they are doing something they have never done before. A kid being the first at something in a family is more special than I ever dreamed.

 

I also have become less sympathetic to these kids' plights. As I read their stories, and some of my students come from absolute poverty, I see ones that are working hard to be educated who are with a parent(s) who is/are trying their best to raise them right, while surrounded by the temptations and dangers that infiltrate poverty areas. I still have my liberal empathy, but I've stopped caring so much about where the kids are coming from and instead focused on where they are going.

 

Check google

Make sure you teach the boys to not shake hands like a bunch of p*****s. A firm handshake is required if I'm hiring a man.

Make sure you teach the boys to not shake hands like a bunch of p*****s. A firm handshake is required if I'm hiring a man.

 

 

How should women shake?

...like a polaroid picture.

...like a polaroid picture.