Thanks, Mr. Smagorinsky
Another great takedown over at Valerie's column. Today's author is Pete Smagorinsky, who was one of my teachers early in his career. The guy was awesome; he led with humor and followed up with more. I was not yet a writer at that point in my life, but some of the comments he wrote in the margins of my papers made me feel like I had something worth saying.
Later on in my own career, I became the king of snarky marginalia, and I found that it really engaged kids of all ability levels. If there was one thing that helped me teach kids how to write, it was the idea that you should give them a feeling that their words and ideas were worth responding to, at length.
Smagorinsky once told a joke in class-- it was based on a homophone--- and I swear to Jebus I've thought about
Later on in my own career, I became the king of snarky marginalia, and I found that it really engaged kids of all ability levels. If there was one thing that helped me teach kids how to write, it was the idea that you should give them a feeling that their words and ideas were worth responding to, at length.
Smagorinsky once told a joke in class-- it was based on a homophone--- and I swear to Jebus I've thought about
