Ideas Workshop
It doesn’t take an extensive literature review or an exhaustive tour of programs to see that dual language immersion programs exponentially improve educational outcomes when implemented correctly… So why doesn’t every district in the nation turn to dual language immersion? Why doesn’t every University have a rich Middle Eastern Studies department? One could get the wrong idea.
ChezWhat? is an old site. I have been writing here now for 12 years. Most of what fills this space has been an exercise of writing as a personal endeavor. Gratitude, controversy, art or talking about things that have happened recently or long ago has been the realm of ChezWhat? But I am going to…
“they tell me” I am a Type 2 “Helper” with a close runner up of “Peacemaker” which would make my parents howl with laughter.
When a person writes in the same place for ten years to not ask “what am I doing here?” is unnatural. Perhaps this is what I have aspired to all this time. Maria Popova’s BrainPicking Finally a place where the purpose is not to market oneself, which seems like just the scratch of the surface…
I guess I was about 13 or so when the movie “The Year of Living Dangerously” came out. I watched it and at that point, I pretty much knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be a foreign correspondent, a journalist in another country. Well, since I foolishly believed people…
Published in 2005, long before Portlandia… If you have ever listened to Dandy Warhols or listened to Damali Ayo talk about Portland types, it’s clear that I am not alone in noticing Portland types are often a sort of..different. I say this with love, I am a Portlander and I work with Portland “types”. Recently…
Once upon a time, there was a teacher. This teacher was asked to do many, many things. In her enthusiasm, she often (too often) said “Of course!”. She learned eventually that she had to stop doing that. In one such instance, she ended up with a student who could be considered, at the stage in…
One of the great failings of the American education system, in our view, is that young people can graduate from university without any understanding of poverty at home or abroad. Study-abroad programs tend to consist of herds of students visiting Oxford or Florence or Paris. We believe that universities should make it a requirement that…
Because I teach high school, I see first hand struggles that students sometimes have when high school ends and the time to go to college begins. Senior year can be overwhelming, and it’s not even the beginning. Some youth transition with no big deal. Some already have their paths set out. And some are just…
I have been since I decided what I wanted to do, a language teacher. I didn’t end up here by mistake. The first place I went was Russia with Peace Corps. Peace Corps had in high (sarcastic) comedy brought all these “teachers” to one of the most educated countries on the planet to teach the…
When I started schooling Addy at home (only for a few months, she is a preschooler) I decided it needed to be fun. I started collecting up all the fun good music for kids in my collection. Recently my bro turned me on to this one. It is by a Japanese all girl band and…
In round about the end of 2009, our tidy little finances came smashing all apart. It didn’t take much, adjusting to less income, a minor catastrophe, unexpected large expenses, adjustments and other things that are part of life, still husband and I looked at our decimated pocketbook. Post car purchase, post minor home mess, we…
Curriculum Vita
Ideas Workshop
Ideas Workshop
Ideas Workshop
Life, Learning, and Language in a Grace-full World
mostly unedited Creative Writing and Poetry
