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When People Reach Out and Remind You of the Advice You’ve Given? Blessed.
Yesterday, I received an email from a former student of mine. She said she is an avid reader of my blog and encouraged me to keep on going having read one of my posts I wrote about needing a break from writing. She’s clever, this one. She asked if I remembered advice I had given in class, and stated that she remembered me offering it to students on one pretty, spring day. The advice I had given was this: to step away sometimes from things we are working on and come back to them with fresh perspectives. Yes, I do remember saying that. It’s one of my mantras for writing.…
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The Case for Teaching: Inspiring Students AND Inspired by Students
It’s Sunday morning, and I’m sitting on my porch writing this post and looking at this glorious day sipping my cup of coffee from my Yeti (which keeps it INCREDIBLY hot, let me just say). In a little while, my daughter and I will head to my parents’ house and sit by their pool and spend time with my brother and his family who are visiting. My son and husband will go play golf–a ritual they’ve tried to do on one day of the weekend. I love that they do this, as my son has one year left of high school before he enters college. I love my summers; they…
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7 Meaningful Takeaways from 2016
Hello Friends, Readers, and Fellow Bloggers, It’s hard to believe it’s that time of the year again—a time to reflect on the past year and see if there were any takeaways and lessons learned from the last 365 days. In my college classes, I always have students write a final reflection that permits them the opportunity to critically analyze what they have learned over the course of the semester. I figured I’d do the same about what I’ve learned in 2016. #1: Your Health Is Everything This past summer, I made a commitment to becoming healthier all around. This included diet, exercise, and my own personal health. Setting these goals…
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Sharing Something Sweet: A Reward That Comes From Teaching
Yesterday, I popped onto my Instagram feed to take a peek at what was going on when I came across this: The Instagram post was written by a former student who was also one of the co-presidents of our public relations club that I advise and someone I mentored during her college years. During that time and afterwards, we became friends. I am always so touched when someone takes the time to write something heartwarming like this. It’s the best reward one can get from being a teacher. I am full of gratitude, and it brought a tear to my eye. It means the world to me. Thank you so…
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Let Scrooge In This Holiday Season
I’m crossing my fingers that my feature writing students will heed my advice and read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. We talked about the book’s timeless appeal: a ghost story wrapped up in the idea of redemption at the holidays. When you study writing, it’s important to study all writers. Stephen King, in his book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, strongly urges writers to read other writers. It’s the only way we learn technique, garner ideas, and think about things in new and exciting ways. ‘Tis the season, I say. Plus, we could all use a little reminder of the importance of giving and caring and loving…
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Why I Can’t See “Titanic” in 3D
Dear Readers, So it’s here: “Titanic” in 3D. It’s been 15 years since we’ve seen the film on the big screen, and now it’s back as that mogul James Cameron tries to lure film buffs to return to theatres to see it in a new way. The James Cameron 3D way. I’ve discussed “Titanic” with many of my friends and students. It typically goes like this. “Professor Verni, don’t you want to see ‘Titanic’ in 3D?” “No.” “Why not?” they ask. “You’re a romantic. It’s one of the great love stories in the movies.” This is certainly true, but apparently, they don’t know me well enough to understand how I…
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Encouraging the Longer Reads: An Educator’s Dilemma
Here’s a typical day in either my magazine writing or feature writing class. It usually goes something like this: Me: “So, today your assignment is to read a classic and masterful example of profile writing as we prepare to write our own profile pieces. The article is called “Frank Sinatra Has A Cold” and was written by Gay Talese in 1966. The article ran in Esquire magazine and is still regarded as one of the finest profile pieces ever written.” http://www.esquire.com/features/ESQ1003-OCT_SINATRA_rev_ Then, the students usually look at the length of the piece and say things like… “Wow. This is a L-O-N-G piece.” “How many pages is this? It’s kinda long,…
