Monthly Archives: September 2017

For David Coleman, on the Occasion of Shakespeare’s 450th Birthday

Posted on September 27, 2017 by Bob Shepherd

Wrote this piece some time ago. Just getting around to posting it. I once read, in “The American Scholar,” I think, or perhaps it was in “Verbatim,” a tragic report on the paucity of dedicated swear words in classical Latin. … Continue reading →

Posted in Ed Reform, Teaching Literature and Writing | 6 Comments

Will Wonders Never Cease?

Posted on September 15, 2017 by Bob Shepherd

For Princesa Krystalina de Colombia y Japón Dreams of flying are part of the universal, archetypal, collective consciousness of our species. They harken back to some common ancestor that we share with monkeys and with the other great apes. A … Continue reading →

Posted in Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy, Religion | 2 Comments

Our Boadicea, Our Jeanne d’Arc, Is a 79-year-old Grandmother, an Existence Proof of the Stupidity of Ageism

Posted on September 4, 2017 by Bob Shepherd

On this Labor Day, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the Herculean labors of Diane Ravitch. Dr. Ravitch has for many years now been the most significant force for sanity in all of U.S. K-12 education. Day in … Continue reading →

Posted in Ed Reform, Uncategorized | 6 Comments

On the Pseudoscience of Strategies-Based Reading Comprehension Instruction, or What Some Current Comprehension Instruction Has in Common with Astrology

Posted on September 2, 2017 by Bob Shepherd

An Essay Touching upon a Few of the Many Reasons Why the Current Standards-and-Testing Approach Doesn’t Work in ELA NB: For all children, but especially for the one for whom learning to read is going to be difficult, early learning … Continue reading →

Posted in Ed Reform, Teaching Literature and Writing | 21 Comments