Hi, I’m Greig — welcome! Here you’ll find sharp writing, creative ideas, and standout resources for teaching, thinking, making, and dreaming in the middle and high school ELA and Humanities classroom (Grades 6–12).
19.7.18
Throwback Thursday: Greig is Poolside Wearing Floaties (Sometime in the Late 1980s)
Throwback Thursday: I'm pretty sure this photograph was taken in Pensacola, Florida (or maybe it's Destin). I remember this vacation well because as you can see, I'm learning to swim. I can still feel the chafing effect of the floaties on my skin - mixed with the chlorinated water. Also, that bag of Ruffles ® Sour Cream & Onion potato chips were all mine!
If you look closely, someone's hands (maybe mom’s hands) have inserted itself into the photograph. I'm thinking that's the hand that feeds you; or, someone is requesting that I relinquish my bag of potato chips.
Labels:
Journal & Rants,
photograph,
summer,
swimming,
Throwback Thursday

13.7.18
Review of Frederick Wiseman's "High School" (1969) and Jean-François Caissy's La Marche à Suivre (2014)
I am a teacher, so I am familiar with the strained relationship students sometimes have with authority. And most teachers — especially the best ones — are in tune with this tension between youth and adult, between power and submission, obedience and freedom. However, taking a psychological view, High School is also an exciting time when teenagers are becoming self-reflective, and the adults in the room have a front-row seat to their pupils' ongoing development. I use the word becoming on purpose. Adolescence is a messy progress.
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La Marche à Suivre (2014) |
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High School (1969) |
Labels:
education,
high school,
movies,
Movies & TV,
review,
sociology

12.7.18
Throwback Thursday: My Mother at the Anubis Carnival Ball in New Orleans (Circa the 1970s)
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Mom at the Anubis Ball in New Orleans, Louisiana (circa 1970s) |
A few Thursdays ago, I posted a Throwback photograph of my maternal great-grandmother at the Anubis Carnival Ball in New Orleans. As a successor to that post, here is a photograph of my beautiful mother Pamela Roselli. She was a maid escort in the ball. The photograph is circa the 1970s - I'd say. As far as I can tell from my research, the Krewe of Anubis was a non-parading krewe - which basically means they did not have a parade during the Mardi Gras season. The Krewe was originally established by local businessmen in the pharmaceutical industry. I don't think Anubis is still functioning as a Krewe today. Does anyone in my family have an exact date on this photograph? I'd love to add it to my family history files.
Labels:
carnival,
family,
Family History,
mardi gras,
mother,
photography,
Throwback Thursday

10.7.18
Attributed Quotation: Abraham Lincoln on Happiness
"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
- Abraham Lincoln, American elected head of state in the 1860s
N.B. This quote is apparently misattributed to Lincoln, according to the website Mental Floss. The quote gained traction because in 1914, a guy named Frank Crane wrote a newspaper article that attributed the quote to the President.
Image Source: Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.
Labels:
Abraham Lincoln,
Books & Literature,
happiness,
quotation,
quote

6.7.18
Advice on Friendship from Charlotte's Web
“The quickest way to spoil a friendship is to wake somebody up in the morning before he is ready.”
- Charlotte, from Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
Labels:
Books & Literature,
funny,
novel,
quotation,
quote

4.7.18
The American Holiday The Fourth of July (Alternatively, Independence Day)
Mountain Laurel (Kalmia Latifolia) I found on a hiking trail in the Catskills. |
***
- It is hot, and humid in New York City. I hope you have air-conditioning - if not, get yourself to a New York City cooling center.
- I am thinking of setting off some fireworks in the middle of the street and yelling, "I am from Louisiana!"
- Nationalism is deeply taught in this country so I find myself humming patriotic tunes and feeling nostalgic about the colors red, white, and blue.
- Last year, I did stake out a spot in Sunset Park with my buddy Anthony Charles to watch the Macy's Fireworks display.
- This year, supposedly, I could go to Long Island City - but I am thinking of just staying home and watching BBC adaptations of Terry Pratchett novels.
Labels:
comments,
fourth of july,
funny,
independence day,
Journal & Rants,
july,
list

28.6.18
Throwback Thursday: My Maternal Great-Grandmother Albertine Frank
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Albertine Margaret Frank Killman (1889 - 1980) |
Albertine Margaret Frank Killman is my maternal great-grandmother who died in August of 1980 when I was only 8 months old. Did we meet? I'm not sure. She knew how to fry frog legs. She had a son, Freddie, who drowned in Lake Pontchartrain when he was 13 years old. I knew her children, Ida, and Hanky, well, because they were my great aunt and uncle. I didn't know Dot, her other daughter (and my grandmother), because she died of congenital heart failure decades before I was born.
Albertine's parents, Friedrich and Margaret Burkhardt were born in Frankfurt, Germany in the 1850s. They emigrated from Germany and Albertine was born in New Orleans in 1889. When she married my grandfather Francis Killman, they lived in Gentilly, which is a neighborhood of New Orleans. When my mom was born, she and her siblings often spent time at Albertine's house.
Anyway. I wonder what Grandma is up to in this photograph? Is she going to a wedding or to a Mardi Gras Ball? My guess is that she is going to the ball for the Krewe of Anubis (which I don't think runs anymore).
Labels:
burkhardt,
family,
Family History,
frank,
genealogy,
grandparents,
killman,
perronne,
Throwback Thursday

25.6.18
Planespotting at the Planeview Park in Queens
From a bench in Planeview Park spectators watch commercial jets take place and land at La Guardia Airport in Queens.
***

Labels:
commercial jet,
Journal & Rants,
new york city,
park,
photography,
Queens,
Recreation

21.6.18
Everyone Should Be Welcome in This Country
Labels:
public library,
quotes,
Reposts

15.6.18
Teaching My Non-English Speaking Students English
Teaching English to language learners is a challenging job; but, I do it every school day after I drink my first cup of coffee and stand slave to the copy machine.
I start each workday with a cup of coffee. I check work e-mail. Then I go to my Google Drive and open up my lesson plan files for the day and mark what I need to photocopy at work. I don't own a printer. So I usually just cross my fingers that the printers at school will spill out glorious spreads of worksheets for me. It's a daily prayer to the teacher gods. Athena, hear me. I don't have a homeroom so I use that time before first period class to staple, collate, or just talk the talk with colleagues. I teach six class periods a day. But I don't have a traditional teaching schedule. I teach my classes to a cohort of eight to twelve kids from mainland China. They all speak either Mandarin or Cantonese. That's not entirely true though because I have a kid from Thailand and I've taught kids from Vietnam, and South Korea. My students are fun to teach but it's exhausting work because we are with each other for most of the day. The kids push out for lunch and their math class - and for the rest of the scholastic schedule, they're parlaying in English with me. Or it is usually English. Sometimes I learn a few Mandarin or Cantonese words.
That's how I learned the word for "dumbass" in Mandarin Chinese is 傻逼. But Google Translate tells me that it simply means "silly." I think something is lost in translation because one kid says this word all the time. It's annoying. It's like having that kid in your class who always mutters not-so-slightly under his breath "[expletive] this shit." At least that is how it feels. Sometimes the Mandarin teacher will push-in and hang out. She told me the word has multiple meanings. So there. I like my job because I've always loved playing with language and meaning. It's fun getting the kids to play the game. To get them to see how language works. To engage them. I want my kids to feel confident and to be OK making mistakes. So sometimes I'll take out the bilingual dictionary and practice pronouncing Mandarin. It's what's humorous. I am mostly frantic during the school day because I am always thinking twelve steps ahead. I have lots of ideas and not a lot of resources to bring 'em to life. I don't use textbooks but that's to my advantage. The hardest class to teach is social studies. The easiest class is the speaking class. I hate teaching grammar. And even though I love to write I'm not the best writing teacher. So that leaves me with my greatest strength: I'm really good at classroom discussion. When my kids take turns talking in English about fun and interesting topics I'm so proud of them because it ain't easy to parlay in a language that ain't your own. Now that it's May I'm in reflection mode about the year. I think we done did good. And I'm super excited about Summer. Of course. But I wonder how next year will flow. It's important for me to feel successful. On Friday I had a meeting about goals for next year. And when I think of next year one thing I want more than anything is for my students to go to a cool museum, write some cool sentences, and feel good about learning in English. Go us.
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Word Walls are great for
English Language Learners
|
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A bilingual phrasebook in Mandarin and English |
Labels:
English,
English language learners,
ESL,
high school,
instruction,
memoir,
students,
Teaching & Education

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