A Year's Reading Challenge
Normally I write about some aspect of writing involving me over the week. This time I'm writing about reading.
Writers should read widely. Seeing how other authors handle subjects, interest their readers and different styles can help improve writing styles.
This year I plan to tackle "A Sense of History" one essay at a time. It is a book of essays on American history.
Everyone took American history when I was in school. They still do. But that doesn't mean we learn much history.
When I was teaching science, my students asked me one day why I never gave them a day off. Strictly speaking I did, the last day of each semester.
This is what I explained: Missouri required them to attend my class 178 days a year. Out of that 178, two ended semesters, ten dropped for testing, six dropped for semester tests, six were half days. Assuming that 178 days was 178 hours [periods are usually less than an hour], that left me 154 hours to teach science.
The state standards wanted me to cover 20 topic areas. I had to cover a topic every 7 days.Each unit of science included reading, classwork, labs and a test.
My students never again wondered why we worked every day. And, when they got to college, they were ready to tackle the college science classes.
History has a similar challenge as do all subjects. So, I don't know a lot of history, only bits and pieces. I would like to know more.
This 800 pages + book covers so much American history I am barely familiar with. So this book will come up on my reading list and will sit there for a long time. But I hope to know some history by the end of the year.
Writers should read widely. Seeing how other authors handle subjects, interest their readers and different styles can help improve writing styles.
This year I plan to tackle "A Sense of History" one essay at a time. It is a book of essays on American history.
Everyone took American history when I was in school. They still do. But that doesn't mean we learn much history.
When I was teaching science, my students asked me one day why I never gave them a day off. Strictly speaking I did, the last day of each semester.
This is what I explained: Missouri required them to attend my class 178 days a year. Out of that 178, two ended semesters, ten dropped for testing, six dropped for semester tests, six were half days. Assuming that 178 days was 178 hours [periods are usually less than an hour], that left me 154 hours to teach science.
The state standards wanted me to cover 20 topic areas. I had to cover a topic every 7 days.Each unit of science included reading, classwork, labs and a test.
My students never again wondered why we worked every day. And, when they got to college, they were ready to tackle the college science classes.
History has a similar challenge as do all subjects. So, I don't know a lot of history, only bits and pieces. I would like to know more.
This 800 pages + book covers so much American history I am barely familiar with. So this book will come up on my reading list and will sit there for a long time. But I hope to know some history by the end of the year.
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