What the Best College Teachers Do

From http://kprichardson.wordpress.com/2008/12/05/what-the-best-college-teachers-do-epilogue/

What the Best College Teachers Do by Ken Bain

Epilogue: What can we learn from them?

1. Part of being a good teacher is knowing that you always have something new to learn–not so much about teaching techniques but about these particular students at this particular time and their particular sets of aspirations, confusions, misconceptions, and ignorance.

Good teaching is not just a matter of technique. The best teaching is often both and intellectual creation and a performing art.

Omar Speaks

From The Wire

Omar Little (Michael Kenneth Wiliams):

I’ll do what I can to help y’all. But, the game’s out there, and it’s play or get played. That simple.
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Ayo, lesson here, Bey. You come at the king, you best not miss.

The Cruel Motion of History

From E. Ethelbert Miller’s blog

“This is a reminder that until we focus on the folks at the bottom of our society – we won’t experience the change we need to see.

Right now a few blocks from the White House are a legion of homeless black men. I’m certain I could find a few wearing something that has Obama’s name. It might be a shirt, hat or just a button. These folks holding onto the last of their dignity seem to be grasping for the hem of Jesus. Even if Obama wins the election in November, I’m certain these homeless black men will still be homeless. Why? Because they are invisible. They are not the middle class. They are the poor. They are folks with disabilities. They are people with substance abuse problems. They are people who suffer from mental illness. They are my brothers. And no one speaks for them.

Yes, they are happy that Obama has won the nomination. They are happy for the moment – because they live from moment to moment. Their dreams have vanish – just like their homes and jobs. The last thing to vanish has been themselves. Even Ellison has no narrative for them. The motion of history can be cruel. It moves forward leaving so many of us behind. For many of us – even the air is gone.”

Read the full post at E-Notes:

Read Ethelbert’s poetry at his website

Become the Person

From Bobbie Barrett (Melinda McGraw) on AMC’s Mad Men “The New Girl”

“Pick a job you want, then become the person who does it.”

So brilliantly simple, isn’t it? But what courage it takes.

Where I Come From–Righteous Kill

From Righteous Kill

Rooster (Al Pacino): Where I come from, it was either the gun and the badge or the hardhat and the hammer.”

Politicians, Ugly Buildings and Whores

From Chinatown

Noah Cross (John Huston):”‘Course I’m respectable. I’m old. Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.”

If You Don’t Live It, It Won’t Come Out of Your Horn

From Charlie Parker

Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn. They teach you there’s a boundary line to music. But, man, there’s no boundary line to art.

One Vile Task

From Deadwood

Al Swearengen (Ian McShane):

In life you have to do a lot of things you don’t fucking want to do. Many times, that’s what the fuck life is… one vile fucking task after another.

A New Kind of Clown

From To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

“I think I’ll be a clown when I get grown,” said Dill. “Yes, sir, a clown…. There ain’t one thing in this world I can do about folks except laugh, so I’m gonna join the circus and laugh my head off.”

“You got it backwards, Dill,” said Jem. “Clowns are sad, it’s folks that laugh at them.”

“Well, I’m gonna be a new kind of clown. I’m gonna stand in the middle of the ring and laugh at the folks.”

The Art of Self-Possession

From The Art of War by Sun Tzu

Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory:

He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.
He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.
He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.
He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.
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Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat, how much more no calculation at all!
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Generals who know all possible adaptations to take advantage of the ground know how to use military forces. If generals do not know how to adapt advantageously, even if they know the lay of the land, they cannot take advantage of it.
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Give out rewards that are not in the rules; give out directives that are not in the code.
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When opponents present openings, you should penetrate them immediately. Get to what they want first; subtly anticipate them. Maintain discipline and adapt to the enemy in order to determine the outcome of the war. Thus, at first you are like a maiden, so the enemy opens his door; then you are like a rabbit on the loose, so the enemy cannot keep you out.
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Disciplined and calm, to await the appearance of disorder and hubbub amongst the enemy:–this is the art of retaining self-possession.