Category Archives: Education, Language, Teaching ideas

These are articles about my experience in the classroom. Sometimes, I will include lesson plans. Most articles, however, represent a variety of personal experiences.

Education, Language, Teaching ideas

On the Desire to Write…

My love of writing has never been this great! I am officially on vacation from my one and a half teaching jobs at Queens College and Hostos Community College. I say officially because I do no have to be on campus for anything. But the truth is I am not on vacation until I have reviewed term papers, tallied my students’ grades, and entered them into CUNYFirst, the platform all CUNY professors and instructors use for their grades. Still, I feel less weight on my shoulders; I am more relaxed, and I feel that I can use some of the time I currently have to revisit the numerous pieces I have written over the past several years, none of which has ever been finalized. Maybe I can even write new pieces. The point is to remain active both physically and intellectually. Consistence has always been my challenge. I tend to procrastinate sometimes, which is why none of the pieces produced over the past few years has not be finalized. But I sincerely vow to take things a little more seriously this time around. I do not have to return to work until the last week of January 2026. Besides, I have just renewed this WordPress account for two years! What can be more motivating than this?

As I gradually segue from work into my vacation, I want to believe that my commitment this time is not just wishful thinking, that it will actually lead to some kind of production. My post-doctoral journal now has 200 pages or more. Maybe something from it can trigger the desire to write a story, a chapter of a book, some research, whatever. This vacation should be different. I am sure I can produce something interesting if I set my mind to it. Will I be able to keep my word? How does one stop procrastinating? How dos one say, okay, this is all the time I have this academic break, and so I have to write diligently as if my entire life depended on it? How can turn my vacation into a productive experience?

Karate practice is another story since I don’t have to think twice before putting on my dogi; it hapens automatically every morning. I cannot function without my daily morning practice. Even when I wake up in a weird mood and don’t want to do anything, I know there is nobody to push me to don my dogi and begin sweating and going through the motions. On this front, I do not need any extrinsic motivation. Practicing Taekwondo from 1977 and Shotokan from 1980, I guess it has all become second nature. It is something that I just need to do, willy or nilly. And the good thing is when I push myself and begin my warm-up, things fall into place. I usually have a good workout, a nice and hot shower afterwards, and then the day feels much brighter than when I woke up in a poor mood.

But that’s karate! Writing should be the same, right? Probably easier said than done. For some reason, I have a difficult time keeping a daily writing schedule although I feel good when I start writing. Like this piece. I don’t feel like I am laboring through something too complicated. Yet, I hadn’t planned to write today, not not on this platform for that matter. I renewed my membership for two years to save a few bucks, and it occurred to me to review my website, and here I am, hitting on the keyboard, seemingly unable to stop. That is the kind of stamina I would like to have every day. I know that I can produce a substantial amount of writing whenever I am triggered. But I am not sure how to trigger myselft, so to speak. I need to think this through so I can write a little daily. I love to read a former professor, who wakes up early in the morning to write for several hours before beginning her daily activities with her husband and two young boys. I have read about Walter Mosley and Ernest J. Gaines and how they write for hours, take a walk or re-read what they had previously written before getting back in front of their laptop or desktop computers to write more. Why can’t I do the same thing? These are all people I look up to for their discipline and their written production. Yet, I keep procrastinating! Look what I have produced here in a short few minutes! And to think that English is not even my native language… and here I am, musing over a possible trigger to write daily. If not the money, at least I can be satisfied that I am usually satisfied and feel better whenever I devote some time to writing.

Tomorrow, I will review my students’ term papers, assign grades, tally their semester grades, and, hopefully, enter their semester graders. Maybe I can spend some time writing before or after I have completed this important task. I am a writing teacher. I may not be a creative writer, but I teach my students how to craft good essays, including research essays. I should be able to write more essays of my own beyond the doctoral coursework and dissertation. I should be able to motivate myself to delve into research mode, read up on writing and reading instruction and contribute to the extent literature in these two areas. Maybe I can write creatively as well. I took a poetry writing class as an undergraduate and completed the course with an A. I also took a memoir writing course, still as an undergraduate, and received a B+, a grade I hated, the reason why I did not take the practical component of the course the following semester. The second part of the course was focused essentially on completing the memoir or autobiography, but I was so pissed that I hadn’t received an A that I stayed away from the second part of the two-semester course, opting for other course. My over-100-page biographical piece has been in store since 2003 or 2004. Maybe I can revive it someday.

Well, this is it for today. I think I have been writing for a little over 30 minutes. Gotta keep my fingers cross for a similar inspiration tomorrow. It doesn’t matter if it is before or after completing the semester paperwork; I just want to make time for profuse writing. May the reading and writing gods be with me all along this 2025 holiday break!

I give you this piece, raw, without revisions, just musing!!!

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Education, Language, Teaching ideas

Hustle and Bustle: Then and Now

My wife and I recently purchased a townhouse in Pennsylvania after more than three decades in the Bronx, five blocks from Yankee Stadium. If you have lived in a large city like New York, you know it can be extremely loud, especially in the summer. Young people play loud music, and sometimes, fights break out on a street and spill out into the nearby park. I have seen people going at it, attacking one another with baseball bats and other makeshift weapons. Luckily, I have never been involved as a participant or victim. But this doesn’t mean we’re always safe. I remember one time when somebody almost got run over. I can’t remember the circumstances, but it seems like somebody was crossing the street or dropping someone off. Whatever the case was, everything escalated when one of the drivers pulled out a machete, rattled it on the asphalt, and made for the other driver. Eventually, somebody called the police, and they broke up the fight.

Fast forward to last November. We were happy to finally purchase our townhouse in Easton, Pennsylvania. It’s a modest home, but it is very beautiful and roomy. It has three levels: a basement, a first floor, and a second floor. There is so much room that I take pleasure in going upstairs, downstairs, and all the way to the basement many times a day. Homeowners for the first time at 60 plus years old. Yes, you got that right. My wife and I were not born with silver spoons in our mouths. So, for us, buying a home was an uphill battle, one that lasted many years, sometimes with tears and frustrations. Finally, we made it.

In hindsight, I feel that we could have bought a house much earlier. I was afraid that we might not be able to pay the mortgage, given our meager incomes. Eventually, I had to man up and commit myself. After we visited the community, I said, we buy a townhouse or nothing. My wife saw how serious I was, and she got on board. We then decided on a plan to pay the mortgage without falling behind. We opened a joint account with more than $70,000 in it and decided to add more money regularly so there wouldn’t be any surprises. So far, we have made two payments: January and February 2025, and we currently have $63,000 in the account. The next payment will be withdrawn on March 1st, which will lower the current balance to below $60,000. But we will put more money into the account. We haven’t been doing this regularly, which is why the balance is so low. I am confident that we will do just fine. Soon, I will receive a good chunk of money from the most recent raise at work. Part of that money can be put toward the mortgage. It will go to the mortgage account.

Buying a house is not an easy or simple endeavor. It can be very scary because all sorts of thoughts cross your mind. What if I lose my job and can’t pay? What if I become sick and can’t work? What if, what if, what if? But at the end of the day, we need to commit to something and let the chips fall where they may. We committed ourselves, we bought the house, and now we’re happy and proud that we are finally homeowners, both of us in our sixties. Whatever happens in the next few months or years, at least we took the initiative; we took the risk to build equity and leave our offspring something to continue building their lives on. In that sense, we should be able to consider ourselves trailblazers of some sort.

As I reflect on the process about seven months after taking possession of the house, I still think we made the right decision. We both continue to work in New York City, where we still have our two-bedroom apartment. Luckily, it’s rent stabilized and affordable. On weekend or midway through the week, we drive to our new residence. We both work from home on Fridays, so it makes things a lot easier on this front. Additionally, it is more relaxing, which I think can potentially boost the quality of our work.

Sometimes, we may experience fear or apprehension when faced with a tough decision. Anything can go wrong anytime. Conversely, things can go in the right direction. All it takes is grit and a determination to succeed. We decided to purchase a home after initial hesitations. Today, we’re happy that we did!

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Education, Language, Teaching ideas

Do Writing Professors Have to Publish?

The question has crossed my mind many times. I teach freshman composition but do not consider myself an accomplished published scholar. In fact, I haven’t published much of anything apart from a few doctoral assignments edited and submitted to a college magazine, The Hostos Capstone. I have published two such articles in this magazine and an article about the use of the French language in the USA in a US-based French magazine (although the piece is in English), but nothing beyond that. I am always prepared for class and think I do a good job of conveying to my students the essence of what they need to know about writing to be successful college students. However, the lack of time (having to work two jobs at two colleges) has negatively impacted my ability to conduct research for publication in my second field, composition, the first being ESL. This begs the question of whether writing teachers or instructors need to publish in their field.

I began teaching freshman composition at a CUNY college several years ago, but I am currently employed as a part-time English faculty member at Fordham University, where I have been since September 2021. This responsibility consists of feedback on my students’ responses to the assigned readings and on major writing assignments. My students read various articles on race in the US and respond to each article. They are encouraged to use their responses for in-class participation. I typically do not collect the journals; at least, I haven’t for several years (I decided to collect them at least once this fall semester to ensure that the students are completing their work as expected.) Another area of intervention is when students complete a major assignment like one of the three required semester essays. These essays are accompanied by a scoring rubric, and students receive feedback from their peers before submitting each essay. I also take the time to provide actionable feedback on each essay in addition to checking off, on the rubric, student’s areas of improvement. Because of this, reviewing and scoring essays for my freshman courses sometimes takes up to two weeks from the day an essay is submitted. What else do I need to do beyond the above?

Many scholars have spoken and written about the connection between reading and writing. In most of the literature, we learn that we need to read to improve our own writing. Peter Elbow, the inventor of freewriting, quoted Epictetus as saying, “If you want to become a writer, write.” I am also reminded a chapter that I have my freshmen read every semester. The title is “How to Read Like a Writer” by Mike Bunn. The gist of Bunn’s advice is to notice what he calls the writerly choices, that is, the choices an author makes while composing a piece of writing, a little like how an architect designs and a home builder puts the pieces of this puzzle together, so to speak. Clearly, good writing ought to be used as a model. However, just considering the model is not enough. What we do with it matters as well, maybe even more. This is where Epictetus’ statement makes a whole lot of sense. I can spend days, weeks, months, and even years reading good literature, but unless I try my hand at writing my own piece, there is literally no way for me to gauge my own progress as a writer. It is only by writing, by developing and adhering to a daily writing routine, that I will begin to truly make sense of Epictetus’ statement.

Now, let me return to the initial question: Should a professor of writing be a published author? I have colleagues who have taught writing at the college level for many years but don’t have a single publication. Some even hold MFA degrees in writing. Being a published author certainly attests to a writing professor’s skill level as a professional. I do not think, however, that a good writing teacher necessarily has to have publications. Don’t get me wrong; I am a firm believer that we need to adhere to what we preach. If we are serious writing teachers, we should be able to produce publishable writing and lead our charge, our students, by example. It only shows that we do not just teach students skills gleaned from books; we are also capable of representing our profession on a deeper level than just serving students recipes of good writing and providing actionable feedback. How about we attempt to publish so we can be on the receiving end of feedback? That should help us, teachers of writing, see things from our students’ perspectives and help us be better teachers.

If you are a teacher, instructor, or professor of writing, including creative writing, I would appreciate your perspectives on this issue. Please be as candid as you would like; it will only enrich the conversation.

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Education, Language, Teaching ideas

Attendance and Academics

When I was a student, which wasn’t very long ago, all students were required to attend a minimum of classes to pass a course regardless of their academic standing. Demonstrating mastery of the course material was key, but a student’s disposition, physical presence, and class participation were equally important. Today, some schools advise their instructors and professors not to factor attendance into their semester grades; I wonder why.

This semester, I saw one of my students for the first time two weeks into the semester. The student had missed the first two weeks. Maybe he was not enrolled yet; I am not sure. In our 9th week of the semester, the student has attended only a handful of classes, about six to be precise. Personally, I would ask such a student to withdraw from the course. I do not intend to push the student out, but what else should I do? I believe in helping students who take their work seriously, contact the professor to work out a schedule for late assignments, or discuss their progress and standing in the class. I mean, show me you care! But this is only me. Maybe I am old school.

Somebody help here! I have been trying to contact the academic advisor to discuss this student’s case, but I haven’t heard from him or her yet.

The semester concluded on May 5th. The student kept missing classes, and when he was in class, he never participated. He never said a word. Just walked into the classroom, sat in the back, and got up and left at the end of class. This happened every single time he was in class. This student’s term paper did not include the required installments, such as the annotated bibliography, the detailed outline, etc. I didn’t want to cause any trouble, so I gave the student the minimum passing grade and my feedback on what he needed to do in the future. Was I wrong? Would you fail such a student?

A side note: The student informed me at some point about the loss of a grandfather. Would you consider this as an extenuating factor?

Please feel free to leave a comment. Thank you!

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Education, Language, Teaching ideas

Best Gift?

Without a doubt, one of the best gifts I’ve ever received is this page. It’s a gift from me to myself, one aligned with my dreams of writing something substantive. To make a long story short, I have always dreamed of writing stories. Unfortunately, I have never attended a creative writing course or seminar. I’m not sure if it is necessary. The closest I ever came to this was the memoir course I took when I had to enroll at City College of New York to complete a BA about twelve years after I received my MA in English with a concentration in American Studies. So for me, having a platform where I can play around with words in English and in French is priceless. And I am proud that I can offer myself this gift. We’ll see where it leads me… and maybe those who care to read what I will be posting here.

Daily writing prompt
Share one of the best gifts you’ve ever received.
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