Juliet Beni, a graduate student in the psychology department, will graduate this spring with a PhD in social/ personality psychology. Beni began her college education at just eight years old, taking courses at Riverside City College, where, three years later, she earned her AA degree and simultaneously graduated high-school. At age twelve, Beni transferred to the University of California, Riverside as a junior. She majored in psychology, but also cultivated an interest in creative writing, and even worked for The Highlander as a staff writer for a time. At age fifteen (in 2008), Beni completed her BA and began the PhD program at UCR. She completed her MA in 2010, and since then has been conducting dissertation research under the guidance of Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Dr. Robin DiMatteo, who will hood Beni for her PhD in social/ personality psychology this coming June.
Dr. Di Matteo’s recent research, which examines the roles of adherence and interpersonal relationships in the achievement of health and effective medical care, actually resounds quite meaningfully with Beni’s personal history, which may provide some grain of insight to the teenager’s incredible motivation and perseverance. A fam
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Twice a year, we formally assess students writing. I hand out a prompt and grading rubric about one week before the date of the assessment in order to give the students time to organize their thoughts in advance of the prompt. They then have two class periods to write their essay. It allows us to create a portfolio of writing samples from about second grade on, and the assignment also gives them some practice writing timed essays in class. Usually, the prompts are expository, based on the literature we have been reading in class the mid-year assessment was about Great Expectations in the seventh grade and A Tale of Two Cities in the eighth but in the spring, when the flowers are blooming, birds are singing, and attention spans are short, I opt for a more creative topic.
This was the prompt I handed out last week:
Crossroads Academy’s core virtues curriculum is a central part of your education. Just as your education in math, literature and science informs your academic development, your education in the four core virtues informs your moral and social development. For your essay, please choose one of the virtues – justice, temperance, fortitude, or prudence – and write about a moment, experience, or event in your life when you relied on your education in the core virtues to guide you.
I love grading these essays. The stud
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RIVERSIDE, Calif. – UC Riverside authors will speak in Redlands and Riverside this week at events sponsored by the Inlandia Institute.
The institute will celebrate the launch of “New California Writing 2011,” a collection of thought-provoking articles, fiction and poetry about California, with readings by contributors on Tuesday, Oct. 4, and Wednesday, Oct. 5. The anthology was published by Heyday in April.
Among the speakers will be Susan Straight, professor of creative writing at UC Riverside and author of the award-winning “Highwire Moon” and “A Million Nightingales”; and Rebecca K. O’Connor, a UCR alumna and author of “Lift” and “Falcon’s Return.”
The Oct. 4 event begins at 7 p.m. at the San Bernardino County Museum, 2024 Orange Tree Lane, Redlands. On Oct. 5, the book launch begins at 6:30 p.m. at UC Riverside’s Culver Center for the Arts, 3834 Main St. in downtown Riverside.
Eliud Martinez, UCR professor of creative writing emeritus, will be the featured speaker at a public literary event on Thursday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m. in the Downtown Riverside Public Library, 3581 Mission Inn Ave.
Teacher morale is down and critical reading scores on the SAT are at their lowest point in 40 years, but no worries; Khan Academy and the iPad are here, and they are going to save American education. That salvation, in all its Chinese hand-buffed resolutionary glory, is as close as the nearest Apple store.
I hate to harsh the media buzz, but up here in my neck of the New Hampshire woods, there are a few obstacles between my students and this shiny vision of American education.
The internet, for one.
I teach in the Upper Valley, a gorgeous swath of New Hampshire and Vermont along the Connecticut River. Its the land of Dartmouth College, Newsweeks hottest college for the tech-savvy, and yet even here, the 21st century vision of connected learning remains more of a promise than a reality. That vision, shaped by smart phone-tapping technology boosters, is appealing, but they seem to forget that many people in America dont have access to the information super highway. Technology may be the road to the future, but as they say in these parts, you cant get there from here.
Id like to fill these technology visionaries in on my technology reality.
I teach English, Latin, and writing, and despite the wealth of online educational resources, I cant assign anything that relies on access the internet. It wo
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The other day I wrote a blog which began with the line, “When I enter the schools of other teachers wearing my hat of “YA author” to do student assemblies, I am treated to a rare vantage point.”
First off, I’d be entirely lying if I did not admit how much I really adore doing student assemblies. A variety of reasons exist for this.
To begin with, when I was in high school, I thought all authors were dead. Fact is, well over 90% of the books assigned to us to read in class had been written by dead people. (Okay, that’s an exaggeration. 99% of the books assigned to us had been penned by folks who’d long since kicked. I was underestimating in order not to offend anyone because, as anyone who knows anything about books clearly knows, live authors can’t possibly measure up to dead ones when it comes to elevating the literacy skills of today’s kids.) Truth is, I only wish I’d been a teen who had the chance to grow up in a YA Lit Renaissance, like the age in which today’s young people are now living. I never had a real, live, in the flesh book author come visit my campus. Heck, I’d never even met a professional writer of any type til I got to college. And certainly, I don’t
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