Over the years, I’ve learned it’s important to avoid over-correcting English Language Learners and focus on the primary learning objective. When marking sentences today, the goal was semantic comprehension: using vocabulary words correctly in sentences. It took effort to assess their grasp of meaning and context while being lenient on other mistakes. The impulse to correct everything is powerful.
Category: In This Together
Raindrops and runners and crisp social commentary
On my walk, I was distracted by the sound of raindrops on corrugated iron coming from the ruins of what was once the world’s largest flour mill. Behind me, a Halloween fun run was underway, following the Mississippi before crossing Stone Arch Bridge. Some runners were wearing fanciful costumes, and a bystander carried a handwritten sign: “You’re running better than the government.”
Codifying instinct
As is often the case, I learned something about English in the classroom today that I only knew intuitively. A few specific verbs, like stop, remember, and quit, change their meaning when followed by an infinitive versus a gerund. ‘Stopped to go’ and ‘stopped going’ have different meanings. In fact, that difference might even make the bathroom gerund example in the photo nonsensical.
No kings
Joined a huge crowd in downtown Minneapolis to assert government is for the people and must adhere to the law. (Over 100,000 attended the Minneapolis rally. Nationwide there were more than 2,700 rallies with over 7 million attendees.)
From IKEA to art
Saw the “Jessi Reaves: process invented the mirror” exhibition at the Walker today, featuring impractical furniture built from found objects. I couldn’t stop remembering a day when Dwight and I were a great source of amusement for my father-in-law as we struggled to assemble an IKEA storage unit for him. This exhibition really took the idea of “furniture as a challenge” to the next level.
Harvest moon setting over Minneapolis
This was my view from bed this morning: sipping coffee, reading the news (the NYT and the Minnesota Star Tribune), and doing a side of doomscrolling where I like to challenge misinformation.
Sunset and a surprise holiday
Looked out at the sun setting over Downtown back home from our usual Thursday dinner out. My day hadn’t gone as planned. Yesterday, I got an email letting me know the school was closed today for Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. So, while Dwight worked in the university greenhouse, I unexpectedly hit the trails.
A modest home with a story
Cycled through South Minneapolis with a friend on a route loosely themed around racial justice, stopping here at the former home of Harry Davis, Sr. He was a civil rights advocate in a racially divided Minneapolis from the 1940s and throughout the turmoil of the 1960s, and in 1971 became the city’s first Black mayoral candidate. The city is applying to have this house added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Voting and vaxxing: small acts of defiance against Project 2025
Mailing in our ballots for the November election and getting a COVID booster this morning felt like acts of resistance against the Administration. Its adoption of Project 2025 policies, which restrict access to mail-in voting and vaccinations, intentionally and disproportionately burdens people with limited resources.
A bowl of comfort
I’d been looking forward to this yakisoba bowl at Zen Box Izakaya all day. I’d left home for school as the sun was rising after a late night (for us), and I’d taken on an extra class, a reading group. But it was a joy to work with the adult learners, always in good spirits, always trying hard despite fitting in their classes with family and job commitments.