I’m a debt to be paid; I’m a one-dollar note;
I’m a law that’s proposed for the Congress to vote;
I’m the part of a duck that brings food to his throat;
And I’ve asked you “Who am I?” in riddles I wrote.

Who am I?

UPDATE: Riddle solved by Asher. See comments for answer.

I’m the test that won’t count; I’m to shoot at the wall;
Where a lawyer consults, or a doctor’s on call;
I’m the work to make perfect; run drills with the ball;
And I’m still the best way to reach Carnegie Hall.

Who am I?

UPDATE: Riddle solved by Asher. See comments for answer.

I met with my middle-school classes on Thursday. They have finished reading the plays, and we were able put together plans for our Digital Shakespeare projects. Plans may change, and who knows what will happen as we head into test prep season, but here is where we have decided to go by the end of the year.

6th Grade The 6th grade class has decided to retell the story of Antony and Cleopatra via Cleopatra’s Facebook page. We are currently discussing what that will look like on our discussion forum, but some of the ideas discussed include status updates, wall posts, photos, and video snippets of students performing scenes from the original play that might have been “uploaded” by characters. We even have a student who knows how to create a mock-up Facebook page when all of the other work is done. This project has a lot of potential! “Marc Antony has changed his relationship status to Married. Dislike!”

7th Grade The 7th grade class is doing a stage production of Macbeth. The plan is to film each scene and create a website with embedded videos, along with student writing about the play and emendations linked from the text. Both teacher and students know this is a very ambitious project, but they have made a commitment to put the time in. If they do, this project will be phenomenal. If they don’t, or if circumstances intervene, it will be my job to make sure the end result does honor to the work they were able to put in. This is similar to a project I did with fifth-grade students years ago, but these students are a little older and the technology is so much better now. I really hope this happens.

8th Grade The 8th grade class will not be available to me much after testing season, since they typically get pulled out for various senior-related activities throughout June, but I think our idea is quite manageable in the time we have left. The students want to create a trailer for a non-existant movie version of As You Like It. Students are currently watching real movie trailers (which are easily accessible online) to notice what features they have in common. This will be one of those movie trailers you see in the theatre that tells you the whole story of the movie, so the final product will respect the play and demonstrate student comprehension as well.

I’ll continue to post updates about the projects here, and hope to share the final projects here as well. Needless to say, I’m very excited by the possibilities! Stay tuned…

I’m a pulp-fiction hero, with skills to confound;
I’m the secret real government, not to be found;
I’m the least bit of doubt; I’m to follow around;
And the reason that Phil will return underground.

Who am I?

UPDATE: Riddle solved by Asher. See comments for answer.

I’m a misspoken word on a Freudian trip;
I’m to slide on the ice at great risk to your hip;
I’m a dock for a ferry; log goods as they ship;
And a garment you slip on… oh, damn my loose lip!

Who am I?

UPDATE: Riddle solved by Asher. See comments for answer.

I recently saw a particularly poignant piece of graffito etched on a friend’s Facebook wall:

A public union employee, a tea party activist and a CEO are sitting at a table with a plate of a dozen cookies in the middle of it. The CEO takes 11 of the cookies, turns to the tea partier and says, “Watch out for that union guy. He wants a piece of your cookie.”

And while this might easily refer to any number of anti-labor sentiments, it seems most appropriate as a reaction to the current – inexplicable – War on Teachers that has been raging in the media lately.

If you haven’t seen last Thursday’s Daily Show, you really need to go watch it. In a brilliant piece at the top of the show, Jon Stewart demonstrates the hypocrisy of the right-wing talking heads when talking about teachers. Later, he interviews education truth-teller Diane Ravitch, who lays out the rest of the argument.

If you want to understand the conversations surrounding education reform, then – as Tom Tomorrow says in this week’s strip – that’s all you need to know.

I’m the line in the newspaper easy to bend;
I’m to lay down a hand that you cannot defend;
I am closing a map; I’m a business’s end;
And the sheep in the flock that a shepherd will tend.

Who am I?

UPDATE: Riddle solved by Asher… within 60 seconds of its posting! See comments for answer.