Zigzag : a life of reading and writing, teaching and learning / Tom Romano.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Romano, Tom.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Romano, Tom.

Teachers--United States--Biography.

Teachers.

Creative writing (Higher education).

Literature teachers.

United States.

English teachers--United States--Biography.

English teachers.

Literature teachers--United States--Biography.

Creative writing (Higher education)--United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

viii, 215 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Portsmouth, NH : Heinemann, [2008]

Summary:

We ask our students to write authentically, in their own voice. We validate their knowledge and their experiences. We want them to know the depth and joy of a lifelong love of reading and writing. In Zigzag Tom Romano writes his life, creating a model for us of the power that words-written, spoken, heard, read, taught-can have in shaping our professional, personal, and spiritual lives.

Tom Romano has long been known for writing with one of the most distinctive and compelling voices in the field. Beginning with scenes of waxing the floor of his father's beerjoint, Romano shows us how his voice evolved over time, how he found simpatico voices among friends, family, mentors, and literary writers, and how he wended a long, twisting road to helping students find their own voices. We have long cherished Romano's Clearing the Way, and here he shows us that the journey to that book led him down the same kinds of hallways we have walked, into the same kinds of classrooms we have taught in. In Zigzag we also see how the episodes of Romano's life led him to discover the dynamic fusion of imagination, voice, and content that fuels his celebrated multigenre approach and energizes writing curricula around the country.

Romano speaks to us directly, confronting the problems every educator faces and even years later finding more evidence that success and failure are not opposites but opportunities to learn-always to learn. From student to teacher. Ohio to New Hampshire, from miracle to meltdown to milestones, Zigzag opens a window into the development of a writer, a teacher, a reader, a learner. It is the story of our educational values-sometimes lived easily, sometimes shakily-and of what can happen when we pass those values on to our students.

Contents:

Prolog You Won't Want to Skip vii

Part 1 Growing Up, Taking Shape

1 My Father's Voice 3

2 The Place 5

3 Neighbors 12

4 Home Office 20

5 Phone Call 24

6 Surrealism 26

7 Argument 30

8 Solace 33

9 The Visit 37

10 The Greatest Book 39

11 Church Teaching, Church Learning 42

12 The Danger of Countenance 49

Part 2 College

13 Wayward Beginning 61

14 Making the Grade 65

16 Enter Whitman 74

17 Milton 79

18 Coming to Teaching 82

19 Living Literature 90

Part 3 Teaching in High School

20 Moral Outrage 95

21 Over the Hump 101

22 Thriving 106

23 Zeal 112

24 Menagerie 117

25 Soaring 124

26 Making Plans 128

Part 4 UNH

27 Giants 135

28 Meltdown 144

29 Final Assignment 149

Part 5 Reentry

30 Reentry 157

31 Clearing the Way 163

32 Publication 168

33 The Way I'd Like to Teach 174

34 Of Whitman and Friend 177

35 Multigenre 180

36 Clear Decision 185

37 A Good Run Done 187

Part 6 UNH Reprise

38 Indiana Tumble 193

39 Digging In 195

40 Pure Pleasure 201

Epilog: Almost There 205.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-209).

ISBN:

9780325011257

0325011257

OCLC:

191898142