The Peavine Quarter

Welcome to The Peavine Quarter. This is not The Peavine Quarterly. The title is no reference to format or frequency of publication. It is an allusion to Walter VanTilburg Clark’s The City of Trembling Leaves – a place that is or was actual, but more important, is a fictional place, a place of the mind.

First, a little mini-Vita ABOUT MYSELF

DOB: 11-20-1941

Education:

• Washington High School, Sioux Falls, SD 1959
• Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD. BA English & History, 1963
• University of Nevada, Reno 1963-1965
• College of Idaho, Caldwell, ID. M Ed Counseling 1978
• University of Idaho. Requirements for administrator’s certification 1984
• Numerous courses, institutes, etc. for professional requirements and personal   edification

Professional:

• University of Nevada. Teaching assistant. English. 1963-1965
• Edgemont High School, Edgemont, SD.  English, History. 1965-1966
• Payette High School, Payette, ID. English, History, Debate, Department Chair. 1966-1976
• Edgemeade of Idaho (private psychiatric), Mountain Home, ID. English. Therapeutic team. 1976-1977
• Borah High School, Boise, ID. Substitute same classroom all year. Aeroscience.  1977-1978
• Emmett High School, Emmett, ID. English. 1978-1979
• Nampa High School, Nampa, ID. English, Film, Department Chair, District Language Arts Curriculum Co-ordinator. 1979-2007
• Payette, Boise, Horseshoe Bend, Caldwell School Districts, Summer Driver Education. 1974-1997

Organizations:

• National Education Association
• South Dakota Education Association
• Edgemont Education Association
• Idaho Education Association
• Payette Education Association. President. Negotiator. State Delegate.
• Gem County Education Association
• Nampa Education Association. Building Representative. Negotiator. State Delegate.
• National Council of Teachers of English
• Idaho Council of Teachers of English. Treasurer.
• Western Literature Association.
• National Rifle Association.

Personal:

• Married. Two children.
• Retired 2007
• Reside Boise, ID — same 100 year-old house for 23 years
• Sons live in same neighborhood
• Have driven same car (1961 TR3) daily for 40 years

Next, a little bit about THE REASONS FOR THIS BLOG…

Having retired from teaching – mostly English and mostly in public secondary schools – for 44 years, I finding myself without a venue, without an audience, and without a soapbox (which is to say, without a class, without a faculty room, and without a bargaining table), I have resolved to remedy that situation.

TOPICS will include but not be limited to such interests and concerns as

• American public schools
• Teaching, in general
• Teaching English in particular
• Books and other literary topics
• Movies and other cinematic topics
• Miscellaneous

I anticipate a STRUCTURE of two main divisions.

• Current posts will be a more-or-less conventional blog
  • Based on current and recent reading of books, news articles, blogs, etc.
  • Based on older writings of my own “from the files”
  • Archived in order posted
  • Comments in order and desired
• From the files – older writings (previous to this blog) posted as primary documents…
  • Because they seem relevant to current situations, observations, reading;
  • Because they provide a cross-section of the actual writing, personal, professional, and academic, that a teacher of writing does in the course of a career;
  • Because they give some insight into the life of a teacher in an American public school;
  • Because they give some insight into the workings of an American public school.
  • They will be archived in the approximate order written, as opposed to the order posted.
  • This will be essentially a static page or set of pages. Exact format and grouping are very much a work in progress.

In fact, confirmed Luddite that I am, this whole enterprise is very much an experiment and a work in progress. Please bear with me.