Baseball

[Dan Murphy]

In summer school, I'm trying to breach the gap between curricula; therefore, I've decided to have my students read basball inspired literature (primarily Shoeless Joe, by W.P. Kinsella). Each day we're going to journal about our discussions, and the role of baseball in American culture (why is it called the National Pasttime, when Superbowl attendance and gross receipts are so much higher?). If things go well, then we'll culminate with a cross curricular examination of Baseball by playing on Thursday (no coincidence that we'll be playing the last school day before 4th of July); after which, we'll journal about the true nature/spirit of baseball. (i.e. what can it be, what are it's hopes and promises to young Americans, why do we love it?)

Wish me luck.

[Shirley Miller]

I don't know if you still have these students or not, but I heard a piece on CBS news last night about how the majority of people who watch baseball are college educated, as opposed to those who watch other sports. I don't know where their research came from.

[Dan Murphy]

Thanks for both the comments and the heads up, Ray.

By the way, one of my students found a free on-line edition of Shoeless Joe at http://www.wowio.com/users/product.asp?BookId=57 . It's a free website with an interestingly eclectic mix of books for free (quite a bit of Vonnegut, actually).

[Scott Habeeb]

I noticed that your students are reading Shoeless Joe. Awesome book. A colleague of mine named Ray Moore has been using that book for years with his 9th grade English students. He does an amazing job of using it to teach about life. For example, as Ray Kinsella says, "It's not fair - I have to work and wait." (That quote might not be word for word.) Anyway, Ray Moore uses lines that that to teach kids about how to live their lives. I would highly suggest you contact him. If you click on his name in this post you will go to a Ning I have created - The Freshman Transition Network. You might be interested in joining it so you can communicate with Ray who is a member. I guarantee he would have some great ideas for you on using that book in a classroom.