tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33325513082009789912011-12-28T12:45:23.942-05:00The adventures of a globe trotting teaching artist, father, triathlete.michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.comBlogger2671100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-91538190532426232652011-12-27T19:13:00.001-05:002011-12-27T23:13:27.844-05:00

Okay, I’ve been gradually upgrading my road bike over the years. Every season I add a new component – maybe some handlebars, new gearing, pedals. Well this winter I finally got around to buying  a new frame. So the bike I bought six years ago is officially gone. There are no original pieces to that first road bike I bought. So – I may have taken a half dozen years – but I have a new bike.

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-69867946973840773732011-11-15T16:42:00.002-05:002011-11-15T22:18:14.309-05:00

Confucius say: Well, this Confucius didn’t say much of anything because he was a statue on the grounds of the Western Academy of Beijing, where Sara and I spent eight days working with the Elementary, Middle and High School scholars plus an after school teacher session. Librarian extraordinaire, Trish McNair – a short cropped redheaded Canuck who has seemingly harnessed the energy of the Calgary

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-17642916886352040242011-11-07T08:09:00.001-05:002011-11-07T08:09:34.858-05:00

In Beijing there is a funky  little bookshop with giant ambitions run by an ex pat named Alex Pearson. Our librarian friend and hostess Trish suggested that we might like scoping the place out so Sara and I swung by and had a look around and a bit of lunch at The Bookworm. well as we perused the upcoming events at the joint we saw that a troupe of Polish performance poets were coming into town as

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-65718092639262404482011-11-06T05:09:00.001-05:002011-11-06T05:09:56.215-05:00

What looks like a glorified hotdog cart, has three wheels, a motor and smells like gin? The little taxi contraption that Sara and I got into after our walk around the Forbidden City. Even though we successfully managed to ride the subway down to the Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City we decided for the sake of Sara’s legs we would hop a cab back. Now, as is par for most tourist

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-11397340364418381232011-11-05T20:38:00.001-04:002011-11-05T20:41:17.824-04:00

Sara and I hit the streets during our day off here in Beijing – we managed to navigate the subway, visited Tiananmen Square and got to se the iconic portrait of Chairman Mao and walked from one end to the other of the Forbidden city. Now we’re getting ready to go shopping for notions with one of the teachers from the Western Academy so I don’t have time for a proper posting. Here’s a few pics of

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-55849658568264415172011-11-04T19:23:00.001-04:002011-11-04T19:23:16.964-04:00

To get to the International School of Beijing from the Lido (pronounced lee-doo) Hotel, where Sara and I are staying during our visit to the city, we take a bus that picks us up at 7:10am. We wait across the street from our hotel with a dozen or so other teachers including our librarian hostess Nadine,  Starbucks coffees in hand. Okay, I want to take a little aside here, crossing the street is

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-24555560379233104332011-11-03T08:03:00.001-04:002011-11-03T08:03:25.917-04:00

Okay – I’m a decade or so into this whole teaching artist gig and I’ve learned over the years that the smarter I get as a teacher the younger the kids I can work with. The beginning of the week Sara and I worked with the elementary kids at the Western Academy of Beijing (WAB). Let me tell you – these little guys can be scary. They smell fear and will call you out in a heartbeat. There is

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-88980189433386758292011-10-31T05:09:00.001-04:002011-10-31T05:09:36.607-04:00

Wandered around Nan Louguxing Street in search of a mechanical fish. Our friend and hostess Trish the librarian has an amazing tin toy fish on her coffee table and I asked her where she got it. “I knew you were going to ask me that,” she said.  So she drug these two poets down to a really hep little part of Beijing – the Hou Hai district. We purchased the fish – careful to be sure it worked

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-15772721124843655442011-10-29T21:22:00.006-04:002011-10-29T21:31:32.466-04:00

Okay -Sunday morning here in Beijing – the 12 hour time change has got us waking pretty early so I have already walked to the vegetable market and made juice from my purchase – several carrots the size of dining room table legs something that looked like fat spinach, three tomatoes, a stalk of two foot long celery, four apples and a hunk of ginger - the whole lot, fresh from the farm, cost me

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-57743359262573585232011-10-29T04:23:00.000-04:002011-10-29T04:25:23.223-04:00

Found my way around the firewall - as promised here's a vid of our visit to the great wall.

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-7820217750796085652011-10-29T04:02:00.001-04:002011-10-29T04:02:02.262-04:00

Okay so Sara and I are here in Beijing getting ready to start a two week stint at the Western Academy of Beijing and the International School of Beijing. we’ve come in early a couple days ahead of time in order to get our brains accustomed to the 12 hour time change. I don’t want to jinx things by saying that we are getting used to this long distance international travel – but I think we are

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-18383440182569220052011-10-13T05:39:00.001-04:002011-10-13T05:39:34.091-04:00

Test post from mobile app.

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com1Mentor Mentor41.671134 -81.341755tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-14375013970972531992011-10-10T21:37:00.001-04:002011-10-10T21:37:36.154-04:00

Ducks White strips of rags Dangle and wave attached to the tips of bamboo rods Knuckle jointed Fifteen feet long One grasped in each sinewy hand Of the Vietnamese duck man As he steers this hungry flock From one rice paddy to the next Eating the insects that would wish To snack on Fresh green shoots Quacking foul and boisterous as Traffic in a Hanoi roundabout The face of a clock

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-66756147585975352011-10-08T23:10:00.001-04:002011-10-08T23:10:39.778-04:00

Currently I am  hurtling through space at 478 mph 30,000 feet above the earth somewhere off the west coast of Norway  outside it is minus 57 degrees Celsius and I have eight and three quarter hours before I touch down in the United states.  As chilly as it may be outside of this plane I will certainly harbor warm feelings toward the kids and teachers I met at Singapore American School. I don’t

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-43410947495060528102011-10-02T04:56:00.001-04:002011-10-02T04:56:54.912-04:00

Okay – I was having trouble getting this uploaded earlier:

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-19288208686381248022011-10-02T04:06:00.001-04:002011-10-02T04:06:18.854-04:00

Okay – our second week of work at the Singapore American School was as rousing a success as our first. We collaborated with the B-side students  this week (don’t think these kids are the flipside of any hit singles though) they shared an enthusiasm only rivaled by the A siders one floor below. The upcoming week we will work our way to the top of the floors and inflict ourselves upon the C-siders.

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-767692903369341442011-09-24T03:37:00.001-04:002011-09-24T03:37:50.590-04:00

Just finished up our first of three weeks as visiting author/teachers at the Singapore American School. Every morning at 6:45am the wide smiling Mr. Ali pulls up to our hotel and whisks us off to the sprawling campus and then he deposits us back at 3pm a little bit tuckered out but always impressed with the work accomplished by the students during the day. Singapore is a city state – think

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-59487900006505155272011-08-09T13:31:00.001-04:002011-08-09T13:33:59.926-04:00

Okay - So I have been doing some bike restoration and other work over at my dad's garage. His place is super well equipped for anything that one might decide to do to a piece of metal. I've decided to try my hand at some metal sculpting - or rather metal pounding, distressing, cutting, heating, bending  painting and chemically etching. So far my subject mater has been pretty aquatic - but

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-86245464048250994002011-08-09T11:52:00.001-04:002011-08-09T11:52:04.140-04:00

Last week Sara and I did a little bartering. Our friends Anne Goudvis and Stephanie Harvey (if you are part of the literacy and comprehension education world you know what rock stars these two are) wanted a little help with some presentations they were working on – PowerPoint and video editing stuff. So, it seems the Goudvis clan owns an amazing house up in the mountains outside of Aspen – built

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-50934106303095443382011-07-23T18:01:00.001-04:002011-07-23T18:32:08.573-04:00

Finished the Schwinn off today and delivered it to its owner. She was happy with the work and told me that she would dig up a photo of her and the bike when she first got it 61 years ago - that'll make for a sweet before and after.  Here it is in its restored state with a market basket and all.  My son's girlfriend takes it for a spin. A happy customer!

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-33641146070839175402011-07-22T14:42:00.001-04:002011-07-22T14:47:16.102-04:00

 Okay - as expected I have hit the hurry up and wait stage - have seat-post, new handlebars and a market basket that I am waiting  delivery on to finish up this re-build. But it is coming along pretty nicely. I've brought it back to my house after doing the frame work over at my dad's and have it pretty much back together - the wheels and tires are on and trued the crank has had it's bearing

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-22108945804584161082011-07-18T18:43:00.000-04:002011-07-18T18:43:41.148-04:00

 Gravity feed spray gun.  sanded and cleaned ready for a coat of primer   just hangin' 'round my dad's garage  Primed    Okay - all primed now and ready for some base coat color. I was able to shoot back over to my dad's garage (he is the guy with all the top notch paint and air tools that make my metal shaping and painting pipe dreams possible) and get a  coat of white highlight on so barring

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-22135351057699801632011-07-17T07:40:00.000-04:002011-07-17T07:40:26.777-04:00

Steadily getting things done on the Spitfire rebuild. Receiving parts at regular intervals from UPS. While I am going to try and keep this thing looking as stock as possible I am more worried about making it a safe and dependable ride - so I am upgrading some components and refurbishing others. The bearings, while dirty, are good quality and need only to be cleaned and repacked with some nice

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-47598282826755555422011-07-11T22:19:00.001-04:002011-07-11T22:21:34.402-04:00

Picked up a bike to restore today from a friend of mine’s mom. It has been hers all her life and we’re gonna see about getting it back on the road again. It’s an old Schwinn Spitfire. According to the serial number stamped on the bottom bracket (the place where the pedals go through) the little blue demon’s birth date was November 17, 1950 - a Scorpio. Still four more years until it would

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-48170394483199803242011-04-26T08:00:00.001-04:002011-04-26T08:00:19.795-04:00

Okay - I know I said I would catch up here but I just got a new video program and have been messing with it for a couple days. My next post will be getting back to our trip to SE Asia and be about Vietnam but here’s a video I created yesterday around a recoding of me reading one of my poems last year at Lix n Kix.

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-78800867793907614472011-04-22T12:04:00.000-04:002011-04-22T12:04:20.862-04:00

Heading out to the island for snorkeling - the water is so muddy because this is where the river empties into the ocean. The second day of our visit to Kota Kinabalu Sara and I took a snorkeling excursion to an island off the coast about three hours away. We jumped in a van driving into the countryside swerving around cattle as they meandered on the roadway then hopped a motorboat for the

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-63233417405061547742011-04-21T15:30:00.000-04:002011-04-21T15:30:29.093-04:00

It may be a small world but it still takes a helluva long time to fly to the other side of it. Off the coast of Kota Kinabalu Okay - I am way behind in my blog posts. April - being National Poetry Month - is always busy but this year has been especially cruel. Good in that we have been a whole bunch of cool places and worked with scores of super duper folks - cruel in it has been go go go with

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-67015589013761026762011-04-05T08:11:00.000-04:002011-04-05T08:11:54.495-04:00

I've got some blog catching up to do.  We've been to a great EARCOS conference and visiting the United Nations International School in Hanoi, snorkeling in Borneo and buying thread on zipper street and a whole bunch of other cool stuff - but today I have to drive to Connecticut. So in the meantime here is a short video from a ride with Mr. Houng in Hanoi.

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-40073754577157642922011-03-24T18:37:00.001-04:002011-03-24T18:37:20.445-04:00

So here I am in Borneo speaking at the EARCOS conference and who is sitting next to me but MS. C. from the Canadian International School in Hong Kong where Sara and I visited back in January. She showed me some poems her kids wrote after our visit there. Well they absolutely rock – here scope them out! http://sites.cdnis.edu.hk/teachers/karencarmen/2011/01/25/grade-5-6-

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-24375753499811253612011-03-23T04:08:00.002-04:002011-08-11T06:25:04.560-04:00

Video removed at request of principle of school Too bad - the kids did excellent work Mount Stuart Primary–Hobart, TasmaniaHere’s a short video from my and Sara’s visit to Hobart, Tasmania

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-24408918267433252352011-03-23T02:38:00.002-04:002011-08-11T06:26:24.322-04:00

Sara and I visited four schools in Hobart Tasmania. Each was a little different than the other but all were full of hard working kids and dedicated teachers. The thing that I’ll remember most was the classroom teachers jumping in during the workshops to make sure the kids were getting the most out of our visit there. We worked on vocabulary, story structure, persuasive writing and public

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-38100193602191828322011-03-13T19:30:00.001-04:002011-03-13T19:43:46.338-04:00

So here we are in Tasmania the island state of Australia down and to the right of the main land mass. Sara and I survived another marathon travel day of something like 30 some hours from doorstep to doorstep. it might be more, but my jetlagged brain is being used for more important tasks than math right now – like equilibrium. We finally got into Hobart Tasmania around 6pm local time which is

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-66614765647114582302011-03-09T09:23:00.009-05:002011-03-09T09:32:32.897-05:00

  Okay - Here we go again.  Sara and I are hitting the road for three weeks. First off we start in Tasmania then we head north along the 140 degree longitude up to Kota Kinabalu, Borneo and then we end up in Hanoi, Vietnam. I'll be trying to keep things up to date here. Recently – like less than a week ago – we were working in Dallas visiting a school (see vid below.) It was a bit of a

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-28404933984073001072011-03-07T09:04:00.001-05:002011-03-07T09:31:15.205-05:00

Sara and I did a quick trip to Texas at the end of last week to visit Sidney Lanier Elementary School in Dallas. We visited classrooms and also worked with the teachers in a PD session after school. This was all made possible by the energetic and smart school reading specialist Kia - who I first met last year at a conference I was speaking at in San Antonio - and her principle Mrs. Peraza.

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-38129394213050406952011-02-26T08:50:00.001-05:002011-02-26T08:50:30.587-05:00

In all the years that I have been visiting schools this was a first – Drive Your Tractor to School Day that I have experienced. In central Ohio one doesn’t have to drive very far away from Columbus to end up in farmland and Teays Valley High in Ashville Ohio – (20 minutes south of Columbus) certainly qualifies as a Farmville. The real deal that is – not that annoying Facebook game.

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-45061039047236996622011-02-19T14:24:00.001-05:002011-02-19T14:24:48.952-05:00

Motor Biking around Bali with Michael, Sara, Rai and Larry.

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-22154719484590676972011-02-17T20:08:00.001-05:002011-02-17T20:08:45.044-05:00

Spent two fantastic days at Hawken Middle School where we worked on writing about change and revolution. Here’s a short vid. Hawken Middle School–Cleveland Ohio

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-87629367015101127382011-02-15T08:55:00.001-05:002011-02-15T08:55:27.524-05:00

One of our thank you notes from the kids in Aiken SC. I especially like the part about writing a poem with her mom. I also like the fact that she kept everything to the left of the red margin – even if it did mean truncating my name.

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-71461531823136292842011-02-11T16:26:00.001-05:002011-02-11T16:26:11.271-05:00

Spent two days at Keystone Middle School in LaGrange Ohio. It’s a little rural town near Oberlin and the kids couldn’t have been better. We wrote about getting the wind knocked out of us, X-Box game controllers catching fire, miracle horse births and the importance of wearing tight underwear along with a whole lot of other ideas. We spent our first day getting our ideas all sorted out and

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-72683602926067731322011-02-05T09:00:00.002-05:002011-02-05T16:12:19.638-05:00

Upon arriving at our Bungalow at the Alam Sari resort in Bali Sara informed me that the bathroom was already occupied. By a twelve inch long Tokay Gecko who was clinging upside to the ceiling. I ran and grabbed the camera but then he was gone. The rest of the week I stalked our reptilian friend trying to capture him for posterity. Here is our guy after dropping off the ceiling onto my head,

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-55997565732964850962011-02-04T20:43:00.004-05:002011-02-04T21:14:57.908-05:00

Not even a microbiologic sneak attack could keep me from my visit to the Jakarta International School. The day before our slated visit both Sara and I ended up flat on our backs with separate instances of some sort of food poisoning.  Sara first then I followed about six hours later. She believes her assailant was a salad we had outside of that final temple we visited where the lettuce could have

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-9236442305784133182011-01-28T19:11:00.001-05:002011-01-28T19:11:12.118-05:00

The wasps here in Bali are approximately the size of a ballpark frank. After visiting the volcano Batur we got hopelessly lost for a few hours but finally managed to find our way back to Ubud and then to our bungalow in Keliki village – just before the daily rainstorm hit. Sara went to sit out on the porch to wait for the rain and left the sliding doors open inviting the cooler air from the

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-74554045363507175432011-01-27T09:37:00.001-05:002011-01-27T09:37:17.159-05:00

Now – starting the day by finding a scorpion in your shoe may not usually be an auspicious start but I think it may have forebode the excellent adventure that was in store for us. The alternative to not finding the scorpion before putting on my shoe would have been much more disastrous. Okay, the scorpion wasn’t really IN my shoe – seeing as my shoes are flip flops here – but it was underneath

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-89998822795143099342011-01-26T09:25:00.001-05:002011-01-26T09:25:17.424-05:00

So we drove our rented motorbike home to our Bali Bungalow in the dark for the first time tonight. The place we’re staying – the Alam Sari is about 10km outside of Ubud – which by Balinese terms is the boonies via unlit twisting and turning roads, hills, bridges, expanses of rice fields and choruses of chirpy things calling from the jungle that reaches toward the roadway. Hence, even though my

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-17150019291671035082011-01-25T06:18:00.001-05:002011-01-25T06:18:16.933-05:00

As my old friend Dr. Sief once said while we chased camels across a Bahraini desert in a hotel mini van, “It is a magical day!” Sara Holbrook – motorcycle mama Seems every day in Bali is a magical day. The last time Sara and I were here we took a long weekend between two weeks of teaching in Jakarta. As we boarded the plane a little girl walked up to us and said, “Didn’t I see you in Croatia

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-50046961540350120722011-01-23T19:08:00.001-05:002011-01-23T19:08:56.175-05:00

Like everything in Hong Kong the Canadian International School reaches for the sky.  At ten stories tall the building is an apt metaphor for the high goals set by the students and staff. The campus clings to the edge of one of islands many hills resting atop pylons driven deep into the bedrock and affording quite a picturesque view of the harbor below. Sara and I started our week off with an

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-1424799514708918542011-01-23T07:52:00.001-05:002011-01-23T07:52:14.377-05:00

Hong Kong is a big city that works like clockwork. No wonder with all the timepieces in the city. Even with seven million people packed into this vertically proficient city one would have to assume each resident is sporting half a dozen watches on both arms considering the number of them for sale in this city. From a buck or two to the price of a starter home in a Cleveland suburb watches are

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-68605145534941455662011-01-12T11:33:00.001-05:002011-01-12T11:33:49.631-05:00

Nothing gives one the sense of accomplishment like a freshly shoveled driveway. I think it is the instant gratification of seeing your job completed one clump at a time – step by step, seeing the progress in real time. It made me think how can we structure classroom lessons to give that same feeling of accomplishment as we go along. I was also grateful for the wool sweater I bought in New Zealand

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-5335545698236021492011-01-10T11:26:00.001-05:002011-01-10T11:26:54.406-05:00

Spent a couple days last week in Aiken South Carolina, a town about an hour’s drive from Columbia. This part of the state has become a return location for Sara and me the last three years.  We were there on behest of a couple teachers who caught our shtick at the Midlands Writing Project up in Lexington NC this past summer. Now the National Writing Project is a really cool program. Basically 

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-11599100327777018482011-01-08T07:35:00.001-05:002011-01-08T07:35:03.633-05:00

When I first realized that I was booked into JFK High on the first day back from Christmas vacation I figured the day would be shot by kids unable to switch gears from the sleep late and eating goodies mode to the back in a desk mode.   I couldn’t have been more wrong. I had a wonderful visit with the students and teachers, meeting with grades seven through eleven. I was invited by a parent

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-50093007575786746552010-12-13T12:03:00.001-05:002010-12-13T12:03:04.971-05:00

Spent an enjoyable albeit chilly three days in the Boston metropolitan area last week. Sara visited a couple elementary schools and we both dropped in on the students and teachers at Pierce Middle in Milton Massachusetts. This gave us the opportunity to stay with our friends Christine and Larry – Chris teaches at Pierce and Larry is her husband – so along with these two and their bookended Husky

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-51014570790419129672010-12-03T10:00:00.001-05:002010-12-03T10:07:03.895-05:00

Winter has officially come to our household. Spike the deaf white kitty has moved back indoors. What difference a week and 1,038.72 miles makes. There I was happily tossing chocolate covered graham crackers to an alligator and this morning I am wondering whether I should have started the snow blower up last weekend just to be sure it would grumble to life this year. Lili our seven month Pap

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-49522178818010632062010-11-24T13:06:00.001-05:002010-11-24T13:06:01.468-05:00

Just back from the National Conference of Teachers of English conference which was held in Orlando at Disneyworld’s Coronado Convention Center. Several thousand teachers, librarians, reading specialists, authors and publishers descended upon the house that Mickey built for a week of keynotes, break out sessions, cocktail parties and side trips to the magic Kingdom. Sara and I were there to

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-67585841059584595112010-11-18T10:25:00.001-05:002010-11-18T10:25:12.339-05:00

In the shadow of Disney World is a wonderful school that Sara and I have had the privilege to visit the last two years in a row (Sara’s been coming a lot longer than me – she let me in on this gem last year) Windermere Prep where Middle School Pooh-Bah Mary Beth Davis has created one of the most inviting learning environments I have ever seen. We were on our way down to the kingdom of the

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-28096339710435882712010-11-13T11:32:00.001-05:002010-11-13T11:32:33.940-05:00

Every now and then I get to visit a school that makes me extra glad for what I do. Kutztown Middle was one of these schools. All the kids were prepared for my visit – which means they actually knew I was coming, they even rearranged the school day schedule in order to make sure i had ample time to work with the kids. Special kudos to Miss Mancini for all her hard work to bring me to this little

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-21179429035699405322010-11-09T20:38:00.001-05:002010-11-09T20:38:36.100-05:00

Sara and I spent Halloween with our friends Henry and Maria in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park. Here’s a dozen pics.                                                    

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-3271938901775519472010-11-05T11:57:00.001-04:002010-11-05T11:57:07.483-04:00

Just back from Chicago where Sara and I spent three days visiting and working with the students at Deerpath Middle School. Our first day was the day after Halloween so I think there was a bit of a blood sugar spike that we were contending with during our assembly and subsequent workshops – but we still got some great work done and I think the kids came away with some ideas to improve their public

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-10681352017751779712010-10-29T19:58:00.001-04:002010-10-29T19:58:24.862-04:00

As promised – here are a couple vocabulary word infomercials written today by 8th graders in Eastlake Ohio.

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-12438627808547810892010-10-27T21:52:00.002-04:002010-10-27T21:56:27.751-04:00

Just back from attending the Keystone State Reading Association conference in Hershey, PA. Where one actually can smell chocolate in the air. I made the six hour drive through hill and dale to sign some books and do a session on my and Sara’s new vocabulary book. Here’s a short video of some Big Word poems created by some Pennsylvanian teachers who attended my workshop. Now when we work on big

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-78051905691368262382010-10-17T09:05:00.001-04:002010-10-17T09:05:08.521-04:00

  One of the the thank you notes from St. Gabes. Kids have a way of keeping you humble.

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-63721665546025185682010-10-12T20:24:00.001-04:002010-10-12T20:24:40.479-04:00

The English Companion Ning is a really cool online community dedicated to English teachers.  Well, later this month their book club will be discussing my and Sara’s new book: High Definition. How excited are we about this? We’re THIS excited   Click on the NING link above for more info.

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-83635978674070660382010-10-07T10:06:00.001-04:002010-10-07T10:06:54.249-04:00

    So I returned to the grade school I graduated from almost 35 years ago for a visit and to talk with the kids about and work on public speaking skills with the kids. Amazingly, my fourth grade teacher is STILL there!   Thanks for having me guys!

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-74095363319045354532010-10-05T13:00:00.001-04:002010-10-05T13:00:18.103-04:00

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-30830929807895288222010-09-03T12:51:00.001-04:002010-09-03T14:38:28.233-04:00

Available as of TODAY!

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-37618726027225550262010-08-09T09:13:00.006-04:002010-08-09T09:23:00.069-04:00

This Summer had been a crazy busy one – New Zealand and Australia took up almost the whole month of July. Then as soon as we got back I had three days to try and adjust my body clock and I was off to San Antonio to present at an Institute headed up by Colorado comprehension strategy guru Ellin Keene.  Also there were Debbie Miller and Bruce Morgan. This is the second year I have participated in

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-74986858177192459432010-07-30T12:17:00.000-04:002010-07-30T14:20:16.741-04:00

In Australia a college is not somewhere students go after high school as it is in the United States – the term refers to any school. Thus, Radford College in the Canberra suburb of Bruce (insert Monty Python Australia sketch here) is a K - 12 campus. This school is the first really foreign school that Sara and I have worked in. When we work overseas we have always been in international schools

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-52511366206518296622010-07-30T00:57:00.001-04:002010-07-30T00:57:20.446-04:00

What the Aussies lack in pronouncing of syllables in their words – they make up with over the top down under hospitality. After our charmed respite in Sydney I figured things couldn’t get much better and I was wrong. People went out of their way to be hospitable to us at every turn during our stay in the capital city Canberra. Sara and I got in on a Sunday and weren’t slated to start working

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-43060275365230076322010-07-19T07:04:00.001-04:002010-07-19T07:04:15.975-04:00

Organized chaos – as hackneyed a saying as it is - the phrase is an apt description of Sydney. One of the many interesting things we have seen while down under is the way walk/don’t walk signals operate. Rather than the little flashing green man inviting pedestrians to walk in the direction of traffic all four corners flash green at once stopping all vehicular movement and the walkers take over

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-44848078544579143782010-07-14T22:25:00.004-04:002010-07-14T22:49:02.385-04:00

One of the best things about my job is getting to travel all over the world and meet all sorts of wonderful people and places – one of the worst things about my job is leaving these people and places before I feel like I have really got to know them. This is the feeling I have leaving New Zealand. I know there is so much more that I would like to see in this country but time and obligation made

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-41354873396486442672010-07-11T16:15:00.001-04:002010-07-11T16:15:30.673-04:00

Pies are not only for desert here in New Zealand – they also come filled with steak, mushrooms, chicken etc. etc. – tings we would call back in the states a pot pie – but here, a pie is a pie is a pie no matter the filling. And having had a very nice chicken and mushroom pie for lunch in a little pub off Queen Street I can tell you they are indeed very filling (and delicious to boot.) Our

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-37847436489246103462010-07-06T14:23:00.000-04:002010-07-06T14:23:57.421-04:00

It's a BIRD It's a PLANE Yep - It's a Plane. Greetings from Houston where Sara and I currently sit waiting a flight to LA La Land to be followed by a little jog across the pacific – landing in Auckland, New Zealand. There we will be speaking at the International Reading Association’s world congress. After that we head to Australia where we visit a school for a week.More to follow…

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-29436912043369818852010-06-30T08:07:00.002-04:002010-07-01T09:14:19.026-04:00

Just back from a week at the beach in Oak Island North Carolina – that’s Scottie up there with a couple tiny sharks he caught fishing in the surf – I think they may be dogfish I’m not sure. I do know the little buggers have got some tiny but sharp teeth.I’ve been going to the beach NC almost every year now for over a decade – Sara has been going longer than that – in fact she’s the one that got

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-26685729642322163392010-06-13T08:57:00.001-04:002010-06-13T08:57:30.408-04:00

Just back from a trip to Lexington South Carolina – a town just outside of Columbia. This is an encore appearance for Sara and me. we were invited to speak to a kid’s writing day camp and a group  of teachers under the auspices of the Midlands Writing Project. The MWP is a branch of the National Writing Project. Their mission is: The National Writing Project focuses the knowledge, expertise,

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-60862747770874556262010-05-30T08:53:00.001-04:002010-05-30T08:53:24.557-04:00

Back when I was working in manufacturing as a quality engineer I would have innumerable projects piled on my desk. Things to do – people to call – forms to fill out – problems to solve – stuff – stuff –stuff and more stuff. A couple times a year I would clear my whole desk, drag a waste can over and just sweep everything in front of me into the circular file. I almost never regretted it. 23

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-26548158621172970022010-03-31T08:59:00.001-04:002010-03-31T08:59:25.916-04:00

Had a great visit with the teachers and students at TCIS. Extra special thanks to Connie and Sungmee our librarian  and Chantal queen of the High School English department. We spent three days on the campus working with grades K through 12. Once when I was taking a break I even got roped into reading a picture book to an elementary class visiting the library.   During our residency we had a

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-44995182792341787662010-03-30T09:53:00.001-04:002010-03-30T09:53:38.876-04:00

We all need an assistant librarian librarian in our lives. Here’s a pic of the aforementioned Sue – the co-librarian of the Korea International School elementary library. Sue was a cool customer – she had that Bond girl calm and collected demeanor greeting any problem or request we threw her way with a quick and thoughtful nod which meant whatever we needed  was as good as done. Sue was in

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-40087515846431668122010-03-29T12:44:00.001-04:002010-03-29T12:44:23.039-04:00

Okay – I am woefully behind in blog posts. We are back from Korea and China now for about a week and I am going to do my best to get caught up here. I may rely a bit more on pictures than text to try and synch timelines. Here are a few pics from our visit to the DMZ separating North and South Korea. Here is the opening slide from the orientation groups are given before going on the tour of the

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-34800404991753969462010-03-04T16:43:00.000-05:002010-03-04T16:43:20.455-05:00

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-66740647571532256202010-03-03T07:30:00.001-05:002010-03-03T07:30:33.879-05:00

The week long residency at Korea International School couldn’t have gone any better. Every morning the yellow mini van bus picked us up at the Hotel Gallery just a fifteen minute ride up and up the nose bleed inducing hill on which the school is perched. The kids were all well prepared for our visit and every class we walked into were expecting us and were ready to get to work. We did

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-41492757558322240112010-02-28T07:47:00.001-05:002010-02-28T07:47:39.634-05:00

“The boiled silkworm larva doesn’t taste like it smells.” “So, it tastes better than it smells? – ‘cause it smells pretty putrid” “I didn’t say that they tasted better – I said they tasted different.” So went a portion of my dinner conversation with Rich – the headmaster of the Korea International School where Sara and I have been visiting and teaching for the last week. We were handed off

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-32715575829349405712010-02-19T17:39:00.001-05:002010-02-19T17:39:14.130-05:00

So asked the smiling six foot two eight grade boy in my public speaking class when I opened the floor to questions after the lesson. Sara and I have just spent two days with the eighth through twelfth grade classes at the Seoul International School here in chilly Korea.   We shook off our jet lag and talked with the kids about our lives as poets and globetrotting educators, did some writing

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-22155374218701658882010-02-17T16:15:00.004-05:002010-02-17T16:26:10.145-05:00

Well the trip over was pretty uneventful – as uneventful as 28 hours of non-stop, zero sleep cattle shuffle and egg carton crated moving halfway across the globe can be. All our planes were on time, our baggage made it, there was a pretty good selection of movies on the way over, the food on the planes was edible and by some karmic reward Sara and I found ourselves the only occupants in our row

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-44164008009320132062010-02-14T11:19:00.001-05:002010-02-14T11:19:34.114-05:00

“It’s dangerous writing a poem.”  So said Nick, at Sharon Elementary school. The last two months have seen quite the whirlwind of activity here in the Salinger / Holbrook household. Trips to Morocco and Abu Dhabi followed by teacher workshops in Tempe Arizona at ASU after which Sara headed to Seattle and I came back to the Erie shores to visit some schools here in the Highland District of

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-72926789341275379112010-02-03T11:50:00.001-05:002010-02-03T11:50:55.654-05:00

If our trip to Morocco was a step into the past – our visit to Dubai was a headlong dive into the future. The above pic is part of a fountain in the Dubai Mall (the largest in the world.)  Everything about Dubai is all about being the biggest, the most expensive, extreme cutting edge architecture providing the backdrop for a bustling busy city founded on the commerce of pearls, then gold and

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-82630738927867805762010-01-30T09:11:00.002-05:002010-01-30T09:19:36.900-05:00

Speaking no evil is a pretty easy thing to do when you’re talking about the students and the staff at the American Community School in Abu Dhabi. I’ve just finished a week working with the middle school kids and I cannot remember a residency that went smoother. Dianne and Steve, the two librarians responsible for the visit, had a schedule set for me that clicked on every cylinder like the high

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-49101407142161279252010-01-24T09:17:00.001-05:002010-01-24T09:17:49.928-05:00

Sara and I have just finished a wonderful week of classroom visits at the Rabat American School. When we got there the whole campus was covered with these wickedly weird placards full of mind scratching slogans created by our new friend Richard’s middle school English classes. It’s an activity he dubbed beautiful words. Beautiful indeed – our whole visit to Morocco was absolutely one of the

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-22799598426708475142010-01-21T02:11:00.002-05:002010-01-24T09:19:42.071-05:00

It is the capital of Morocco and Sara I am in the middle of a week's worth of classroom visits at the Rabat American School. Of course we are being treated way better than we deserve and thus have had no time for blogging during the week. Here are a few pics and I'll update later when we are at the airport to catch our plane to our next destination Abu Dhabi in a couple days.    

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-14269149639886057252010-01-17T03:14:00.008-05:002010-01-17T07:00:19.717-05:00

The Cafe Clock sucks up English speaking visitors to Fez the way the local crusty bread sops up the last bits of savory red Moroccan soup. The proprietor, a Brit named Mike Richardson strikes me as a cross between Eddie Izzard (sans drag version) and that animated chap they go to on CNN whenever they need an energetic English stereotype. Mike is far from stereotypical - though he does seem to

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-76342310955577098012010-01-15T12:20:00.001-05:002010-01-15T12:20:25.505-05:00

“I am going to take you back into time.” So says Abdullah our guide who shows up five minutes early to lead us through the knotted pathways of Fez. Abdullah is a short cropped gray haired retired teacher a little taller than my shoulder height; he seems to have a glass eye and dressed in a wool hooded jalabia which is worn universally here. He speaks accented but very understandable English.

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-90830108370409353682010-01-14T01:50:00.001-05:002010-01-14T01:50:26.746-05:00

Again, I am up with the muezzins. Yesterday on the train from Marrakech to Fez I am struck again by how similar the terrain is to that I bike all around in Oaxaca Mexico, mountains in the distance, agaves which look like four foot tall aloe plants the burnt orange and reds of the soil. It turns out this is not just my imagination. We are joined in our cabin by Prof. Dr. Abdel jabber Arrach, a

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-26987384923031125632010-01-13T16:01:00.001-05:002010-01-13T16:01:28.111-05:00

My laptop clock says 2:12am as we ease out of the train station in Marrakech. That’s what time it is back home. Here is it almost a quarter after seven in the morning and the sun is rising to our right giving the mountains out the left of our window an orange glow similar in color to the dried apricots we bought in the square last night to snack on during our seven hour trip to Fez. Occasionally

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-23717242045922737922010-01-12T03:21:00.002-05:002010-01-12T03:26:49.984-05:00

Every now and then it is good to do something that scares you a little bit. This is advice I have given friends in the past and like most advice it is easier to give than follow. Our second day in Marrakech begins in our riad with tasty crepes, fresh squeezed orange juice, a selection of jams along with some very robust coffee served on the ubiquitous blue and white Moroccan china. Enjoying the

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-41730684920912939022010-01-11T02:58:00.003-05:002010-01-11T03:06:08.874-05:00

Waking up in Marrakech in our riad (pronounced ree- awd) surrounded by the call to prayers 5:30 am or so as the melody echoes around the medina from the dozens of mosques inside the walled city. A riad is the Moroccan version of a bed and breakfast. The house is situated with a large central courtyard two stories tall with a rooftop balcony, the rooms surround this courtyard, the first floor

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-68276408561519857252010-01-10T08:51:00.001-05:002010-01-10T08:51:48.267-05:00

I am currently in a first class cabin aboard a train headed from Rabat down to Marrakesh – it’s about a four hour ride – we’ve been on the road now for just under three days and we’ve accomplished the plane – train – automobile tri-fecta. We survived a weather scare back in Cleveland where it is still snowing. Waiting at the gate we watched as planes de-iced and took off as visibility ebbed back

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-52958688893725773132010-01-06T08:42:00.004-05:002010-01-06T08:53:22.093-05:00

Last school visit before we shake off the coil of this winter chill and escape like migrating Canadian Geese to the warmer climes' of Morocco. I’m pretty sure Canadian geese don’t fly across the Atlantic but you get my drift. Met with the Middle School Scholars of St. Francis Xavier in beautiful Medina  (pronounced Ma- dine - a) Ohio yesterday. The arctic blast was playing with school schedules

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-28174916581533985162010-01-03T11:28:00.003-05:002010-01-03T12:00:58.512-05:00

Well – the last month has been super super busy! Sara has two new books sitting at the pubisher – I have one under consideration @ the same publisher and we finished the first draft of our new teacher book and that too is in the hands of the publisher and some initial readers. So, what is our next trick? Off to Morocco! So will begin the Salinger Holbrook world tour for 2010. Morocco – Abu Dhabi

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-49460260830310256212009-12-15T14:33:00.003-05:002009-12-15T14:49:01.932-05:00

Had a fun and fruitful visit with the 5th graders @ Apex Academy here in Cleveland. We got a jump start on their winter break take home packets by writing some definition poems for a list of words contained within said packets.  Good sessions even though the holiday break was peeking from around the corner trying to distract us. Special thanks to Ms. Coleman for having her kids prepared and

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-35717977421452292362009-12-09T08:00:00.000-05:002009-12-09T08:00:23.565-05:00

Well Defined - Vocabulary in Rhyme

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-53505807705467545982009-11-30T15:17:00.003-05:002009-11-30T15:27:07.566-05:00

One of the smartest shows on television as far as Sara and I are concerned is Fareed Zakaria’s GPS. This past Sunday he had the chief poobah from Google, Eric Schmidt, in the studio for an interview. Their conversation began around internet security and the info that Google as a company collects from its users. Then they veered into finding information on the intertubes of all things world

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3332551308200978991.post-7204489135661459902009-11-24T13:06:00.002-05:002009-11-25T09:24:55.686-05:00

“The security guard said these were the best cheese steaks in the city.”   This is what I overheard as I jostled and bobbed in the sea of humanity ebb and flowing in Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market  – just across from the convention center where the National Council of Teachers of English were holding their annual convention.  Lucky for me as the first cheese steak joint I had stopped

michael salingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14717310933948991992noreply@blogger.com1