Brent the Warrior Monk

My response to the blog of Brent Bonds: Entertaining and enlightening. Delicious and nutritious. 

I was fortunate enough to work with Brent over the summer. He split his time between our class and the 9th/10th grade English class. Not only did I thoroughly enjoy watching him teach, I learned from him. He put crazy wigs on his bald head and wore scarves, hats, and jackets just to grab the students' attention. He taught them to play flip-cup as a review game. And they learned from him. But enough of my brown nosing campaign and more on his blog.

It is one of the most entertaining blogs I've read. He manages to throw in references to warrior monks almost flawlessly, and still there is substance. It is an honest blog, regardless of who it may offend. This passage illustrates that idea perfectly and it ranks among my favorites:

"I'd like to see a new wave of teachers who do more than teach to tests and who rely more on trenched experience than empty research. It is a perfect time to revamp our schools of education, which I must admit I have always thought were Mickey Mouse courses. It would be nice to see a change of emphasis from a minimum of subject area classes and too many less-than-valuable education courses to a system that requires a great deal of core subject-work and supplements that in-depth knowledge with a greater hands-on apprenticeship."

I could not agree more. He wasn't afraid to say that he thinks education courses are Mickey Mouse, and talks about how and why he thinks it should change, and I'm pretty sure he's right!

One of my other favorites, and a perfect example of how he turns the painful requirement of blogging into something he and the rest of us can enjoy:

"In three weeks time, at the current rate of personal growth, I expect a golden transformation. A glowing apotheosis. I, Brent Bonds, will have become a teaching god."

I think he may have succeeded. 

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