Status Updates From The Best American Essays 2006

emily bernard's "teaching the n-word" is the first essay in the collection that felt alive, but still mildly disappointing somehow, almost too tame

Teaching the N-Word - 4/5 This one provides a lot to think about. A literature teacher I studied with introduced me to this, and it has stayed with me. I once took a risk, and used the introductory poem Incident by Countee Cullen in a lesson with a 5th grade class. It was a powerful lesson, in which I learned so much from my students.

City Out of Breath - 2/5

Kinsey and Me - 4/5
501 Minutes to Christ - 3/5
Teaching the n Word -

"Back in the room, you ask him what's wrong, plead with him to tell you. You can talk about anything, you assure him, anything at all." -MICHELE MORANO, "Grammar Lessons"