Creative English Teacher — Creativity

The world is a little less today:  Zorn has passed on from it. To the uninitiated, Zorn might seem like a sound effect from an old Batman fight scene, but it is a man’s name. Why should you know that name? Because Dan Zorn was the best teacher ever. No, he was never honored on national television. He never met Oprah. He never even won any local teaching awards that I’m aware of. Yet to me he will always be the greatest teacher ever. Mr. Zorn was a survivor of the Vietnam War. He came back with a few grisly...

I remember back to my first few years of teaching when my skin was still thin. I would spend tons of my free time developing what I considered to be a knock-out lesson only to have my students respond to it negatively. By responding negatively I do not mean rudeness or insubordination. I mean, boredom and apathy—two things I hate. And what was my response to their negative reaction? An even more negative one! I would allow my pride to get the better of me and went on the defensive. After all, didn’t I put all that time into the...