Alan Lawrence Sitomer » Life

I don’t mean to be a rabble rouser. Really I don’t. It’s just that, well… I can’t help myself.

Alan Sitomer — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:01:13 +0000

I don’t mean to be a rabble rouser. Really I don’t. It’s just that, well… I can’t help myself.

For example, I have a new book coming out on Thursday that I am absolutely convinced middle school boys are

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The rule about getting kicked in the teeth.

Alan Sitomer — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 12:00:45 +0000

Sometimes, in life, when you stick your neck out to try and really DO something, you are gonna get blasted for it. Really, kicked in the teeth.

And it hurts.

But just remember, in life, if you don’t stick your…

If I stop teaching, they still don’t stop learning.

Alan Sitomer — Mon, 17 May 2010 12:00:43 +0000

We are always teaching our students. Even when we are not teaching, we are teaching our students. In fact, when we are not teaching is probably when we are most teaching because kids often learn by adult example.

So what…

Between 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. in a student’s life

Alan Sitomer — Wed, 05 May 2010 12:00:10 +0000

How much should I, as a teacher, be expected to do between 8:00 a.m and 3:00 p.m.?

And don’t those expectations change depending on what is going on between 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. in a student’s life?

Some kids…

“Stay away, Aliens! Stay away!” I say.

Alan Sitomer — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 12:00:15 +0000

This weekend Stephen Hawking talked aliens… and the world perked up its collective ears.

First off, he finds the probability of the existence of “extraterrestrial life forms” to be highly likely. I’ve felt this way for a long time. With…

Why I wrote my book THE HOOPSTER

Alan Sitomer — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:30:42 +0000

Why I wrote The Hoopster

Let’s be honest. To a certain extent, we are raising a generation of non-readers. I hate to sound like an old coot but these kids today with their computers, their iPods, their cell phones and…

The Outstanding Plus Side of Rejection

Alan Sitomer — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 12:30:36 +0000

I think I’ve spoken before about how, as a writer, I spent years and years and years knocking out material only to be rejected and rejected and rejected.

I used to think, back then, that it was a sign of…

Goals: The Personal Before the Professional

Alan Sitomer — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:28:18 +0000

As I mentioned the other day, I am a big believer in goals. So much so that I always write them down.

Yet often, when I think of goals, I think in terms of career and professional aspirations. In a…

Forbe’s List of Billionaires, Wealth and the Tainted Kool-Aid I Done Drunk

Alan Sitomer — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:15:33 +0000

America’s definition of wealth is warped. And the definition of wealth we teach our kids is skewed as well. (After all, I should know. I think the way I have been taught to think about ideas such as “worth”, “value”,…

Teaching teens is good stuff

Alan Sitomer — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:30:23 +0000

As we enter Thanksgiving week it really is a time for me to recognize how much my students mean to me. I truly am a better human being because they are in my life.

They make me smile, laugh, hurt,…