Blog Me This

My blog at Magiskeep, Blogger--button link below--is where you will still find my more recent posts.

I wrote a full series of posts about my experiences as a teacher involved with the controversial standardized tests that seem to be taking over the public school system. No Child Left Behind and the Core Curriculum standards have changed the face of education, and not always for the good.

One of the issues I keep seeing is that creativity and imagination are being stifled by many of the standards. Learning is and should be an adventure. Students need to learn how to think outside the box, and most standardized tests cannot tolerate that.

This is one of the reasons I find writing fantasy so liberating. There are no real rules or standards I need to follow except the ones I set down myself. I can completely step away from reality into my own invented world.

Of course, there is a contradiction in that statement above. While I may not have to follow the rules of the real world, I do have to follow the rules of the fantasy worlds I create. To be successful, I must make a totally believable world out of a completely unbelievable one by being carefully consistent in how that world runs. It is an interesting balance.

More later. and more, of course at my Magiskeep blog. Do visit.