I haven’t heard much about Madeline Hunter lately. Her seven steps for preparing school lesson plans were all the rage when I started teaching back in the 1990s.
In fact, I attended a packed conference at the Hutchinson Sports Arena where the queen herself held court. Her message was that teachers make a series of decisions about how they will present each lesson. Those choices determine how well the instructor reaches all his or her students.
“I’m going home early to take a nap,” I tell my co-workers every Friday in the early afternoon. They laugh and debate if this is a further sign of my approaching dotage or an extreme prolongation of my childhood.
“I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.” —Anna Quindlen, “Enough Bookshelves,” New York Times, Aug. 7, 1991
If there’s anything that you want to avoid under any circumstances, it’s making a satirical remark about how long it has been since your girlfriend last shaved her legs.
Madness” is a good word for the hype surrounding the NCAA Tournament. Right now, Kansas Jayhawk fans are still plugged in and ready to explode as their beloved heroes move into the sacred Final Four.
As much as we enjoy the moment, we find ourselves stepping back every once in a while to see this crazy hullabaloo in perspective. The resources of money, time and energy invested in major sporting events truly defies logic. Whether your team ultimately wins it all, loses early or never even made the cut, what does it really matter in the end?
Right now it matters a lot. In a week, who knows? Go, Hawks! —DR
Opinion 
