My second grade teacher, Mrs. Noche, had a stamp with a wide-faced cat that purred: “Super!” in blue ink at the top of homework and tests. That mark was nearly as motivating as most stickers (not Hello Kitty, though).
Though I spend my days typing feedback, I would like to have a kitten stamp that mews: “Three cheers for you!” or a raccoon, offering a standing ovation, that cheers: “Bravo!”
At the same time, I could use stamps that visually remind: “Slow down.” “Trust us.” “Cut the buckets of blood and tears.” Maybe I’d use a horse, a scorpion, and a chicken as emblems, to show and tell.
Instead, I use examples.
Slow Down: “Forever Overhead,” David Foster Wallace—http://artsites.ucsc.edu/faculty/gustafson/FILM20P.W11/readings/forever%20overhead.pdf
Trust Us: “Child’s Play,” by Alice Munro— https://buecherblogger.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/alice-munro_childs-play.pdf
No Tears: “Powder,” by Tobias Wolff—http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/pdf/2014/261077.pdf
No Blood: “The Story of an Hour,” by Kate Chopin— https://www.katechopin.org/story-hour/
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How do you cry without tears? Do you need to bleed all over the place?
