BRITTANY MASCHAL CONSULTING

Using the Modern Love Podcast to Teach Narrative Writing

By Brittany MaschalFeb 14, 2017

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, but applicable all year ’round, here is an idea from Kinana Qaddour for using the popular Times podcast to encourage narrative writing.

Modern Love is a series of weekly reader-submitted essays that explore the joys and tribulations of love. Each week, an actor also reads one of the essays in a podcast. Though the stories are often about romantic love, they also take on love of family, friends, and even pets. This teacher finds their themes universal and the range of essays engaging models to help her students find their own voices.

In my work, I have found that most students have little or no experience writing personal narratives, which they need to write for the personal statement/Common Application essay requirement when applying to college. Naturally, I love this idea—so give it a read and share with a teacher who may find it useful!

Academic Resources, Newsadmissions, college, college application, college counseling, college essay, college essay brainstorming, Common Application, creativity, essay writing, high school, New York Times, personal statement

The Plague of ‘Early Decision’

By Brittany MaschalDec 22, 2016

Another great article by Frank Bruni on the craziness of college admissions, specifically, early decision.

But what worries me more is how the early-application process intensifies much of what’s perverse about college admissions today: the anxiety-fueling, disappointment-seeding sense that one school above all others glimmers in the distance as the perfect prize; the assessment of the most exclusive environments as, ipso facto, the superior ones.

That’s hooey, but it’s stubborn hooey, as the early-application vogue demonstrates.

Worth a read here!

Newsadmissions, college application, college college admissions, college counseling, early decision, Frank Bruni, New York Times

Text to Text: John Milton’s ‘When I Consider How My Light Is Spent’ and ‘Today’s Exhausted Superkids’

By Brittany MaschalDec 16, 2016

Right now, many students are entering the final college-application sprint. They’re wondering Are they enough? about their lists of accomplishments. Some may even be wondering Is it worth it? about college at all.

Centuries ago, the poet John Milton wondered how best to live his life as he went blind. In his sonnet “When I Consider How My Light Is Spent,” he contemplates his condition. While for him, the “light” he spends is literal — he was completely blind by age 42 — he uses it metaphorically to meditate on what it means to really live.

In this Text-to-Text they pair Milton’s poem with Frank Bruni’s Op-Ed “Today’s Exhausted Superkids,” which discusses the high costs of following the narrowly defined and proscribed path to an elite college.

This a thoughtful read for parents and students alike, or really, anyone working with adolescents today. Check it out here!!!

Advice, NYTcollege, college admissions, college application, college counseling, counselors, Frank Bruni, Milton, New York Times, parenting, sleep deprivation

NYT Student Contest – Write a Rap About the News of 2016

By Brittany MaschalDec 13, 2016

https://youtu.be/vomvO54P7oA

For the sixth year in a row, 13 to 19 years old anywhere in the world are invited to write a rap about the news that mattered most to them this year.

So whether you choose international or national news, politics or education, sports, science or technology, the arts or fashion, post your entry by 7 a.m. Eastern on Jan. 10, 2017. Then, the educational hip-hop experts at Flocabulary, our annual partner for this contest, will choose their favorite rhymes to publish both here and on their site.

Second Language Acquisition Can Improve How You Think

By Brittany MaschalDec 12, 2016

An oldie but goodie re-posted on the New York Times SundayReview on the advantages of bilingualism. Worth a read and just in time for the new year, when learning a second, third or fourth language could be on your to-do list!

Speaking two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in an increasingly globalized world. But in recent years, scientists have begun to show that the advantages of bilingualism are even more fundamental than being able to converse with a wider range of people. Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age.

Read the article here!

Advice, NYTacademic exploration, bilingual, languages, learning, New York Times

No College Talk Thanksgiving

By Brittany MaschalNov 24, 2016

Great article yesterday in the New York Times. Parents of seniors give it a read!

If you have a high school senior, and your child has decided to apply somewhere early decision (or early action or early something or other), the application is most likely in and done by now. And with Thanksgiving approaching, my first piece of advice is that you shelter your high school senior from her or his loving family this Thanksgiving by absolutely prohibiting any talk of college and applications.

Believe me, your senior does not want to discuss this. Not with uncles, aunts, cousins or loving grandparents. The right thing to do under these circumstances is for the parents to tell everyone that college is a forbidden subject — and the best way to explain that is to say, we are all sick of it, and we have promised ourselves and our child a respite. Let’s all find another subject.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Advice, News, NYTadvice, college, college admissions, college applications, college talk, New York Times, Thanksgiving

If I Were President . . . of My Club, My Class, My College, My Country

By Brittany MaschalNov 04, 2016

The NYT’s asked students what they would do if they were in charge, what their concerns and hopes for the future would be. Empathy and forgiveness—a plea for more—and climate change were recurring themes, as well as issues political and personal. Here are condensed selections.

NYTeducation, election 2016, high school, New York Times