Colum McCann’s new novel, Transatlantic.

p.8 “Brown had flown reconnaissance. He had a knack for the mathematics of flight. He could turn any sky into a series of numbers. Even on the ground he went on calculating, figuring out ways to guide his planes home.”

(Love this as it reminds me of what we want for our students — to see real world problems everywhere they go and to feel the ability to apply their own expertise and passion to solving those problems)

p. 54 “The essence of intelligence was to know when, or if, to expose even the heart’s deep need for instruction.”

McCann is writing as Frederick Douglass and speaking of the balance he felt in Ireland — needing to know many things but unable to take the chance of appearing ignorant. The preceding lines:

“…his life these days was much about having to inquire without exhibiting a lack of knowledge. He could not seem ignorant, yet he did not want to be strident either. A fine line. He was not sure when he could show weakness.”

Yeah, everything is about teaching to me, but this is such a great description of what most teens feel in school. They want to know but don’t want to appear that they don’t. And they’re usually equally as worried about how their inquiry will appear to the teacher and particularly to their peers then they are about actually finding an answer.

Good, thought provoking book.