Introduction to the Thought of J.D. Meyer, aka. "bohemiotx."

I'm a teacher whose specialty is Developmental English (ten years of teaching), secondary certified in English and Social Studies since 1991, and experienced in ESOL. I plan to focus my hubpages on certain technical favorite areas of mine: (1.) vindicating model essay choice for my Developmental English textbook through sustainability and the existence of Bilingual All-Level Academic Vocabulary (BALAV) through cognates awareness.(2.) Creative Class of Dr. Richard Florida endorsed at a local level, especially downtown. (3) Miscellaneous Citizen Journalism Forum, ranging from vet issues to philosophy. I edited this intro hub twice after publishing ten more hubs. Let's see how I addressed these areas.

Sustainability, a new concept from the National Council for the Teachers of English (NCTE), goes beyond its traditional environmental origins to reflect people's neighborhoods. Ethnic studies would be in this category as well. Composition is in the unique position of being able to serve as a sounding board for students' lives and interdisciplinary efforts. We must allow students to have input in choosing topics that are important to them while insisting on no reference to committing crimes or foul language. Check out my hubpage, "College Composition: Give Regional Topics a Chance." We can guide students towards standard English grammar and still allow them to put slang within pairs of quotation marks. I have been writing a textbook for Developmental English/Writing that has made it to the 8th edition and 350 pages.

Our nation is becoming increasingly Hispanic, particularly Texas; moreover, budget cuts could have a severe effect on education. The time for banning Bilingual Education past elementary should end, and cognate awareness in academic language is really a conservative step--transitional bilingual at most. Formal and technical language is descended from French and Latin--relatives of Spanish while informal English has roots in German. Cognate awareness within the vocabulary instruction of Robert Marzano could reduce disparaties in education achievement. Tennessee won the first round of Race to the Top, the national education initiative, and TN implemented Marzano on vocabulary's practices "big-time." Go to my hubpage, "Bilingual All-Level Academic Vocabulary (BALAV): A Focus on Cognates." It has a new summary--thanks to the suggestion of the folks here at HubPages.

The Creative Class website of Dr. Richard Florida www.creativeclass.org and his associates at the University of Toronto is a long-time interest of mine, ever since he wrote The Rise of The Creative Class when he still taught at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. Successful urban areas have the Four T's: talent, technology, tolerance and territorial assets. (Territorial assets is a new addition). Some of Dr. Florida's work was cited in Tyler's IGI. Dr. Florida is a frequent contributor to The Atlantic and is a prolific author with many supporting maps. Society will be stronger when citizens find ways to unleash their creativity. Go to my hub, "Commentary on 'The Soul of the City' by Richard Florida."

Tyler 21 is a economic program with grassroots input and outside consultancy designed to direct economic growth as the city has reached 100,000 in population. I was a contributor during the initial phase, including submitting an annotated link page for the Northside Restoration branch. Tyler is an integrated city that's roughly half Anglo and one-fourth Hispanic and one-fourth African-American. North Tyler, where I lived is 57% African-American and 33% Hispanic. Go to my hub, "Ways of Measuring Happiness and Relaxation Level." The four main characteristics are "free of pain, rested, respected, and intellectually engaged." Led by Mayor Barbara Bass, Tyler has embraced The Fit City movement, and a city with a culture of exercise has less stress and more relaxation.

Meanwhile, the Industry Growth Initiative (IGI) http://www.cityoftyler.org/CommunicationsMediaRelations/IndustryGrowthInitiative/tabid/705/Default.aspx is an 82-page document directed toward guiding the city into the information economy. The medical field is prominent in Tyler, but generating more money from higher education is a major concern, hence my endorsement of Intellectual Entrepreneurship at University of Texas at Austin.

I've enjoyed social studies and history long before obtaining secondary certification in the field, including Japan since third grade and Mexico since fourth grade. Check out one of my most recent hubs, "The Meaning of Life, according to Tu Wei-ming--Today's Leading New Confucian, Revisited in Light of the Confucius Institute Movement." This hub provided an analysis of a Life magazine with Dr. Tu in 1988. Lots of others were asked for their opinions too in that article. I edited this hub by accounting for the Confucius Institute movement and the much more positive view of Confucianism held by China in recent years, as it embraces capitalism.

Finally, I wrote an article in 2015 that is a follow-up to the Smith County Education report. City leaders fear that the high poverty level of children, especially in Tyler and Chapel Hill, will hurt the likelihood of obtaining post-secondary credentials. For starters, I felt an analysis of the Education/Medicine ("Eds & Meds") Economy was necessary--both "pros" and "cons." Articles by Richard Florida are included.Fortunately, this led to finding strengths in residential construction, restaurants (hospitality), and oil/gas. I advanced my call for an Intellectual Entrepreneurship program again, as well as bilingual academic vocabulary and cognates study.

You'll notice that these topics are interrelated and aspire to advance education, social, journalist, and business interests that I share with thousands of others. One can tell that I'm an English instructor who enjoys urban planning/creative class, social studies, ESOL/bilingual education, and journalism.