Phil Holmes in L.A. Times

I was pleasantly surprised this morning to see Phil Holmes on the cover of the L.A. Times! Phil attends church with my family, and has been an English teacher for 40 years - mostly at Harvard Westlake, but more recently at a charter school in South Central Los Angeles. He was a great help to me when I was starting my teaching career and was terrified. Phil worked with me on my first few lessons, and helped me to realize one of the most valuable teaching insights that I have had: that good writing can be taught in a systematic and logical manner.

This may not sound earth-shattering, but for a new teacher who had come up with a total of one hour's material in two weeks of preparation, it was a real gift from above. Most of my lesson planning since then has been expanding on those first suggestions from Phil, and my students nearly always mention this at the end of the semester as the most valuable thing they learned.

After nearly forty years at Harvard Westlake - one of the premier college prep schools in the country - Phil wanted to see if his ideas were as valid in the inner city. To find out the result, click on this link:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-holmes21-2008jun21,0,3349168.story

Congratulations to Phil. It's nice to see a really great person getting his due in public!!