Mentor Text: Poetry from Memoir Mixtapes Techniques: Writing Memoir Making Personal Connections Analyzing Music Responding to Music Background – As I shared in my last Mentor Text Wednesday post, I found a great journal that encompasses two of my favorite things, memoir and music. I shared a couple of prose pieces in that post, and said […]
I love the planning part of teaching, taking ideas, and seeing what they might become. It’s one of my favorite things about writing for Moving Writers, because it gives me another outlet for putting those ideas to use. As a planner, I’m constantly noting things that intrigue or interest me, filing them away for future […]
Mentor Texts: Jon Recommends: “Head Rolls Off” by Frightened Rabbit By Jon Johnson Sean Recommends: “Ocean Drive” by Lighthouse Family By Sean Cunningham Techniques: Using music as inspiration for memoir writing Mood Connecting elements in writing Symbolism Brevity Background – This is the first of two Mentor Text Wednesdays that finally allow me to fulfill a vision I’ve […]
I used to work a very structured private school. It was a school for students with ADHD and learning disabilities. The structure was part of the programming there that served to support these students as learners, not just at that school, but if they returned to public school classrooms. Though I teach much differently now […]
Mentor Text: Monday, November 4, 2013 from The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater Techniques: Introduction Infusing Narrative Into Informational Writing Background: Our washer died a couple of months ago. This is relevant because it means that since we haven’t taken the time to buy a replacement, I’ve been spending time at the laundromat each weekend. And […]
Though I read All American Boys a couple of years ago, I was weirdly late to the writing of Jason Reynolds. I read his Miles Morales novel this winter, and when I saw it being lauded so strongly in my Twitter feed, I picked up a copy of Long Way Down. If you’ve read it, […]
Mentor Text: forge by Leslie Anne Mcilroy Techniques: Constructing meaning Poetic form Background: This week, I’d like to share another gem of a poem that came through my Twitter feed. One that lets me bring two things that I love into my class. With a 5 year old and a 7 year old, I get […]
Mentor Text: What Were Giraffes? by Amaan Hyder Techniques: Descriptive writing Social commentary Tone Poetic form Background: As I said last week, my Twitter feed has become a pretty important source of poetry for me. I follow poets, teachers and poetry journals, and they all dump lots of great poems onto my screen. (Sometimes it […]
As I traditionally do in April, National Poetry Month, I’m dedicating my space here at Moving Writers to talking about poetry for the next few weeks. A couple of years ago, I made a decision to become a better teacher of poetry. I felt I was a good poetry teacher, but I had a handful […]
Mentor Text: Possible Subtitles by Mari Andrew Techniques: Memoir Analyzing Rhetoric Explaining a quote Pre-writing Background: If you’re a member of the Moving Writers community, then the work of Mari Andrew is familiar. We’re all big fans, and have been using her work in our classrooms. We’re all probably buying her book this week too. There […]
