Mentor Text: Someone Will Come Along: Rogue One, Logan and Hope by Jessica Plummer Writing Techniques: Writing Literary Analysis Essay Structure Background: If, as Stephen King would say, you are a “Faithful Reader,” then you know I’m a bit of a geek. If you’re here for the first time… Hi, I’m Jay, and I really […]
I had a meeting this week, during the school day, in my building. It meant prepping a sub plan, but, since I was in the building, something I could get going before running out to the meeting. As often happens, this wasn’t the best time for my Grade 9s to be without me. We’ve just […]
Mentor Text: Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman Writing Techniques: Creative Writing Voice Humour Considering Audience Background: A beloved part of my day is right before my daughters’ bedtime, when we read. I have a six year old and a four year old, and each is currently obsessed with a different book. My oldest is […]
On Monday, I visited the STEAM Fair at our local early years school. My oldest daughter is in kindergarten there, and my wife teaches there. My wife had shared what her students were doing, and my daughter was vibrating with excitement about the chance to show off her work. My obvious highlight was watching my […]
Mentor Texts: “In praise of Joanne Rowling’s Hermione Granger series” – Sady Doyle Writing Techniques: Character analysis Applying a critical lens Voice Background: I am re-reading the Harry Potter series with my oldest daughter. We’re reading the gorgeous illustrated editions. This means that we are now on our second go-round with Chamber of Secrets, as […]
As this post drops, I’m wrapping up the second week of the new semester. I’ve got new courses, new students and new ideas. One of the first things that I try to establish is the importance of our notebooks. I actually try to do a lot of our work, our writing, our responding… our thinking […]
Mentor Texts: Rolling Stone magazine’s Threat Assessment infographic Entertainment Weekly magazine’s The Bullseye infographic Writing Techniques: Organizing information Tone Visual presentation Background: Hi. I’m Jay and I’m a recovering magazineaholic. I’ve mentioned it here before, but magazines are wonderful things, especially for a mentor text based teacher. They contain, if you’re getting a variety of […]
Mentor Text: excerpt from “Who Wants to Shoot an Elephant” by Wells Tower Writing Techniques: Research writing Writing counterargument Exploring difficult issues Expanding writing Background: It is a terribly kept secret that I am a huge fan of The Best American series. These annual collections of writing litter my workspaces, and live in every corner […]
As I write this, I’m in my last full week of classes in the first semester of the year. The exam is written, and copied, sitting in a drawer. My students are putting the finishing touches on the last of their work. And my head is pretty firmly a few days ahead in second semester. […]
Mentor Text: 10 Inspiring,Confusing and Humorous Eulogies of the Famous via The Atlantic Writing Techniques: Specific Form Considering Audience Background: This is actually a post that should be subtitled “What I’ll Do Better Next Time” My Grade 11 students are in their final weeks of classes, and we’ve been working on MultiGenre Projects based upon research […]
moving writers 