January is a tough time of year for me. The holidays are over, the weather is just meh in Michigan, and the craziness of midterms and starting a new semester makes my room feel like chaos. I spent all fall writing my Moving Writers posts about balance in the ELA classroom and, at this point, […]
My husband is fond of using the phrase “Read the room” with our children. Have you seen your mother’s face? Now isn’t the time to whine. Read the room. Did you notice the dishes in the sink, laundry piled on the couch, and overflowing garbage can when you asked if you could go to your […]
Last June I discovered a woefully neglected plant in my house. My husband urged me to toss it out, but I was sure I could bring it back to life. Sure enough, by August, a little sun and tlc had it flourishing again. I posted the comparison pic on Twitter and someone pointed out that […]
As is our habit, we are taking the summer away from the blog to read, write, and recharge. We’ll be back in late August with new content, but for the summer, let’s take a journey down memory lane as we visit our ten most-read posts from the previous school year! Since the beginning of the […]
All year I’ve been writing about teaching research writing. I’ve been teaching two research-heavy classes (AP Seminar and a class called The Incubator) and it’s forced me to zero in on what I’m doing to help my students see the relevance of developing solid research skills. It has pushed me to think about the why […]
Last year about this time, this article from the New York Times showed up in my Twitter feed. I clicked on it because I was intrigued by the title (“Extensive Data Shows Punishing Reach of Racism for Black Boys”) but when I realized that the article was all moving data, I knew my students would […]
Early in the school year, my Runner’s World magazine showed up in my mailbox with a new column. It’s called “How to Be a Runner” and I think it’s incredibly clever. The bulk of the column is a two-column list where the writer highlights a choice. Treadmill or Outside? Group or Solo? Some choices are […]
We came back from school this week and my students in AP Seminar are diving headfirst into a big research project. They’ve done some researching, started annotating sources, done a lot of thinking…so now what?
So far this year, all of my writing on Moving Writers has been dedicated to Research Writing. I’m teaching two sections of AP Seminar this year, so I spend lots of time guiding students through research. I know the traditional research paper often gets a bad rap as “boring”, but I think there are lots […]
“I don’t know what to do. My main claim just kinda blew up in my face.” The student sat in front of me–a little forlorn, a lot frustrated–her computer balanced on her lap. I was surprised by her candor. Usually, when students’ claims “blow up in their faces” they are quick to ask for […]
