Mentor Text: The Greatest Nature Essay Ever by Brian Doyle Techniques: Background – Almost exactly a year ago, I threw a tweet out into the void about my desire to find more joyful texts to put in front of my students. The heavy stuff is so very rich, but finding things that express joy, and that […]
Mentor Text: Top Down by Scott Nolan Techniques: Background – For the last few years, second semester has held a nice treat for me as an English teacher, my Lit class. There’s something special about teaching the course that students have chosen to be in. It’s a Grade 11 & 12 split, which means we split […]
Mentor Text: The Empty Sentiment of The Last of Us by Jackson McHenry Techniques: Background – As a insomniac geek teacher who loves stories in pretty much any form, the combination of streaming services and the internet is a gift. There’s lots of stories to immerse myself in, and there’s lots of commentary on those stories. […]
Mentor Text: The Night Attendant at the Gas Station by Michael Penny Techniques: Background – I’m going to pass along what may seem like a somewhat pithy piece of teaching advice. Zero inbox is your friend. Since school resumed after the holidays, I delete or file everything almost instantly. (professionally and personally) It also means that […]
Mentor Text: Pause and Reflect by Melissa Martin Techniques: Background – Fellow teachers. Do you, like me, find yourself wondering how it’s possible that this school year, of the last few “unprecedented” years, seems to be the hardest? Those of us who haven’t engaged in the “quiet quitting,” or have left the classroom more noisily are […]
Mentor Text: My Father’s Moustache by Ada Limon Techniques: Background – As I write this, I still have a few days left of the holiday break. We taught until mere days before Christmas, but have the whole first week of January off. It’s been a period of necessary recharging and relaxation in our household. In fact, […]
Mentor Text: How a Poem Snapshots a Moment of Drama by Adam Sol Techniques: Background – I try to build little brain breaks for myself into the school day. That’s been vital these last couple especially challenging years. Access to a digital library has been incredibly helpful in this regard, as I don’t have to remember […]
Mentor Text: Chiaroscuro by Billy Corgan Techniques: Background – You may have noticed that I’ve settled into a bit of a rhythm in my Mentor Text Wednesday posts, alternating between prose and poetry. I may have mentioned this before, but perhaps 5 years ago or so, I really felt I wanted to do poetry better in […]
Mentor Text: Purple World by Richard Wagamese Techniques: Background – Sometimes, my path to a mentor text to share with you feels kind of random. We’re at the halfway point of the first semester, and I’ve been doing some planning for the second half. I was talking to one of my colleagues about this, and how […]
Mentor Text: Softball team at the ferry terminal after Provincials by Kirsten Pendreigh Techniques: Background – One of my favourite autumn traditions recently happened – I picked up a copy of The Best American Poetry 2022. And last year, I added The Best Canadian Poetry annual volume to this tradition. Perhaps it’s because we’re playing a […]
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