Mentor Text: Red Vise, Blue Vise by Eric J. Stormer Techniques: Background – I’ve long been a proponent of maintaining a notebook as a teacher – a place to capture all the half-baked ideas and flights of lesson planning fancy. I love my physical one, and have developed a similar pattern with the Notes app on […]
Mentor Text: the series of poems about turning different ages from Black Girl You Are Atlas by Renee Watson Techniques: Background – This post almost didn’t happen. Between different events, field trips and weather closures, I’m in one of those times where as a teacher you feel absolutely overwhelmed and ineffective. I’m pretty flexible, but we’re […]
Mentor Text: Things to do Around Winnipeg when you’re Black by Michael Fraser Techniques: Background – I’m drafting this at the end of the second day of the second semester. That means I’ve survived the madness of the end of the first semester, exam week, marking everything and getting the report cards done. And, I’ll be […]
Mentor Text: Emile Nelligan by Carmine Starnino Techniques: Background – Whenever I’m near a magazine rack that carries it, I grab a copy of The Feathertale Review. Though I grabbed my first issue because the cover illustration featuring a monkey was silly, I’ve come to love the offbeat approach to being a literary magazine that it […]
Mentor Text: Excuse Me As I Kiss The Sky by Rudy Francisco Techniques: Background – I am one of the teachers that teaches right until December 22nd. And we’ve got our provincial assessment back this year, which takes place the week we return from the holiday break. And I’m a parent with a couple of kids […]
by Kelly E. Tumy It’s my birthday today, so I thought I’d post one of the most favorite lessons I taught-ever! It really started out not as a lesson, so let me explain. I do love poetry; it took me a while to develop a good way to teach it to any grade level, though. […]
Mentor Text: dedications of poems I cannot write by Joseph Fasano Techniques: Background – I am very much lamenting the slow decline of Twitter as a teaching resource and community. Yet, as frustrating as it is, I hang on. Honestly, what I’m sharing this week is part of the reason. I’ve loved what Joseph Fasano has […]
Nancie Atwell calls theme “the chilliest mind Popsicle” of all the writing lessons that young writers need to learn, and I couldn’t agree more. (Atwell, 2015, 101) Theme is one of the toughest lessons I have had to learn to teach in both reading and writing and by the time I did, I not only […]
Mentor Text: The Sea Glass Collector by Lawrence Maxwell Techniques: Background – As we move further into the post-pandemic reality of education, a lot of things are going back to normal. For some of us, that means we’re returning to government mandated assessments. (Ugh. That sounds awful – I was trying to find a way to […]
Mentor Text: The Ancestors by Jasmin Kaur Techniques: Background – We’re all into a new school year. Sometimes, in that chaos, we fall back on some tried and true lessons and texts. As we gather with new students, I know that many of us like to start with some variation on the “Where I’m From” lesson. […]
moving writers 