Mentor Text: Red Vise, Blue Vise by Eric J. Stormer Techniques: Imagery Symbolism juxtaposition 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 […]
Mentor Text: the series of poems about turning different ages from Black Girl You Are Atlas by Renee Watson Techniques: Memoir 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 […]
Mentor Text: Things to do Around Winnipeg when you’re Black by Michael Fraser Techniques: Titling Pieces Using theme to make a statement 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 […]
Mentor Text: Emile Nelligan by Carmine Starnino Techniques: Poetry Analysis 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 […]
Mentor Text: Excuse Me As I Kiss The Sky by Rudy Francisco Techniques: Poetic form 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 […]
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: Idea generation Dedications in poetry 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 […]
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: Imagery Memoir 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 […]
Mentor Text: The Ancestors by Jasmin Kaur Techniques: Facing the challenges the “Where I’m From” poem lesson presents for some students 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 […]
