Recently, I was wandering around a Target while my daughter was at Girl Scouts, and I was amazed to find six (six!) collections of poetry in the book section! Poetry! At Target! I was so moved that I took a picture and Tweeted, I suppose what moves me is that I don’t think it’s coincidental […]
Pretty much every trip my family takes to the city finds us in a bookstore. Not a surprise, I know. Recently, as I walked past the teen section, dragging my kids out of the children’s section, a book, of course, caught my eye. I picked up Get Lit Rising, and flipped through it. And headed […]
Mentor Text: Parents by Julius Lester Techniques: Poetic Form Background: Last April, my co-worker Ashley and I went to see Penny Kittle speak. As is standard, we walked away inspired, full of ideas to try, and thoughts on how we could improve the program that we offer to our students. Penny is the best kind of […]
Mentor Text: Swim Your Own Race by Mbali Vilakazi Techniques: Form Purposeful Use of Figurative Language Exploring Clichéd Sports Metaphor Using Contrast Background: I love the Winter Olympics. I’m setting my alarm to get up in the morning before school to watch sports that I normally dismiss. The excitement is so infectious. Especially fun this […]
Mentor Text: A MAD Fold-In Poem by Daniel Scott Tysdal Techniques: Poetic Form Writing Rough Drafts Analysis Visual Presentation Background – If you read this column regularly, you know that I’ve been reading a lot of poetry lately. I’ve actually made it a professional goal to explore poetry in my classroom with more intent the last […]
I’d like to formally apologize to my college professors for my “I’m trying to sound smart” papers. I remember cranking out papers in college that, when looking back, make me shudder with embarrassment. How many attempts at “smart sounding” papers did I diligently and dutifully write while holed up in my tiny room in my […]
Mentor Text: My Three Solaces by Erin Fornoff Writing Techniques: Poetry Brevity Memoir Background: As this post publishes, many of you are headed back into your classrooms after a break for the holidays. (Monday for me!) It’s a new calendar year. This, combined with the holiday season, makes me reflective. The chaos of school before […]
Mentor Texts: The Poetry of Poets Respond, via Rattle Magazine Writing Techniques: Responding to current events Finding Inspiration Poetic Form Background: This post has been at the back of my mind for a while now. It’s not the first time I’ve written here about how our classrooms are places that we have to deal with the […]
Mentor Text: The Taco Boat by Al Ortolani Writing Techniques: Idea Generation Memoir Poetic Form Voice Background: In Twitter edchats, I’ve been part of discussions about what should be part of a teacher’s Twitter feed. One of my go-to recommendations is always poetry. Following poets, literary magazines and other sites that focus on poetry. The […]
Mentor Texts: Poetry In Action from The New York Times Book Review E.B. White on Why He Wrote Charlotte’s Web, Plus His Rare Illustrated Manuscripts via brainpickings.org Strategies Used: Revision Background: Aside from noting a few things that popped into my Twitter feed, I haven’t done very much work this summer. July is largely mine. […]
moving writers 