You can almost hear the collective intake of breath among teachers nationwide as March 31 turns into April 1 and many of us stare down the reality of imminent testing. The incredible, brilliant Sam Futrell (full-time classroom teacher, author, president of the Virginia Council for the Social Studies, Retro Report fellow, etc.) is offering two […]
Like most English teachers, my AP Literature and Composition students have a special kind of scorn for AI writing. And it makes sense: They are some of the most skilled writers in the school, and likely they feel threatened by technology that claims to replicate the skill that helped propel them to academic success, often […]
One of my greatest NCTE joys have been the times members of the Moving Writers team have gotten to join forces at NCTE. I love these people — their deeply-felt philosophies about teaching writing to make a difference in children’s learning and lives, their practical, boots-on-the-ground, why-didn’t-I-think-of-that brilliance. Here are some of the resources from […]
You can feel the anxiety in the air. A buzzing current at present, but one that will steadily increase in intensity as the days close in on the AP Language and Composition exam (May 15th). So my focus right now is on my juniors—a group of 21 bright, young individuals who I have worked with […]
My beat this fall is all about exploring how students can write their way INto texts and use their writing (or others’) to learn more about literature. If you’re looking for new ways to use writing in a literature study or hoping to blend writing workshop into a course where it doesn’t seem like a […]
We have officially arrived at the point in the year where panic ensues. The fourth marking period is here and there is still. so. much. to. do. And with the additional pressures of AP and state testing season, to say I’m feeling overwhelmed would be an understatement. The truth is that it’s when the going […]
After the Parkland school shooting in February, we witnessed something tangible shift in our discourse about school safety and gun regulation. Nationally, we saw and still see young people like the Parkland student survivors stand up and make their voices heard, including the CNN sponsored town hall with Florida politicians and a coordinated student-led walkout on […]
Like most teachers, I’ve had a estranged relationship with the AP exam—and any standardized test. Do we have an obligation to prepare students for the “test”? I think so. But that obligation can never supplant the greater responsibility we bear to build our students’ literacy lives in an increasingly challenging world. Or put another way—do […]
IB exams begin in early May, and I’m a teacher who loves to settle into a discussion when the ideas are good and they just keep coming, so if you asked my students to identify an external conflict in the drama of senior year of IB Literature, they would say “Ms. Jochman vs. the calendar.” […]
There aren’t any cheat sheets or formulas to help students do well on the SAT essay. But as it turns out, that might actually be a good thing.
moving writers 