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. […]
Honoring the in-between–those stretches of time between reading a story and writing about it–requires respect for how idea inspiration may arise. Conditions that advance the writing life involve elements that nurture the “seeds”: nurture prewriting time. Soil: space and time rituals for turning over the memory fossils in the ground. Air: room to let the […]
The excitement of the holidays thrums through our hallways and all of the festive delight creates a unique frenetic energy that is a joy to be around. Teachers, however, will attest to the difficulty in harnessing this energy into focused writer workshops, especially when December also means state testing, late-night choir and orchestra concerts, the […]
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 […]
Source Friends, we made it!! Shocktober is in the rearview mirror and Thanksgiving break can be seen on the horizon. There is nothing I love more than the week leading up to a break for two reasons: 1. Umm… it’s THE break (no cap) and 2. It’s a week full of students coming and going […]
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 […]
All writers are vulnerable, but our multilingual writers carry especially vulnerable learning identities that can be complex and enriching. As our school has grown its ELD program, we have had to adjust our instructional tools to best fit these thinkers and writers. It can sometimes feel like we are all novices: teachers and students alike. […]
It’s not too late to register to join me TONIGHT (Wednesday, 10/25) at 7:30 pmEST to chat personal narrative writing. We’ll think about differentiation within your department or grade level team AND within your classroom. There will be time for Q&A, and you’ll walk away with an 18-page guide to teaching personal narrative writing filled […]
You guys. I am so excited about this. More excited than I’ve been about a project in a long time. I’m currently teaching It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime for the first time. And, to save time and energy and maximize learning, I’m using it as the foundation of my personal essay unit. Which made […]
Every English teacher wants to talk about ChatGPT right now. When I thought about how I wanted to tackle this at Moving Writers, this first person who came to mind is today’s guest writer, my colleague, Philip Tickle. Philip wows and amuses me every day with his ability to use ChatGPT to make his teaching […]
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