Mentor Text: Chasing Ricky Lake by Richard Wagamese Techniques: Background – I’m a month into my 24th year of teaching full time. I’m not sure why I feel I’m managing it the worst. It may be the demands of parenting, coupled with my goals and the needs of my students, but I feel like I’m leaning […]
We’re thrilled to introduce you to another new contributing writer, Kelly Tumy. Kelly is a consultant in Texas, former president of TCTELA, incoming editor of the journal English in Texas, and one of the people in this biz that I trust them most. You’ll adore her. You can find out more about Kelly here or […]
Every year, a parent comes to me (or, more likely, their child’s advisor or an administrator) with concerns that students aren’t writing pieces that are long enough. Where are the 10-page literary essays? The 20-page research papers? They are interested in quantity. The kind of volume they think will be expected of their child in […]
Jennifer has been teaching 10-12th grade English, AP lit, and Writing for the past 18 years, and recently she has launched her high school’s first Writing Center. She is looking forward to sharing specific Writing Center tips with the Moving Writers community! This may be a bit meta, but my first post is both a […]
As the summer waned and I prepared to start the year teaching in a new high school, I realized how uncertain I felt in the skin of my new classroom, colleagues, curriculum, and community. Quickly, I realized my opening day plans were slipping into traditional territory: Let’s make sure classroom expectations are clear from day […]
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. […]
Ever since NASA began releasing images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, I’ve become reacquainted with my child self’s way of thinking about space–how every Milky Way diorama, every glow in the dark star sticker affixed to the ceiling, every classroom poster of those dusty, celestial bodies evoked deep wonder. Part of the joy […]
Choose what’s true for you:
A) It makes complete sense to teach/focus on editing and proofreading after the craft lessons.
B) I wish my students’ writing were rid of niggling errors in basic conventions, especially the ones I have already taught.
This summer during Camp Rewrite, I had an illuminating conversation with Utah teacher John Arthur. In his sixth grade classroom, he frames everything students do as “content creation”. After all, Arthur said, this is what every kid wants to be — a content creator. An influencer. So, what would it look like if we reframed […]
Until our students see that writing can offer more than points and grades, they won’t fully engage with it.
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