The late Sir Ken Robinson once asked why we value analyzing literature more than we value actually creating it. I share his concern.
Recently …
Go Ahead! Open That Can of Worms: A Lesson for Introducing ChatGPT
“I don’t think you should be talking about this,” a ninth grader muttered under his breath as he gritted his teeth and sank a bit lower in his chair. No, this was not the response when I started a lesson about healthy relationships during our Catcher in the Rye study (everyone likes hearing their English […]
Mentor Text Wednesday: The Night Attendant at the Gas Station
Mentor Text: The Night Attendant at the Gas Station by Michael Penny Techniques: Background – I’m going to pass along what may seem like a somewhat pithy piece of teaching advice. Zero inbox is your friend. Since school resumed after the holidays, I delete or file everything almost instantly. (professionally and personally) It also means that […]
Research Mini Lessons:Framing and Weighing Sources
Research writing has been a big part of my teaching for the past few years as I’ve moved more and more into the world of AP Seminar. In 2018 I spent most of my blogging time thinking about how to Make Research Relevant. That year and the years that have followed have yielded all kinds […]
How to Have the “Fun”, Free-Choice Writing Workshop of Students’ Dreams
In spite of my protestations to the contrary, I want to be the fun teacher. It’s just that often my definition of fun involves annotating or revising or learning etymology and that doesn’t consistently align with students’ definition of fun. After four months of what even I deemed to be not-fun work (various iterations of […]
Brave New Words: 5 Ideas for Bringing ChatGPT into Your Writing Workshop
You can hardly get online recently without seeing an article or other hand-wringing about ChatGPT and what this means for the world. Especially the English teacher world. Thankfully, Brett Vogelsinger has done some thinking about this. Instead of fighting against it, what if we could use ChatGPT and other AI to actually benefit our writers? […]
The Benefits of Writing 5:Thinking and Meaning
Writing is thinking on paper. Our thinking is the fabric of our minds: our memories of the past, our imaginative hopes for the future.
Making All Things New: Prompts for Thinking Creatively
This year on Moving Writers, I am dusting off some old-but-wise books on my shelf about writing, creating a tiny review, then considering how one passage from the book can inform writing instruction today, even decades after the book was first published. This month, I’ll consider Metro: Journeys in Writing Creatively by Hans Ostrom, Wendy […]
Mentor Text Wednesday: Pause and Reflect
Mentor Text: Pause and Reflect by Melissa Martin Techniques: Background – Fellow teachers. Do you, like me, find yourself wondering how it’s possible that this school year, of the last few “unprecedented” years, seems to be the hardest? Those of us who haven’t engaged in the “quiet quitting,” or have left the classroom more noisily are […]
Mending our Writing Hearts
This months piece looks at slowing down our students writing to explore appreciate and feel the words being written on the page. How can loose parts play a role in creating meaningful narratives?
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