Many of you have reached out in the last few hours asking for an all-inclusive PD option. The short answer: Sure! Here is the Moving Writers 2024-2025 PD All-Access pass. It is priced at 20% off the price of all six sessions purchased separately, which is essentially more than one session FREE. (And members of […]
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Moving Writers Professional Development Calendar
I asked teachers in the Moving Writers Community to share their wish lists with me — the kind of professional development that they are dreaming of. And then I used those ideas to create a calendar of PD opportunities this school year. Others will probably pop up — in fact, I know for certain we’ll […]
Supporting English Language Learners with Graphic Novels & Color Symbolism
New York City, where I teach, is famous for its harbor, the Statue of Liberty welcoming immigrants (at least at some stages in history). Now, in my 24th year of teaching, I find myself opening my arms to a greater immigrant population than I have ever taught in our public schools. This year my Freshman […]
A Music Memoir Unit Remix
Oct 8 2024 Ashley Anderson Source Shock-tober is just as much a thing for teachers as it is for students. I don’t know where y’alls students are, but mine are struggling. Struggling not only to make it to school on time but also to even write a sentence…correctly. Because the “struggle is real”, I knew […]
Writing Inspired by Nature
Use nature as your guide for writing. Come join Abigail in her beat this month which offers ways to get involved in the beloved Write Out event going on– and ideas to spark your students writing all year long.
Mentor Text Wednesday: Ten Things I’ve Been Meaning to Say to You
Mentor Text: Ten Things I’ve Been Meaning to Say to You by Jason Reynolds Techniques: Background – Sometimes, discovery of a mentor text is a second hand thing. I assume that folks reading these posts of mine are taking the things I’ve shared and are doing really cool things with them that I’ve not thought of. […]
6 Ideas to Incorporate Geography in Reading and Writing Lessons
If you are a teacher of writing, you have likely sometimes felt so immersed in a book that you could see the characters walking down the street along by moonlight or hear the sounds of a bustling marketplace. The author’s use of setting details is part of what makes this happen. Setting is more than […]
Writing Forensically: Ask students what’s in your (writer’s) bag?
Forensic Science is one of the most popular electives at our school, which makes sense given how often students tell me that either Law & Order, SVU, Criminal Minds, or Cold Case is their favorite tv show. Students are engaged by clues, puzzles, and intrigue. While ELA teachers lean into this engagement strategy when we […]
Mentor Text Wednesday: The Reserve Went Silent
Mentor Text: The Reserve Went Silent by Sky Dancer Louise Bernice Halfe Techniques: Background – As a Canadian teacher, my work in my classroom has been influenced by this country’s history, most specifically our work in the areas of Truth and Reconciliation. On September 30, we have a Day for Reflection on Truth and Reconciliation, so […]
Leaping into the Figurative
This is why I love the leap into non-literal sense making that is Nancy WIlliard’s poem “Questions My Son Asked Me, Answers I Never Gave Him.” Each of the questions are lovely and from a child’s mind of wonder. But, the answers exceed that sense of childhood awe into a kind of riddle-world where wisdom […]
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