Mentor Text: Wheat Kings by The Tragically Hip Strategies Used: Poetic Narrative Symbolism Background: Waiting for the last day on Friday means I’m in my classroom, wrapping up this year, cleaning up, prepping for next year… that kind of thing. It means a pretty much constant stream of music is playing. I’ve been testing out […]
As I write this, I’m finishing up the school year. The last exam is written, and I’m marking the last dregs of the deadline hugging academic daredevils. Report cards are in various stages of completion. Graduation celebrations are in full swing. I’m getting my family ready to travel halfway across the country in our annual pilgrimage […]
Mentor Text: Ted Wilson Reviews The World by Ted Wilson (posted and collected at Electric Literature, The Rumpus.net and I Am Ted Wilson Writing Techniques: Writing Reviews Humour Satire Background: Perhaps the thing I love most about the Internet is the delightfully random nature of what it manages to put in front of me. This weeks […]
The school year is winding down—and I find myself thinking more and more of warm poolside days—yet everywhere I turn, rich mentor texts seem to come my way. I’ll find something and think, “Oh, that would have been perfect to use with ____” or “That would have worked great with ____!” Although it may be […]
It’s June. I know that some of you are already done for the year. I know that many, like myself, are in the homestretch. Next week is our last week of classes, followed by exams. So, naturally, I’ve been discussing with my students the nature of their final. My team and I have had a […]
At my school district in Michigan, we’re in the home stretch. Just a few more days of instruction, and then we’ll be on our final exam schedule. So, for this post, I planned to write about creative lessons that will keep your class engaged and fresh throughout these dog days. From my past tense, […]
Today’s guest post is part of a series on changing the way we think about literary essays in middle school. In Part 2, Beth Toerner (@btoerner) will share how she moved students from thinking about texts in interesting, fresh ways to actually producing polished pieces of literary writing! Earlier this week, I shared the beginning […]
One of the very best parts of writing this blog is the opportunity to connect with inspiring educators across the country. This week, we are sharing a two-part guest post from Cincinnati teacher Beth Toerner (btoerner). We connected this year through a mutual professional friend and spent months corresponding about her 8th grade classroom and her […]
When asking students to write about topics that require a lot of context, we have to consider not only what THEY might not know, but what WE might not know when we give students freedom to write about their world.
My latest #movingwriters post on helping students write within word limits
moving writers 