Wandering Around: The untidy parts of a real-life writing process

If you teach writing, you’re likely very familiar with The Writing Process. Not a (lower-case) writing process: The Writing Process. The exact wording may shift slightly, but essentially it’s the same standard sequence that one must follow in order to fully be a capital W Writer: you plan, draft, revise, edit, and finally, publish. It’s […]

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 […]

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 […]

Making All Things New: Putting Thoughts into Words

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 an excerpt from the book Poetry Is by Ted […]

Helping Students Weigh Environmental Solutions with Podcasts

Photo by Ian Taylor on Unsplash My students love debating, but the conversations often stall when it comes to addressing environmental solutions.  The discomfort experienced in this moment can be attributed to missing opportunities for discussing and practicing climate stewardship.  Navigating unfamiliar language associated with environmental problem-solving can reinforce the sense that weighing environmental solutions […]