I’m a frequent teacher, sometimes poet and occasional gamer. Once in a while, these identities collide. One such collision produced what I’m sharing today: Explicate, The Poetry Analysis Card Game. Before we get into the details, let me say, this is free to download and use here. But, if for some reason, you want to […]
Tag: featured
Coaching Call with Rebekah: Nonfiction Reading Strategies
Over the last year or so, I’ve been thinking about how I can do more to help teachers. A one-day workshop or webinar is great, but I’m also convinced that the most important conversations we have are individual, one-on-one, and speak into the specifics of our lives. So, I started offering private coaching sessions just […]
Find a starting line: Using writing contests to reexamine writing skills and motivate writers
On a recent sunny October morning, I laced up my sneakers and set out on a run through golden tree-lined paths in a park close to my house. The run was at a mild pace, the air fresh, and I was daydreaming while running. I ended the run red-cheeked but not overly winded or strained. […]
Flash Proofreading Inspired by Rebekah’s Flash Revision
I tried Rebekah O’Dell’s Flash Revision and loved the results. Later in the unit, one of my students asked, “Why don’t you help me with a timer while proofreading too? It’s harder than revision.”
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 […]
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.
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 […]
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 […]
