This summer during Camp Rewrite, I had an illuminating conversation with Utah teacher John Arthur. In his sixth grade classroom, he frames everything students do as “content creation”. After all, Arthur said, this is what every kid wants to be — a content creator. An influencer. So, what would it look like if we reframed […]
Yes, it is cliché, but now more than ever… less is more. And, what we want more of with our writers this school year has changed. Right now, many people find themselves wanting more student conversations, more students ideas, and more writing, but giving more doesn’t happen to be the solution to getting more in […]
If you’re anything like me, those few short weeks between fall and winter breaks are nothing short of an anxiety inducing shopping/baking/grading/wrapping/tying-up-loose-ends extravaganza. Each year, the time sandwiched between breaks seems like too little or not quite enough. But a few years ago, I cooked up a new dish called Food Lit. Food Lit was inspired […]
A tough start to the school year combined with the launch of a new unit created the perfect storm to force me to put into writing 3 beliefs that drive me as an educator.
Several years ago, I taught The House on Mango Street and I did what a lot of English teachers do while teaching The House on Mango Street — I assigned my students a vignette writing assignment using Sandra Cisnero’s work as the writing model. And I remember that assignment being good. My students worked hard […]
Today’s guest post comes from Brian Kelley, co-director of the Pennsylvania Writing & Literature Project. He teaches at Charles F. Patton Middle School in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania and produces the podcast “The Classroom,” where he confers with students about writing. you can connect with him on Twitter @_briank_ or at brianjkelley.net. Mentor Text Sick in the Head: Conversations […]
Writers explore possibility in their writing, in their own lives, in the world.
“I don’t know what to write about.” As a teacher and writer with “so many ideas and so little time,” I find this common student response troubling. But when I pause to reflect on why students might be uninspired or why they have difficulty finding ideas, I realize that, in some cases, it’s because they […]
moving writers 