How do you respond to a student’s response? What do you say that indicates you are hearing the words and the being who is before you? This came up in a higher ed course last term when we were practicing some mini-lessons. It occurred to …
Memoir: The Beautiful Problem of Remembering
When we read literature about lives that seem too distant from our own, how do we minimize our tendencies to “other” the unfamiliar? In the middle school reading classroom, I have found that if we begin with the process of telling our own stories — …
Book Review: Gabi, a Girl in Pieces
When I was in high school, I kept a diary. It was where I spoke my truth, my inner most thoughts, but also where I wrote poems to boys who didn’t even know I existed and dreams for my life beyond the dungeon of my …
Reading as a Witness to Lives Lived by Sarah J Donovan
As teachers, we bear witness to the lives of students every day, and in journals, blogs, seminars, and over lunch, we read the lives of students as well. Because of teachers, students’ stories endure. We are a witness to their lives.
Summer School: Running in the Direction of Utopia
It is Friday morning, and I am not in school but writing about it. For now I feel like I am in some dimension of utopia, but I realize we, our schools, have yet to arrive at some utopian destination. Indeed, we are far from the sort of schools our students deserve, and yet there are teachers who create these wonderful communities that make possible many of the points listed above (conversations with students, feedback over grades, and learning over testing). Utopia doesn’t have to be a work of fiction. We can imagine utopia as a direction — a direction I intend to keep running toward when the “real” school year begins and elements of dystopia loom.
Fantasy Book Review: Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor
The beauty of Akata Witch is that readers discover alongside Sunny, a strong female protagonist, who she is becoming. Readers feel her anxiety, frustration, and confidence as she finds comfort in her beautiful (and transforming) skin and as she learns to navigate and integrate two very different worlds.
Book Review: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
Rating: Finding the Flow (yes, no, partial): not really Classroom Library (single, book group, whole class): single As a middle school teacher, I read YA lit in a couple ways. First, I read like a, well, reader. How much I “like” it depends on whether …
Grant Me Your Story
Teachers have so many great ideas for their curriculum and classroom. I’ve had ideas about book groups, sets of five or so books of diverse authors and topics for reading workshop. I’ve had ideas about beautiful journals. I imagined all of my students having a …
Oversharing in Writing Workshop
Many ELA teachers write alongside their students, but do you write like a “teacher” or a “person”? Do you write to model for and teach techniques to your students, or do you write to explore an experience, uncover a truth? Of course, being a teacher …