I believe in joyful and celebratory dancing.

As part of the Oklahoma State University’s Writing Project Advanced Summer Institute, teacher consultants crafted “This I Believe” essays inspired by the organization’s call for people to write and share essays describing the core values that guide their daily lives. At a time when teachers’ …

girl in floral dress playing mini bedroom toy

Barbie You

Welcome to Day 5 of the September Open Write. Deepest gratitude to our poetry hosts: Stacey Joy, Barb Edler, and Glenda Funk. If you have written with us before, welcome back. If you are joining us for the first time, you are in the kind, …

a group of students playing basketball

How to Triumph

Host Barbara Edler taught English Language Arts, Speech & Drama, and TAG students for forty-two and a half years. Although she misses the classroom, she keeps busy as The Keokuk Art Center’s Executive Director where she enjoys planning artistic endeavors and hosting artist receptions. She …

For the Love of Words

Host Barbara Edler taught English Language Arts, Speech & Drama, and TAG students for forty-two and a half years. Although she misses the classroom, she keeps busy as The Keokuk Art Center’s Executive Director where she enjoys planning artistic endeavors and hosting artist receptions. She …

There’s a Diamond in My Soup: Diamonte Poems

Our Host Stacey L. Joy is a National Board Certified Teacher with 38 years of teaching in the elementary classroom. Teaching her Joyteam scholars the power of knowledge, self-advocacy and justice are at the core of her practice. Stacey is a poetry lover, a creator …

Recuerdos de Comida y Amor / Memories of Food and Love

Our Host Stacey L. Joy is a National Board Certified Teacher with 38 years of teaching in the elementary classroom. Teaching her Joyteam scholars the power of knowledge, self-advocacy and justice are at the core of her practice. Stacey is a poetry lover, a creator …

Building Relationships to Discover Reading Identity

Building Relationships to Discover Reading Identity by Kimberly H. Johnson, Ed.D. When I looped up from teaching primary and elementary students to teaching middle and high school students, I felt a gut punch when I discovered students’ reluctance to read in secondary grades.  Young children, …

Over the Bridge: Using Phone Calls to Connect Students’ Worlds 

Over the Bridge: Using Phone Calls to Connect Students’ Worlds  by Brenda Moreno Early this summer, I visited the Chicago Botanic Garden. As I made my way from one garden to the next, I came across a sign that reminded guests that bridges symbolically link …

person holding a mirror on an open field

Self-Perception: Concrete Poetry

A very special thank you to our August Open Write hosts: Denise Krebs, Gayle Sands, Wendy Everard, Scott McCloskey, and Ashlyn O’Rourke. We so appreciate your generosity of time and compassion in creating these writing prompts and attending to our lines and stanzas these past …