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 …