This is the Open Write, a place for educators to nurture their writing lives and to advocate for writing poetry in community. We gather every month and daily in April — no sign-ups, no fees, no commitments. Come and go as you please. All that …
Engaging Students in the Reading/Writing Classroom
Engaging Students in the Reading/Writing Classroom by Barb Edler Hello, readers. I am a retired public school Language Arts/Composition teacher from Iowa. Currently, I am an online writing tutor for Kirkwood Community College. My teaching instruction has been greatly influenced by the Iowa Writing Project, …
One Year to Live Differently: My Sabbatical Begins
I’m taking a one-year sabbatical. Not because I’m burned out or finished with my work, but because I want to return to it differently. With more clarity. More presence. More capacity for joy, for partnership, and for being in the world beyond my inbox. This …
What I Know to be True: Indulgence
What I Know to be True: Indulgence by Joanne L. Emery I’m not sure it’s because I’ve been teaching for forty-six years or that I’ve been at my present school for twenty-one years, or that I will be just one year short of seventy in …
Small Acts
Our Host Leilya lives in Ponchatoula, LA, a small town celebrated for its strawberries and kind, generous people. She teaches and coordinates the English Education Program at Southeastern Louisiana University. Preparing future English teachers, she hopes they become caring, competent, and effective educators. She is …
What is Normal?
This is the Open Write, a place for educators to nurture their writing lives and to advocate for writing poetry in community. We are here every month. The next Open Write is July 19-21. Our Host Tammi is a District Gifted Intervention Specialist, middle school …
Dictionary Entry: Me
This is the Open Write, a place for educators to nurture their writing lives and to advocate for writing poetry in community. We are here every month. Glad you are here. Our Host: Leilya Pitre Leilya lives in Ponchatoula, LA, a small town celebrated for its …
From Then to Now: How ELA Teaching Has Evolved to Center Students’ Voices and Experiences
From Then to Now: How ELA Teaching Has Evolved to Center Students’ Voices and Experiences by Jolie Hicks Jolie Hicks, Ph.D., is a Teaching Assistant Professor of Secondary Education at Oklahoma State University, where she focuses on mentoring future teachers. The COVID-19 pandemic opened our …
How Teachers Can Make Sense of Our Current Book Banning Moment
by Henry “Cody” Miller I am writing this blog post in early February 2025. The last few weeks have been filled with headlines that cause despair and frustration: radical executive orders that mandate the erasure of BIPOC narratives and attempt to ban LGBTQ people from …
From Guide to Guerrilla: Teaching Anti-Racist ELA in Restrictive Times
by Dr. Michelle M. Falter Five years ago, my co-authors, Chandra Alston, Crystal Lee, and I published Becoming Anti-Racist English Teachers in the spirit of national reckoning. The call was clear: Listen. Reflect. Read. Interrogate. Act. For a brief moment, anti-racism moved from the margins …