Innovation Summit Participants, This post walks you through the process of implementing a story exchange and biographical narrative writing in your classroom, but we are going to actually go through the process together in our workshop, so save this website for later and just click …
If you are like many teachers on Facebook and Twitter this summer, you are reading a lot of great PD books about collaboration and technology and new methods and the “best” strategies. Maybe you’ve spent your own money on materials for your classroom library (e.g., color-coded …
I grew up in the 80s surrounded by images like Cindy Crawford and Pretty in Pink, which made figuring out what sort of girl I was “supposed” to be rather complicated. On top of that, I grew up with seven sisters ranging in size, shape, interest, and certainly attitude and three brothers who had their own ideas about what a girl “should” be. And as a middle school teacher for over a decade, I see teenage girls and boys navigating a world of gender “shoulds” and trying on a spectrum of gender markers, which is beautiful and painful (at times) to witness. None of the Above by I. W. Gregorio is about an 18 year old girl with AIS (Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome), when one’s chromosome make-up does not match the gender to which one identifies or intersex. She questions how she (and her whole school) understand what it means to be a girl.
What are your favorite middle-grade books? I have some money to buy books for my tenth grade English class. Suggestions? What books would you recommend for reluctant/high-standards freshman readers? In recent weeks, I’ve seen many posts and tweets of this nature and even more responses …
Thank you for your readership of Ethical ELA this school year. Thank you for being my teacher-friend. In a typical school day, the only time teachers may be alone is when we use the restroom (until someone knocks on the door). Still, teaching can feel …
I started the year with 9 weeks of choice reading, planning to alternate choice reading with book groups and core texts throughout the year (inspired by Penny Kittle and Kelly Gallagher’s work). I did what I planned, but added in a month of poetry reading, so …
“Dr. Donovan,” Isabel whispers leaning over her desk in between student presentations, “can you tell me which poem I should share at Espresso Self Cafe? I just don’t know which one to present, and we don’t have much time.” I kneel beside her desk as …
Thank you so much for joining us this month to celebrate how poetry helps us make sense of our lives and the world we live in. Let’s reflect a bit. Please respond to all or any of the questions below: What did you learn or …
Inspiration from Colin: Write about a favorite character from a book, movie, TV show , or play. For example, express what your favorite character is and what made them your favorite or write from the character’s point of view about his/her family, friends, hopes, dreams, …