Research writing has been a big part of my teaching for the past few years as I’ve moved more and more into the world of AP Seminar. In 2018 I spent most of my blogging time thinking about how to Make Research Relevant. That year and the years that have followed have yielded all kinds […]
I’m writing this post during my SAT proctoring break and I’m exhausted. I just read mind-numbing directions for almost an hour, then checked calculators, then more directions, then watched kids bubble. I’m beat. And I didn’t even take the test! Maybe I’m getting soft in my old age, but I’m pretty sure that by Friday […]
As the season of AP Lang exams fast approaches, I find myself more and more urgently seeking ways to help tighten gaps in my students’ skill sets. Fine tuning writing skills is a part of it, but when it comes to one AP Lang task–the Open Argument essay–there are more pressing issues that are a […]
If I ask my students what makes a good introduction, they can quickly rattle off a list of “hooks” —a question! a definition! a surprising fact! I bet if you asked your students, they could do the same. Have you read your fair share of essays with these types of hooks? Merriam Webster describes a […]
Contextual Pools–and how to help students add depth to them
I’ve been writing about how the pandemic and virtual teaching has made me rethink all kinds of things about my teaching practices, but the one topic I’ve been avoiding is the biggest. It has probably been the biggest teaching shift I’ve made in my 20 years of teaching…and yet I’ve been hesitant to talk about […]
At the beginning of this year, I committed to spending some time reflecting on what went well last year and which areas of my teaching practice needed a “reset button” after 18 months of interrupted schooling. This month I’m looking closely at one of the things my PLC discussed most during virtual and hybrid learning: […]
Last year turned everything I thought I knew about teaching and learning upside down, and I don’t want to rush back to old practices. To avoid that, my blog focus this semester is on places where I want to hit the reset button. In September I reset by reading Writing Rhetorically and figuring out how […]
One of the most common genres we ask secondary students to write is the argumentative essay (thanks, Common Core!). State tests ask for it, ACT and SAT, the AP tests…it’s everywhere. In the last fifteen years or so, I think we’ve all done a pretty solid job of prepping students for that type of writing […]
moving writers 