Mentor Text: Three Dragons in Three Styles from Wonderbook by Jeff Vandermeer Techniques: Background – I’ve had Jeff Vandermeer’s Wonderbook on my shelf for a minute, but I recently pulled it off, and while my students read independently, that’s what I’m reading. And taking lots of inspiration from. Wonderbook is a wonderful exploration of the intricacies […]
Category: Lesson for Tomorrow
A New Tilt on Art Can Spark Earth Day Conversations
Planning for Earth Day conversations can give educators pause. In the attempt to create a sense of urgency for climate action, we might decide to subject our students to a parade of dire statistics. This onslaught of information can have the opposite effect: instead of moving students from inaction to action, we can inadvertently move […]
A Lesson on Beginnings Before Teaching Narrative Leads
When students do not think through the point of entry into their story, they pick the first thing that occurs to them, and this almost always means that the memoir gets narrated chronologically; any potential for flashbacks or other transitions in time is unexplored.
Knowing vs. Discovering Theme: A Lesson in Topic Choice
Nancie Atwell calls theme “the chilliest mind Popsicle” of all the writing lessons that young writers need to learn, and I couldn’t agree more. (Atwell, 2015, 101) Theme is one of the toughest lessons I have had to learn to teach in both reading and writing and by the time I did, I not only […]
Delving into Text with Purpose and Focus
We’re thrilled to introduce you to another new contributing writer, Kelly Tumy. Kelly is a consultant in Texas, former president of TCTELA, incoming editor of the journal English in Texas, and one of the people in this biz that I trust them most. You’ll adore her. You can find out more about Kelly here or […]
Writing with the James Webb Space Telescope
Ever since NASA began releasing images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, I’ve become reacquainted with my child self’s way of thinking about space–how every Milky Way diorama, every glow in the dark star sticker affixed to the ceiling, every classroom poster of those dusty, celestial bodies evoked deep wonder. Part of the joy […]
Syntax Study for Earth Day
Placing Maggie Smith’s “Good Bones” and Craig Santos Perez’s “Good Fossil Fuels” side by side can elicit a wide-ranging classroom conversation about the ways the climate crisis is downplayed. Through describing points of convergence and divergence, students can ponder how the “recycled” aspects of Smith’s syntax and prosody appearing in Perez’s poem challenge their thinking […]
Go Ahead! Open That Can of Worms: A Lesson for Introducing ChatGPT
“I don’t think you should be talking about this,” a ninth grader muttered under his breath as he gritted his teeth and sank a bit lower in his chair. No, this was not the response when I started a lesson about healthy relationships during our Catcher in the Rye study (everyone likes hearing their English […]
First Writing Moves of the School Year: PART 2 (Storytelling)
How do we get students to buy into writing? How do we begin to hear their stories. Oral storytelling is a way to engage your writers in a low stakes way and create a basis for a really strong writing community.
Dream Boards
In this school years last beat Abigail takes you through a writing strategy of “dream/vision boards” to cast a vision for the future with your students.