LMS Voice Curriculum Data Base
Brian Hannon is a friend and rock star teacher who reached out to see if I would share this resource on this site. The answer was a quick YES as I believe this will be a site you return to time and...
View ArticleVirtual Learning – Week Five
We’re still 100% virtual in Atlanta, and I’m finally settling into a routine. I’ve written about some other ideas that have been helpful here and here which details writer’s notebooks, synchronous...
View ArticleWriting Romantically (big R)
I’ve referenced this lesson that I created last year several times but am officially sharing it as a post here today since it was featured on the October 1st Brave New Teaching podcast along with some...
View ArticleAP Lit Voice Lessons and Reverse Voice Lessons: Dubliners
Our current learning situation: We have a hybrid Digital Learning/Face to Face schedule and those students are in the same periods. On our synchronous days (which are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), I...
View ArticleHybrid Learning: A Paradox of Hard and Hope-filled
In March of 2020, when I quickly found myself teaching 100% remotely in a shelter in place world, I reached for my trusty copy of Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities and read the classic “It was it best of...
View ArticleQuick and Easy Lessons
Y’all – teaching in a pandemic is hard. I’m a glass half full kind of person and struggle to remain positive and live a balanced life. My district continues to be all virtual (changes may be coming...
View ArticleIndigenous People Literature
I am off today for Indigenous People Day and wanted to highlight some texts by indigenous authors that I use in class. There are so many other works that could be on this list, but here’s a start if...
View ArticleBuilding Community and Honoring Student Identity: Pandemic Edition
Teaching in 2020 is certainly not what we envisioned when we chose this profession. For me, the most significant challenge of teaching in the Spring of 2020 was not having any daily knowledge of how my...
View ArticleBeyond Curriculum
I’ve noticed over my 20+ years of teaching that students are more prone to anxiety. This article from the National Education Association and this one from the Washington Post, both pre-pandemic. Covid,...
View ArticleJericho Brown Wisdom
In case you’re not familiar with Jericho Brown (doesn’t everyone know him now?), let me introduce you to him. I’m partial to him because he’s a hometown guy, teaching creative writing at Emory...
View ArticleMosaic Monthly – November
Happy third Sunday of the month – or our scheduled Mosaic monthly. My goal after Mosaic was to have a live monthly PD in the 9 pm slot each third Sunday to compliment #aplitchat (1st Sunday),...
View Article“Snapping Beans”
I’m not sure when I first read this poem, but it’s part of my Thanksgiving routine now. I typically share this poem with my former students, now freshmen in college, around this time of year and think...
View ArticlePlaying with Poetry
We are 100% virtual, and I’ve never met my students face to face. This is especially challenging for me (and I imagine most readers of this blog) since I love hands-on lessons – especially when it...
View ArticleQuick and Easy Ways into Poems
These methods will get your students thinking and talking about poetry and require very little prep. Getting students into the habit of reading a poem multiple times can be hard, but by having a focus...
View Article#Bookstagram – What My Students are Reading
My original idea for this post was for 20 students to review 20 books for 2020; however, only 11 of my students wrote reviews. It’s been a hard year . . . . So here’s what my students are reading and...
View Article21 in 21, Day 1: “Burning the Old Year”
Burning the Old Year by Naomi Shihab Nye Letters swallow themselves in seconds. Notes friends tied to the doorknob, transparent scarlet paper,sizzle like moth wings,marry the air. So much of any...
View Article21 in 21, Day 2: “The Gallants” by James Joyce
by Eric Rovie, Brookwood High School, Georgia Creative Commons PDF of Dubliners James Joyce’s Dubliners is an underappreciated masterpiece-the impact of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man on the...
View Article21 in 21, Day 3: “When I Walk Through That Door, I Am” by Jimmy Santiago Baca
This post is written by Dionne Nichols. I used Baca’s “When I Walk Through That Door, I Am” for the first time right before winter break, and I was floored by what my students did with it. “When I Walk...
View Article21 in 21, Bao by Disney Pixar
Submitted by Kathryn Gullo In the midst of a global pandemic, I lived with my mom for the first time in over 30-years. My children learned that the stories of my teenage ambivalence were grounded in...
View Article21 in 21, Day 5: Dracula by Bram Stoker
submitted by Elizabeth Chapman My favorite book to teach is always the one that I’m doing with my students at the moment. Occasionally I’ll be waiting for the elevator next to a teacher from the math...
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