My AP Lit students and I are wrapping up our adventure together with William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. (You can read more about how this text fits into the year’s curriculum here if you’re interested.) This is the most challenging text they’ve … Continue reading
As I’ve articulated already in this blog, our most important conversation about education right now focuses on equity. I’ve embarked on a bit of a listening tour recently for this topic. I’ve submitted no conference presentation proposals this year, but … Continue reading
The writer’s notebook is a key piece to a workshop classroom. Whatever you call it–response notebook, reader’s/writer’s notebook–the idea is that it becomes an extension of a student’s brain, the place to work out ideas, reflect, plan, wonder, ponder, keep … Continue reading
In a reading workshop, students often read their own books at their own pace, books that they choose themselves. While there is space for this kind of independent reading in AP Lit, whole class novels are also important. Discussion surrounding … Continue reading
Doc Z and I presented yesterday at the Colorado Language Arts Society conference on getting away from grading, and using feedback to teach/encourage reflective practice in our students. We packed a lot into 75 minutes, and the teachers in our … Continue reading
Thanks to everyone who came to our session at the Colorado Language Arts Society conference yesterday. We really enjoyed talking about your classes and students with you. I’m linking the slides and the handout below if you wanted to take … Continue reading
I got to the point last Tuesday while watching election returns that I couldn’t focus anymore on what was unfolding on the US maps the news commentators kept describing, so I wrote a few emails, shopped for some new running … Continue reading
As I reflect back over the last three days at #UNHLit16, my mind wants to throw down a manifesto regarding things I’ll focus on to improve my reading/writing workshop classroom for the next school year. (In case you’re keeping track, … Continue reading
One Year One Unit One Class This is the planning framework that Penny Kittle and Kelly Gallagher used today to walk us through their thinking about how to make sure they increase the volume of their students’ reading and writing. It was … Continue reading
Why are you choosing to do what you’re choosing to do? What are your core beliefs as a teacher? @pennykittle @KellyGtoGo That’s something I would have tweeted had I been tweeting during our time today with Penny Kittle and Kelly Gallagher … Continue reading
