For years, I planned closely with my history counterparts to do cross-curricular units of study.  English and history overlapped and...

We had finished our unit of tall tales, and there was one more day until Spring Break 2024.  The easy thing to do would have been to give...

My last day of school was May 28, but my summer break did not really begin until June 17.  As soon as school ended, Summer Writing Club...

When we returned to school from Spring Break, my seventh-grade students began reading and reacting to stories of slavery in the United...

I am often asked the question: “Don’t you get bored doing the same thing every year?”  My answer is, “No,” because I don’t do the same...

One Monday, about two weeks ago, a near-parade of seventh-graders came through my classroom door before school with bags of sticks, logs,...

What do you remember about your 6th or 7th or 8th grade English class? Do you remember clearly that argument essay you wrote? How about...

I have been teaching for a long time. The past two years were the first in my career that I was given the chance to intentionally loop...

It is summer. School is out. The weather is warm. What have I been doing? Writing fiction with students from 6th through 10th grade....

You may recall from my September 2022 post, that I begin each year with a letter of introduction to my students. I actually try to do...

“Whoa. This is intense.” “I never got this much feedback before.” “You really liked this?” “Last year, all we got were circles on a...

The students I teach see things and know things that I never thought about at their age. I didn’t have access to 24/7 news, social...

Our entire school had spent over three hours in standardized testing in the morning. Immediately following this time, one of my 8th...

In the first days of school, I need to build a relationship between me and my new students. And I need to do it right away. There is a...

Reading workshop is a good thing. It is a wonderful way to create independent readers. It encourages student choice, and we know that...

Recently, I did a bit of tutoring. During this time, I helped the student work on a final writing assignment for an English class. I...

The last week of school is difficult. Exhausting at times. As we stress over grading final assignments or tests, hunting down missing...

After Spring Break, my classes began some serious topics in literature. My seventh-graders are reading stories of slavery in the United...

Allow me to place you into a scenario. You have finished reading a piece of literature with a class. A discussion has naturally arisen...

According to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary, a reprise is a recurrence, renewal, or resumption of an action. This blog entry is just that,...