Pick someone out that we each see daily, or regularly, and create a little character study or fictional backstory.
Sunday Stanzas & Stories, 8.16
Last week, in my Call for Writers, I invited you to join me on Sundays to do some creative writing. People from all over the country responded- Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Texas, and Turkey. Thank you for joining me in …
Call for Writers: Sunday Stanzas & Stories
In the summer, I do a lot of reading and writing, but as the school year gets going, I gradually replace my personal literary work for the work of the classroom. I spend more time planning lessons, listening to students, and reading student blogs, and …
A Student’s View on Writing: Advice For Teachers (Part 2) by Fidan
Welcome to part two of My 8th Grade Writing Experience. For this part two I will be giving some tips for 8th grade teachers before school starts again this fall. The first advice I have is that, when you teach your students types of poems or any other …
A Student’s View on Writing: Speak Your Heart Out (Part 1) by Fidan
Hello, my name is Fidan, and I’d like to share my writing experience in 8th grade with you! When I first got to writing class in 8th grade, I have to be honest, I wasn’t ever really the biggest fan of writing so I wasn’t …
Summer School: Running in the Direction of Utopia
It is Friday morning, and I am not in school but writing about it. For now I feel like I am in some dimension of utopia, but I realize we, our schools, have yet to arrive at some utopian destination. Indeed, we are far from the sort of schools our students deserve, and yet there are teachers who create these wonderful communities that make possible many of the points listed above (conversations with students, feedback over grades, and learning over testing). Utopia doesn’t have to be a work of fiction. We can imagine utopia as a direction — a direction I intend to keep running toward when the “real” school year begins and elements of dystopia loom.
Oversharing in Writing Workshop
Many ELA teachers write alongside their students, but do you write like a “teacher” or a “person”? Do you write to model for and teach techniques to your students, or do you write to explore an experience, uncover a truth? Of course, being a teacher …