Districts and English departments are scrambling for “diverse” books–while some of us have been doing this work, time to continue and support.… Read More Series: White People Homework (22) ‘Canon’ Fodder
Who names the genres? How are genres created? Are we allowed to make new ones? The answers are we do, all different ways, and absolutely yes! My husband shared this article with me. Forever interested in genres, it sparked my thinking about the genesis of genres: The Hottest New Literary Genre Is ‘Doomer Lit’ (Stories… Read More Creating Genres
My sweet friend posts the cutest things on social media (in contrast to my doom-and-gloom handwringing posts). This is such a great idea of how to explain genre to students–yes, the lyrics are a little spicey but rest assured I always get parent permission for my 8th-grade students. This would be such a fun engaging… Read More Summer Series of Saves: Genre
Literary Analysis, Themes, and Essay Writing, Oh my!! How did I not know about this? (probably because of PG-13 language: I’ll get permission slips, promise!) ThugNotes is narrated by Sparky Sweets, Ph.D., and yes there is some language, but the plot summaries and analysis are epic. For a secondary audience, this modern version of CliffsNotes is… Read More Saving Summer: More Good Things
Back in April, my buddy Sharon and I went to the local National Consortium for Teaching About Asia weekend workshop, “Graphic Novels and Cultural Authenticity” class about graphic novels, and the Freeman Choice book award winner came to speak, too. It was a wonderful day, with some of my favorite people. All of the… Read More Saving Summer: Graphically speaking.
Ah, the never-ending struggle, challenge, and balance with what has proven to work with what’s new. Teaching Joseph Campbell’s Journey of the Hero structural pattern works — it works because students understand truly what plot is, they can apply it to multiple mediums, stories, and their own lives, and wait…no more needs to be said. They can… Read More Absolutely True Attempt at Journey of the Hero
I think I would cease to function if I didn’t have my sense of humor. Everyone thinks they have a sense of humor, but… Humor is one of the most difficult mediums to write. One way to allow students to access their natural silliness is to introduce them to parody and satire. Parody: intended to spoof… Read More Series: Elements of Structure Part 9: Parody & Satire
Yes, a wall of books. It took most students’ breath away, and teachers, too, who peeked in my room. I was inspired to try this real-life sorting activity and authentic book-talks because of pragmatic realities: having moved classrooms nearly every single year, I had had enough of putting books back on shelves by myself, never… Read More Genre Lessons
Great conversation the other day: student in my “struggling” reading comprehension group reminded me once again that many kids aren’t necessarily “bad” readers, but not motivatedto read. We had a few moments just to talk about what we were reading, a topic at hand, a bird-walk, so to speak, and he and I discussed a… Read More Game on.
Excerpt: Chapter 20: Dying Languages Speaking, writing, and signing are the three ways in which a language lives and breathes. They are the three mediums through which a language is passed on from one generation to the next. If a language is a healthy language, this is happening all the time. Parents pass their language… Read More Books You Should Read:
Mrs. Kelly Love 
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