My Life as a Literacy Educator

Years ago, I was asked to present an in-service workshop for other ELA teachers in my district, and I did it because I do not like (or know ...

Until this week, winning and acknowledgement were in no way synonymous in my brain. As a teacher, I have never been concerned with winning s...

"You can't write a poem about McDonald's" has been one of my favorite poems for years now. I have been teaching it annuall...

Today one of my district technology representatives came to my campus to teach my students (and me) how to  It turns out that most of...

Word Wizard is an unexpected success! The first day back from winter break, I presented the idea. By the second day, I was in shock.  Whe...

In my ongoing battle for students to absorb vocabulary, I have found a technique that I have very   slowly begun mentioning to my students: ...

In the eleven and a half years that I have been teaching, I have had three students die during or after high school - one from a drowning, t...