The textbook I used early in my career encouraged students to think of characterization in a binary way — either it was direct or indirect. The definitions went something like this: Direct characterization is a literary technique in which a narrator or another character explicitly describes a character’s traits, qualities, or personality. Instead of allowing … Continue Reading

SUSAN BARBER Not taking work home has become a hard fast rule for me, but this was not always the case. I spent years carrying essays on field trips to my house, my children’s sporting events and arts performances, after school events, faculty meetings – you get the idea. The bag of essays was an … Continue Reading

 SUSAN BARBER I remember when ChatGPT broke on TikTok in late 2022 and feared how this would play out in classrooms. My concerns were validated when over 50 students suddenly used the work “evocative” in their first online essays in January of 2023. Since then, AI has continued to evolve, students have become adept at … Continue Reading

Teaching older novels has become quite the intimidating thing. After all, last November, The Atlantic declared that even elite college students aren’t reading, and if those kids can’t read whole novels, what hope is there for high school English teachers?  I have found a way to teach an 18th-century novel without losing my students to … Continue Reading

“that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

The dark arts that can conspire against a teacher typically manifest for me when the clocks are changing.  I start the year hyper-focused on knowing every student’s name by the second day because I want them to know that I genuinely care about them as individuals. I’ve set it up so that each day brings … Continue Reading

Maybe it is all just clickbait, luring us into a paranoia for an impending doom. In the past few months, The Atlantic has published America is Sliding Toward Illiteracy and The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books. The New York Times has its own doomsday submission with 12th Grade Reading Skills Hit a New … Continue Reading

I was on the phone with Susan Barber, my teaching buddy, earlier this week about my frustration with my writing and my need for a creative breakthrough. I’ve grown weary of writing the listicle: Six Ways to a Spectacular Thesis Statement, The Seven Poems I Can’t Live Without, Four Ways to Invigorate a Dull Classroom … Continue Reading

I realized I was no longer young when my phone had trouble recognizing my face. At the grocery store, I want to “pinch and pull” to enlarge the produce-code numbers when checking out, but that is fruitless. I worry that if I can’t decipher those numbers, how on earth will I read novels aloud to … Continue Reading