I have a hard time saying no to things. Inevitably, this means that I volunteer, throw my name in the hay, and offer myself up when I should occasionally keep my mouth shut. Consequently, I have to create systems that enable me to work efficiently and effectively. Here are the five rules I am using … Continue Reading
Wait a minute… if you hand out a study guide and ask students to find the answers in the textbook, that doesn’t count as close reading? That is what some of my high school teachers did. They had stacks of ’em. Finish one ditto and they would whip out another. Classwork and homework simply became … Continue Reading
Brian and I a starting a series of posts called “Ask Us Anything” where we promise to be honest in our answers and hopefully as encouraging as well. If you have a question you’d like for us to answer, feel free to ask! Can you model how you plan a unit? — Kathy F. Susan: … Continue Reading
My first Pearl Jam concert was on 9-11-98 at Madison Square Garden. While the concert was unforgettable, its date was… until it wasn’t. That night Eddie and the boys played 26 songs, with two encores, and brought back “Breath,” a song they had retired years ago. It all ended with “Alive,” and Eddie throwing his … Continue Reading
I spent time working with teachers this summer, some of whom had 40-50 students in each class and over 200 students on their rosters. Others wanted advice on what to teach because everything they loved was now banned by their state. Some lost their free periods to cover classes because subs were nowhere to be … Continue Reading
I’m going to tell you why I think comments on essays are a bad idea… but first a quick story. About five years ago, my Sunday nights were spent at a mostly-empty Starbucks. For hours I would read and comment on all the papers and pages I accumulated over the week. By Monday afternoon, many … Continue Reading
Some days feel like a mad dash to the final bell. When that happens my colleagues can read it on my face, I am surviving day-to-day. It is a huge source of stress for teachers when the day owns them, they don’t own the day. And it leads to all kinds of complications like low … Continue Reading
What does it mean to be a successful master teacher? I can remember first hearing someone labeled a master while watching episodes of This Old House with my father when I was a boy. When the credits rolled, Norm Abrams was listed as master carpenter. It added an aura to his skills akin to Jedi knighthood. But what … Continue Reading
As a basketball coach, March is one of my favorite months. Anytime I turn on the tv, there is a great college basketball game. Duke-North … Continue Reading
There is a super-simple way to get students to recognize tone, understand character, and experiment with voice all at the same time. This year I had my students assume the identity of characters in the novels we were reading and write fake Tweets from the perspective of that character. I instructed them to think of … Continue Reading
