When Gina Kortuem asked if I would be interested in a crosspost about summer work, I immediately answered yes because my summer work has slowly morphed over the last few years. I was not at all surprised when I read Gina’s post Why I Ditched Summer Reading to see that she and I have been … 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
A couple of weeks ago I outed myself as having an UnInstagrammable classroom by posting these pictures in the FB group and received c the response. Like minded souls followed up with pictures and comments of solidarity from their classrooms with stacks and piles of who even knows what all. Shout out to the few … 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
Last week I overheard a conversation from a group of students that went something like this: Student 1: I really think I should apply to College X as a backup school but don’t have time to write or revise my essay to the school’s prompt, so I guess I won’t. Student 2: Well if it’s … Continue Reading
I came home from school nearly every day this week with that deep tiredness that you feel right down to your bones. It has never been this acute or severe in my 18 years of teaching. A colleague pulled me aside in my first year and said, “teaching maybe the only profession in which your … Continue Reading
I’m finally finding my way back to reading after the pandemic disrupted my reading rhythms and ability to concentrate, but I’m far more relaxed about tracking and pushing myself to read more. Now I’m more concerned with reading what I want, when I want, and not feeling guilty if I’m not setting “reading records.” So … Continue Reading
download these notes as a PDF Tidbits of Knowledge This book is on the following lists: Favorite Quotes: Teaching Focus Activities download these notes as a PDF
This post by Adrian Nester originally appeared on APLitHelp.com in March of 2019. I’ve added some additional resources at the end. When I received my copy of Terrance Hayes’ book American Sonnets for my Past and Future Assassin I decided that I wanted to freshen up my sonnet unit to look beyond the traditional sonnets. … Continue Reading
Don’t you just love those teachers that are boundless wells of optimism? You know the ones I’m talking about; they are easy to spot. They believe they can change the world from their classrooms. They teach students beyond the curriculum. They inspire them to greatness with words of wisdom. And they offer the means to … Continue Reading
