On October 20, 2017 the #WhyIWrite hashtag was used 93,956 times on Twitter.
This breaks down to 38,928 original tweets.
53,655 retweets.
And an estimated reach of 191 million people. Continue reading
#WhyIWrite And Why This Matters

On October 20, 2017 the #WhyIWrite hashtag was used 93,956 times on Twitter.
This breaks down to 38,928 original tweets.
53,655 retweets.
And an estimated reach of 191 million people. Continue reading
One of the things I heard the most during my teaching experience was, “How does this relate to my future?” and typically students would say this in relation to learning how to read Shakespeare, writing research papers, or something that wasn’t ‘blatantly’ relevant to the contemporary world.
I would always tell them that English (especially writing and reading) were two of the most important and fundamental skills for survival. I would talk about resume-writing, job applications, sending emails, etc. – all the relevant ways we use our English-based skills every single day. Sometimes they would nod in agreement, or stand there silently taking note, or wrinkle their nose in aggravation that they hadn’t stumped me.
What I’ve learned, however, is that writing is not only essential, it’s actually beautiful. Since leaving the education world and diving headfirst into writing and editing for my full-time career, I’ve realized how valuable writing has been to me, and want to share that with you in hopes that you can encourage both yourself, and your students. Continue reading
I stumbled across this article today and just had to share. Something that’s so relevant for teachers (especially English teachers) is that ‘blah’ feeling we get when we know we have a large stack of papers to grade. Don’t get me wrong, as educators we love seeing our students improve and reading their work…but at the same time, knowing you have a (often very dry and very large) pile to get through can be daunting and tiring before the task even begins!
That’s why when I stumbled upon Ken Lindblom’s blog post, I thought, ‘Wow, how could I have missed something so simple, and yet so important?’ And that’s the importance of interest in our students’ papers. Continue reading
“…but i will never let my tongues
be replaced
changed
beaten
I have two tongues
each one
its own value
that only I can determine.”
-Angelica Mercado, “Tongues”
I’m excited for today’s activity! For the past two weeks I’ve worked with my eighth grade students on understanding figurative language. They did Notes, the My Figurative Language Family assignment for practice, and now this will be their actual assessment–but a fun one! Continue reading
Okay, this one made me crack up. (And cry a little on the inside) Continue reading
The focus of my sixth grade classes is narrative writing: short stories about the student’s own lives. To help with the structure of writing a short story, we explained a hamburger model of writing–the buns are the topic and concluding sentences, the meat is the essential components of the story, and the condiments are the supporting details, evidence, and sensory details! Continue reading
Tuesdays with Morrie is a wonderful book; probably one of my favorites. I love that it’s so personal, so confessional, so motivational, and most importantly, so relatable. Continue reading
Every good unit ends with a paper (says every English teacher in the world!). And for The Scarlet Letter, I couldn’t agree more! Continue reading