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Happy School Year to All - Great Adventures In Store!

Tis the last of the summer, a bright sunny day With the kick off of school just a few hours away You would think, having done this 30-some times before That there’d be no excitement, that it could be a bore The paper is hung and the tables are clean, I’ve picked out lots of texts we’ll ask “What does this mean?” Writing tasks have been crafted to find out what you think And each 45 minutes will go by in a blink We’ll do research and blogging, journal all through the year, But the big question, always, is Why are we here? There’s the AP exam that we tackle in May There’s the SAT, ACT, PARCC with no play Maybe grades, or the challenge, or because your mom said, But none of these get to the why in my head I do not teach English for my love of the books Or the way when we write that our handwriting looks I am here because words and the baggage they bring Tell us how to be human - do the humanest things Like to love and be brave and show up in your life, ...
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My summer note-writing project

As the days of June roll into July, and I have had a minute to breathe after the close of school, I sit down and write a short note to each of my graduated seniors. It’s something I started a bunch of years ago, then stopped for some reason I don’t remember (most likely laziness) But I resurrected the practice about 8 or 10 years ago. I try to finish my note-writing project by the middle of July - time to have a bit of perspective on the school year, but before they leave for college. I congratulate them on their graduation, and I thank them for all of the hard work they put into AP English, and all the contributions they made to our learning community throughout our time together. I include something memorable that they leave as a legacy to the spirit of our classroom. And I remind them that they have a fine set of tools to help them make their way in the world. Basically, I want them to know that their voice has been valued, and their presence has mattered. I hope that they have...
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Metaphoring Practice

In my summer reading, I try to balance teacher reading and pleasure reading. Not that I don’t also find pleasure in teacher reading, but it’s not quite the same as being transported into another place and time and circumstance by the craft of a wordsmith. Of course, no educational text could teach you more than letting Toni Morrison’s Beloved wash over your eyes and ears and flow out through your soul. So there is overlap. One of the more teachery books I have read this summer is Metaphors and Analogies: Power Tools for Teaching Any Subject, by Rick Wormeli.  It’s a good primer on the power of metaphors as sense-making devices. I have written about that before. Wormeli reminded me why I want to do more work with metaphor and analogy making with my classes this year. In the spirit of writing as practice, in my morning pages the other day , I played with some metaphoring myself in my writing practice this week. July 9, writing on my back patio, 12:30 ish (so not quite...
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Even now, beginner's mind

One of the books I am reading this summer is Zen Teacher: Creating Focus, Simplicity, and Tranquility in the Classroom by Dan Tricarico. I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of Zen. I think because inside I always felt so crazed and chaotic, that the idea of just breathing and being seemed impossible to me.   It doesn’t feel impossible any more. I have had some impactful teachers along the way to help me make contact with that peaceful presence that we all have somewhere. Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones introduced me to the notion of writing as a zen practice. Henry Thoreau always reminds me to “live deliberately.” And countless classrooms of students have taught me how to be present in the moment. (I don’t think teaching and learning can work any other way.) Along with the idea of being present in the moment, another zen idea I love is Beginner’s Mind or Shoshin. I have been teaching for 30 years. I have probably taught 11th grade for at least 20 of...
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Feedback for learning (from students)

I have learned more from my students about being a teacher, and how to be a better teacher, than I have ever learned from an administrator’s observation. Formal and informal feedback is as critical to me as a learner as it is to them. I have started to go through some of the feedback students shared on the last day this year, now that I have a couple weeks distance. The other day I jotted down a note to the effect that in teaching, we cultivate the tone of the class from the very first day. That’s why I gave up the first day standards of going over the course overview and covering the rules and regulations. The movie Dead Poets Society came out in the beginning of my teaching career (so maybe I should have realized this sooner). I remember being so taken with the scene of the students’ first day with Mr. Keating (Robin Williams). They walk away from that class thinking he is weird, and they’re not quite sure what to make of the class, but they are engaged. I try to achieve so...
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Thirty Year Reflections (or plans)

A psychic once told me that I was going to write two books. I have long figured my dissertation was one. It isn’t published, but it looks like a book. I wondered for a long time what the other one would be. While I haven’t entirely given up on the book idea, I realized that rather than wondering, I should just start writing. And one of the things I want to write about is teaching. In Big Magic Liz Gilbert says something along the lines of, “Please don’t write a book to help me. Write the book you need to write.” Although I occasionally think that I may have something to offer that might help other teachers, what I need to write are my reflections on the last 30 years so that I can make the next 10 or so even better. June 2017 brought to a close my 30th year of teaching. It is certainly cliche to marvel at the speedy passage of time, but that is exactly what I am doing as I write these lines. But as I aim to reflect back over those 30 years, that thing that wants to be wri...
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Here's to 235, For Life!

I try to do something valuable with every one of the 180 days I have with my classes, including the very last one. I am fortunate in being able to exempt my students from final exams in June because they have taken the stressful and rigorous AP exam in May.  This year, in my AP Lang class I used an activity borrowed from the work of Dave Stuart called Pop-up Toasts. This activity allowed for a good period of reflection, some public speaking practice, and a nice wrap up for the year. More on the details of the day in another post. This was my toast to the year: Yesterday I stopped at Costco in Brick to get cookies, and strawberries for Renee, so that we could break bread together today. If you are familiar with the Costco parking lot, you know that venturing from car to entrance is a little like playing Frogger, and being the frog. You have to dodge and dart your way across the screen trying to avoid being squished by a truck, or an alligator, barreling along and paying no min...
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