This Thanksgiving, we were blessed with fifteen dinner guests—spanning four generations of family and friends. Although my mother and aunts have passed the bulk of holiday meal preparation to younger family members, they still hold sway over details like meal times, dress codes, and the menu. It’s tricky to please and honor everyone at the […]
November
30
Match.com: Helping Older Students Fall in Love With Reading (Again) by Nicole Kronzer
posted by CBethM
I teach a lot of twelfth grade. Newly adults, they are often in one of two places: ready to graduate yesterday, or clinging to their swiftly dwindling childhoods. Sometimes, they’re in both of these places on the same day. I love seniors. I love their vulnerability and the way their eagerness for independence clashes against […]
November
27
Books My Students Are Reading | Thanksgiving Break Edition by Colby Sharp
posted by Colby Sharp
I had a lovely two day week with my students. One of the highlights was a field trip to a bowling alley that we took to celebrate the end of their bowling unit in physical education. In class, we focused a lot of making reading plans for our five day break. In the video below, […]
November
23
How I Found Finding Kindness by Deborah Underwood
posted by CBethM
Getting an idea for a picture book can be the trickiest part of the process. But sometimes you get lucky, and an idea is given to you. In March of 2017, I was out of town caring for my dad, who’d been seriously ill. I had been too stressed and busy with the demands […]
November
22
“I’m Glad You’re My Child’s Teacher” by Torrey Maldonado
posted by CBethM
“I’m glad you’re my child’s teacher.” A Black mom recently told me that on the same day that a white dad did. During my twenty years of teaching middle school, families and kids of all backgrounds have told me they’re glad I teach. As class ends, kids say, “I wish we had you for […]
November
21
How When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed Came to Be
posted by CBethM
How did you two meet? OMAR: We met when Victoria visited Church World Service, the organization I work for that is dedicated to showing welcome to refugees, immigrants, asylum-seekers and other uprooted people within the United States, who are seeking safety and the opportunity to rebuild their lives. I was introduced to her by my coworker […]
November
20
MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH RHYME by Kate Hosford
posted by CBethM
Like many people, my first introduction to rhyming was through music. As a child, I memorized lots of songs at my mother’s pre-school as she strummed away on her auto-harp. Then there was the Free to Be You and Me album, Multiplication Rock, Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein—it seemed like the ̓70s were filled with […]
November
19
Tornado Brain: a love letter to the useless child by Cat Patrick
posted by CBethM
Do you know that child? The one who appears disheveled. Or the one who refuses to read aloud in class—or sit near classmates. The one with the dauntingly disastrous locker or bedroom. The one with obvious intelligence but failing grades. Maybe the one who has trouble remembering instructions. Or the one who’s grabby. Too loud. […]
November
16
The Book Matchmaker by Eva Goins
posted by CBethM
My main goal each year as a teacher is to turn my 8th grade students into readers. I am a matchmaker of twenty-first century minds that are more interested in connecting to a good hotspot over texts that could quite possibly influence their lives. So how does an educator compete with all of the technological […]
November
14
Five Ws About This Promise of Change by Debbie Levy and Jo Ann Allen Boyce
posted by CBethM
Sixty-three years ago, the nation’s newspapers were full of reports about a drama unfolding in a small southern town. Twelve students in Clinton, Tennessee were attempting to desegregate the only high school in their community. This was 1956, a year before Little Rock, and two years after the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of […]
