It’s a good title for a children’s story, don’t you think?  It would go something like this… One morning at school, the art teacher passed the word: “The dragon just might be ready by this afternoon.” As every good school knows, dragon parade opportunities come but once a year: Chinese New Year in February. It’s … Continue reading →

  When he was poet laureate, Billy Collins created “Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry.” It’s an anthology of “contemporary poems,” enough for one on each school day (with a few to spare, in our case). His goal was to freshen up the perception of poetry by collecting new voices and varied topics, have … Continue reading →

…as Discussed in 8th Grade ELA after an example by John McPhee “You see, even if you don’t like to write you have a handy topic: writer’s block itself. You could start out with a letter, like John McPhee advises. ‘Dear Mr. Nelson,’ you might say, ‘I do not like to write! I have such … Continue reading →

I can still recall it with clarity and joy: the sunny day in May of seventh grade that altered my life. Personal history for me is divided between Before or After Green Man Day—the day when Jimmy Butler and I painted our faces green at the 7th grade Arts festival. What were we thinking? What … Continue reading →

Epic literature comes in unexpected packages. We forget that all the rules of the greatest books also apply to children’s literature, so-called…and that children need great literature. “Children need art and stories and poems and music as much as they need love and food and fresh air and play,” says Philip Pullman, author of The … Continue reading →

In David Denby’s recent book, Lit Up, the New Yorker magazine writer embeds himself with several quite varied American high schools in order to explore the state of reading and teaching literature at the secondary level. A few items caught my attention as they affect the middle level and the “onramp” to secondary school language … Continue reading →