readwriteteach

Brooklyn ‘Hood Poetry–Early Days of School Lesson

I have been in writing whirlwind the last few weeks as I finished and submitted a couple of academic articles from my dissertation (finally…). I have also been purging the dozens of journal articles from my doctoral coursework that I have kept for YEARS in my file cabinet, producing piles and piles of paper that … Continue reading →

Thanks to Thanks, Textbooks

Sometimes there’s a blog that just gets it right. Thanks, textbooks, is one such blog. They have images from textbooks around the world, but the commentary is what kills me. Click on the link above or here: http://thankstextbooks.tumblr.com/ for a good laugh.

The Magical Realism of Fiction (& Harry Potter)

Last night, as I scrolled through my Twitter feed, I came across a post by Scholastic Which led me to this page on facebook, a page filled with stories of readers and their experiences with the last of the Harry Potter series. I only read a few posts, but they reminded me how the first … Continue reading →

What Have You Learned? One Year Since Mike Brown & Eric Garner

This time last summer Mike Brown and Eric Garner were still alive. That’s pretty shocking when I write that down. Who knows what they were doing–enjoying the summer, making plans for the fall–but their lives were cut short and launched the Black Lives Matter movement fiercely and forcefully into the world. This is a movement … Continue reading →

Life Long Learning

Life long learning. Life long learners. Those are words that come up often in the profession of teaching and the field of education. We want students to experience life long learning and we want them to identify with being a life long learner, but do we do the same? I noted a change in my … Continue reading →

An Alternative to Standardized Tests: PBATS

This winter, I attended University of Pennsylvania’s Ethnography Forum where I was able to hear one of my academic heroine’s, Angela Valenzuela, speak. Valenzuela’s text, Subtractive Schooling, is one of my favorites. She conducts research at a large high school in Houston, Texas, and posits that the Mexican immigrant students are not resisting the school … Continue reading →

End of School Year Deluge of Work

Each June, I know it’s coming. At the end of each school year piles and piles of work get sent home. Folders. Paperclips. Cute stuff. Stupid stuff (why did you send this home, o’ teacher, WHY?!?!). Rubrics, rubrics, rubrics. Crappy worksheets. Amazing drawings. Not-so-amazing drawings. Math workbooks that are completed. Writing workbooks that are empty … Continue reading →

IEP Drama in a Broken System

Having been a full-time educator now for 15 years and having been a parent for almost 8 years, there are moments when the two experiences collide and one sheds light on the other in a blinding way. This happened recently with my son’s IEP process. WARNING: This is along one, readers. [For those of you … Continue reading →

Books = Joy

It will come as no surprise that I love books. I have books I have had since my childhood in our apartment, I think the oldest one being a wordless book called A Sleepless Day by John Hamberger, a gift from my beloved Aunt Helen on my 2nd birthday. I have a bit of OCD … Continue reading →