Literacy is subversive

Recently, I had the pleasure with David Cutler to speak to Rae Pica from Studentcentricity, BAM Radio's Internet educator radio show . Radio interviews are fairly new for me; I haven't been on the radio since Jennifer Moranda and I hosted a sports radio show in high school! David Cutler and I on Studentcentricity, BAM Radio The interview pace zinged almost faster than my brain, but Cutler and I agreed on so much! Students need real writing tasks that they help choose with real audiences and real feedback. We both teach a class devoted to publishing ( the Modes of Writing has been producing great stuff! ) and trust that our students can handle real feedback that helps them grow as writers. Please give the 10-minute radio interview a listen. I could use feedback on how to improve my performance in that particular format; it's so different that than an elevator speech or hour-long professional development. You can read more about these ideas at Twitter:   @SpinEdu ,...

I would love feedback on this essay and poem pair to improve them and get them ready for publication. Please give me feedback in the comments. I want to have a serious discussion with you today about zombies. Although I like science fiction and fantasy, my identification with particular characters has never been strong. I’ve never felt the need to buy elf ears, vampire glitter, Star Trek uniforms, or Renaissance dresses. Perhaps my sense of whimsy is broken. But in the last decade, I have developed a fascination for zombies in my media: Day of the Dead, Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Walking Dead, etc. It wasn’t clear to me why. I don’t believe in actual zombies. They lack glamour for a good Halloween costume.  I dislike the genres of horror and goth usually. And yet. I needed to laugh at them, to shudder at their sudden flesh-eating appearance on screen. I eventually made the connection that I associate methamphetamine users with zombies. T...

Books matter. I know you know this. But as adults, we have an opportunity to put books in kids' hands that change their minds about themselves, their minds, their emotions, and their futures. The stories inside our head shape our reality, and the stories we read help shape those stories. As the research of  positive psychologists Martin Seligman , Barbara Fredrickson , Carol Dweck , Edward Deci, and Richard Ryan illustrate, how we think about the events of our lives affect stress levels, feelings of control and competency, and positive feelings about ourselves and others. The story we tell ourselves matter. We can fill kids with stories about understanding and accepting emotions and finding new strategies when faced with obstacles. I would love to hear more suggestions as well. Please comment below with other children’s media that help use the big ideas of positive psychology with K-12. Talking about, naming, accepting, and discussing strategies for dealing with ...

Do something every day that scares you. Happiness is not a goal; it’s a by-product. With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts. It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness. We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face… we must do that which we think we cannot. People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how

You haven't heard from me in 2015, because I wrote a book proposal for my book Teachers, Mindset, and Motivation: Connecting kids to their positivity, passion, and purpose for Rowman & Littlefield. Contact me to read a sample! I'm excited to get feedback and help teachers connect students to their positivity, passion, and purpose.

I do not halve the words. Irregardless of what you say. Wind we talk, mine fallout Like angry ducks shouldering Mean metaphors. You never here what I intense. Conversions trip on tongues. Are dialogue step falters. I give up.

At thirteen, I received this book as a present from my Aunt Melody from Amarillo, Texas. I really liked the short ones in those years: "Fire and Ice," "Nothing Gold Can Stay," "The Rose Family." Later I discovered the long narrative poems about marriage and miscarriage and misunderstanding, and glimpsed adulthood through the trees and hills of his landscapes. Teaching Frost and poetry and critical thinking these last 14 years to seniors in high school, the poems have become part of my interior monologue. I can't choose a fork in the trail without muttering to myself, "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood..." And so this poem. Two paths It's good multiple realities meet A mathematical need. Nice when math and mental anguish agree. In all the possible eventualities, I can still feel the one with you and me. "Two paths?" "One traveller?" True. But "long I stood?" No. Untrue. It's an ...