Reflections on teaching, parenting, and living
The New Year naturally brings a time for self-reflection and goal setting. Some people will choose to start a new positive habit, while others try to let go of bad habits. Here are four English Language Arts “bad habits” to abandon in the New Year. Disclaimer: Sometimes (okay, lots of times) on Sunday mornings I... Continue Reading →
In January of 2017, I made a commitment to actually keep up with my reading using Goodreads. The app makes it so easy to create a virtual bookshelf, update reading progress, rate books, and write reviews. I made a conservative goal to read 25 books this year and surpassed the goal with 43 books read.... Continue Reading →
This year my class is blogging on an Edublogs site at adriannester.edublogs.org. The inspiration for starting these blogs has several main purposes. Students should be writing more than any teacher can read. To paraphrase Kelly Gallager, not every paper that a student writes needs to be proofed, edited, graded, and scored by the teacher. Grade certain... Continue Reading →
This past Friday I was privileged to present two sessions at the Virginia Association of Teachers of English. One of which was titled Write This! Not That! and examined the typical problems students run in to when writing on imagery, diction, syntax, and narrative pace. Here is the portion on the complex device of imagery. ... Continue Reading →
You have stacks of papers to grade, two parent conferences this week, a school improvement report to file, and (fill-in-the-blank here with your additional extra-curricular, home, and life responsibilities). You do not think that you can do one more thing this week, but then a student catches you in the hall and says, “Could you... Continue Reading →
This week I burnt the beans. This is what happens when you try to play a spirited game of badminton in the driveway with your child while cooking supper. Not only were we playing badminton, but we were working on his spelling words for the week; spelling one letter per hit: P-E-R-F-E-C-T. I burnt the... Continue Reading →
The first month of school has really been about trying new things in my classroom. For the last several years I would have good intentions to try new approaches in my classroom or teach new texts. I found that if I waited to implement these things later in the year, comfort and routine would take... Continue Reading →
As my youngest son enters his last year of preschool, I am increasingly amazed at everything that preschool and elementary schools teachers do. I knew I could never teach in a classroom full of young children, and most elementary school teachers feel the same way about the idea of teaching teenagers. I like small children.... Continue Reading →
One of my first assignments for my AP Literature students the past two years is to write about their lives through a journey of four books. I made a commitment in my teaching manifesto to write alongside my students, so I will attempt to narrow this list to choose four books that have been significant in... Continue Reading →
But Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man That he didn't, didn't already have To my former students heading to college, The first week of summer break I heard the song "Tin Man" by America. The lines “But Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man/That he didn't, didn't already have” kept running... Continue Reading →
Learning Curve 