Letters, Words, Thoughts, Ideas, Stories...

And survival skills too. It was math class and my students were diligently working their way through some operations with positive and negat...

"July? Seriously?" he asked me. "Yes, bud, July," I answered. "Are you sure?" Because he’s an all-knowing sixt...

It’s Monday morning and I’m grinning and bouncing in the hallways waiting for my students to arrive. This is not my typical Monday-morning a...

At the beginning of each year I have my students draw and discuss their favorite place to write. They sketch a comfy chair in a sunny window...

Many of the agents I follow via twitter or through their blogs have been writing about queries lately. There’s been much discussion about ho...

Remember the bit on Sesame Street that started with the song: "One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doe...

Valentine’s day, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways… but I’m stopping at 10, because then I need to get back to reading over my feedb...

Disclaimer:  I love my class.  I really do.  I am lucky to be the teacher of 26 of the most respectful, intelligent, curious, and creative 6...

I had planned to blog about all the wonderful and creative ways that my students interpreted the English language during today’s 8-hour pres...

Yesterday I had a couple of firsts. It was my first time watching a movie from the very back row of the theater. It was also my first time ...

Everywhere I look online someone seems to have a new opinion about the future of publishing.  Some are holding up the success of self-publis...

First of all, congratulations Neil Gaiman – The Graveyard Book was excellent and deserved to win the Newbery Award.   I shall celebrate by ...

I had a bit of a teary-eyed moment in the classroom yesterday. Actually, this was my second teary moment this week – but who didn’t get tear...

I’ll set the scene for you: it’s the Tuesday before school vacation. The students have just passed in their last long-term assignment (strat...

Sometimes I need a little writing inspiration. Or at least to feel like I’m not the only one who types instead of sleeps, thinks of my chara...

There exist, in the nebulous world of the Internet, magical portals whose sole purpose is to consume large blocks of your life. They’re like...

So what’s the it new accessory in sixth grade? No, it’s not Ugg boots or the latest V.S. ‘Pink’ apparel. It’s not leggings or skinny jeans....

My feedback group meets the first Wednesday of every month and this past week was the first time I was offering a sampling of FLASH up to t...

Today did not start off well. I was supposed to be able to ‘sleep in’ until 6:30 since today’s an in-service, not a regular school day. Inst...

Matt and I were at Ikea yesterday to try and get ideas about how to organize our new closet. This has now devolved into diagrams on graph pa...