As students and teachers return to the classroom after the pandemic shutdowns, Dana Kinsey offers 3 interactive theatre scenarios to help regain their footing.
Grammar for a Full Life Book Club: Chilling Out on the Grammar Rules
In this week’s book club discussion of Grammar for a Full Life, Charity Singleton Craig helps parse when the grammar rules matter, and when we can chill out.
Clarisse McClellan, The Karate Kid, and (Finally) Reading Fahrenheit 451
Tania Runyan reflects on The Karate Kid and writes a letter to Clarisse McClellan from Fahrenheit 451.
Poet-a-Day: Meet Jill Baumgaertner
The repetitive rural images of the Lake District provided inspiration for Jill Baumgaertner’s “Cumbria Pantoum.” What will inspire yours?
Poet-a-Day: Meet Todd C. Truffin
A soccer coach inspiring a villanelle? It could happen. (Indeed, it did, in this villanelle from Todd C. Truffin.)
The Great Gatsby Book Club: Chapters 7-9—Borne Back Ceaselessly Into the Past
In the final installment of our The Great Gatsby book club, Tania Runyan explores what it means to be “borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
The Great Gatsby Book Club: Chapters 5 & 6—Dreams and Longing
If it’s about anything, The Great Gatsby is about dreams and longing. But does Jay Gatsby cherish the dream of Daisy more than Daisy herself?
Julius Caesar: Et Tu, Brute? Opposite Day and the Ides of March
For the Ides of March, Tania Runyan has a Julius Caesar “Opposite Day” poetry prompt.
Lord of the Flies: Simon Writes Home
Not all the boys on the island will admit it, but homesickness is one of the greatest challenges the Lord of the Flies characters face. Poet Tania Runyan and the boys of the island explore a “letters home” epistolary poetry prompt.
Poetry Prompt: Science Fiction with Tony Wolk
This week we’re spending time in our notebooks tracing the lines of connection, the poems we can’t forget, the books we always return to, reflecting on their influence on our poetry—and maybe sharing a poem to illustrate.
Fun Reading Activities: Color & Trace “The Lady Mouse Has a Mandolin”
Early readers Molly and Joe want to help a child learn to read. Learn fun facts about mandolins and take a spin writing a limerick, along with this fun reading activity coloring page.
Birthdays & Birthstones Poetry Prompt: Hidden Riches
A chunk of quartz crystal caught my eye. Inside the quartz were ribbons of tourmaline, October’s birthstone. What is the hidden gem in your writing?
Birthdays & Birthstones Poetry Prompt: A Rossetti List Poem
Come write poetry inspired by Christina Rossetti’s list poem “The Months” and see if you like how she describes your birthday month.
Bring in the Cupcakes! It’s Take Your Poet to School Week
It’s Take Your Poet to School Week! Celebrate with themes such as Talk Like a Poet Day, Poet in Your Math Book Day, and of course, sweetest of all, our new public day: Poet in a Cupcake Day!
Take Your Poet to School Week: Shel Silverstein
Celebrate Take Your Poet to School Week “where the sidewalk ends.” Shel Silverstein makes his debut for next week’s big event.
Take Your Poet to School Week: Mother Goose
Even the mythical poets are getting in on the fun of Take Your Poet to School Week. Today, Mother Goose hops on a stick and makes her debut.
Write the Moon: A No-Write Poetry Prompt
With a little help from a possum, pumpkin spice, and a classroom of kindergartners, Callie Feyen has a no-write poetry prompt for fall.
Interview with an English Teacher, Pt 2: The Heroic in Literature
English teacher Diane Flint reflects on “the heroic” and “the hero’s journey” as a central theme taught in most English curricula.
Take Your Poet to Work: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Just one more week until Take Your Poet to Work Day. For our final addition to our poet collection for 2016, meet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
How to Write a Poem in the Classroom: A Teacher’s Secret Tool
High school English teacher Joel Jacobson shares his experience teaching a new advanced creative writing class using Tania Runyan’s How to Write a Poem. (Features student poems.)