I didn't post much about last year's OLW (you can see the post here where I introduced it, and if you follow the links in that intr...

Book #38 was Dr. Thorne , by Anthony Trollope.  I am loving these Victorian novels about clergymen. Book #39 was the long-awaited Jesus ...

We just got back from a few days at the beach with very limited internet, so I missed Poetry Friday last week.  Here's the roundup.  I...

I was looking for a poem about peace, a poem appropriate for this day, the first morning waking up with no grading to do, with hours to fill...

Today was the last day of classes, and I have giant piles of grading to do, so that they will be out of the way and I can focus on grading f...

I am knee deep in grading, final exams to write, and assorted other end of the semester tasks.  But I'm popping in to link you to a poem...

 Van Gogh, Still Life with a Plate of Onions I always do odes with my eighth graders around Thanksgiving.  This one seems fitting,...

I am planning to read this one with my seventh graders next week.  I thought they'd like it because we read a whole slew of mournful Nov...

Today I am a small blue thing Like a marble or an eye With my knees against my mouth I am perfectly round I am watching you I am col...

I have been writing a poem every day for the month of November, and maybe at some point I'll share more of what I've written (on Mon...

I teach the word "infer" to the seventh graders, who are dressed in their pajamas. "If you look around today," I explain...

I decided this year to take on a writing project a little different from the last couple of Novembers, when I have attempted to post on my b...

I am having a hard time excerpting this poem; it's short, so follow the link and read the whole thing.  Ilse Bendorf takes exception to ...

It was Naomi Shihab Nye week with my 8th graders; every day we read one of her poems.  Here's part of one I didn't read with them.  ...

In this short life that only lasts an hour How much - how little - is within our power Emily Dickinson I'm sick in bed today with mos...

Book #32 of this year was a teacher book, How's it Going?: A Practical Guide to Conferring with Student Writers , by Carl Anderson.  I d...

In spite of my last minute request, my tag-ee for the Mortimer Minute has graciously agreed to post next week.  Janet, who blogs at Across t...

I was tagged last Friday by Liz Steinglass .  Here are the guidelines for the Mortimer Minute: 1) Pose and answer three questions you’v...

One of the people who died in Nairobi in the attack on the Westgate mall was Ghanaian poet Kofi Awoonor.  The New Yorker published this trib...

I was looking for a poem about the beach, because we're going on our staff retreat this weekend at the beach.  But at the same time I wa...