My first How-to-Write an Email lesson plan from a place of grouchy tough love. A decade of teaching high school English overlapped with thousands of book-related pitch emails: Please read my work. Please help me sell my book to a publisher. Please let me come on your show or podcast and talk about my work…. Read more »
Category: Resources
A 3-Part Micro-Challenge for Educators Who are Nervous about A.I.
In all honesty, it took me a while to get here myself. At the time I’m writing this—early April, 2023—I’ve spent about two months stockpiling articles and podcasts to help me learn more about A.I. These materials ranged from enthusiastic to to apocalyptic, from dismissive to practical. In fact, there was only one thing they all had… Read more »
Maintaining (Or Regaining) Your Sense of Possibility
I taught freshman English for six years, six class periods each year. In every one of those classes, we read Romeo and Juliet. After the steep learning curve of my early years, this was a relief. I was a pro now! I had lesson plans I could reuse with only minor changes. A couple of years… Read more »
“When the Macro Overwhelms, the Micro is Your Lifeboat.”
This line was a seemingly-tossed off comment on Marc Maron’s podcast. And yet, there are so many ways this applies to both life and teaching. Here are some loosely-linked thoughts, presented for your consideration.
What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Grading
The best grading is specific, constructive, and back in students’ hands in a timely fashion. Most teachers agree with this. Research shows this. And, let’s be honest, you knew it anyway. So why haven’t you finished grading that pile on your desk? And why is grading the part of the job most likely to cover… Read more »