The month of November has been a difficult one. I returned from the NCTE annual convention in NYC late Sunday night, inspired albeit exhausted from the four days I spent in the city, starstruck before such English education big-wigs as Nancie Atwell, Kyleen Beers, Janet Allen, Bob Probst, Jeff Wilhelm, and many authors I have loved from afar for […]
While teaching 7th Grade Special Education at Henry County Middle School (2-05)
No matter the place, middle school students never cease to amaze—and even disturb—me with their actions and tales. Fred is an awkwardly large 12 year old. He’s a 7th grader in my special ed. science class, a young man who clearly isn’t […]
While teaching 8th Grade Language Arts at Southern Leadership Academy (10-19-04)
The beginning of a very tough week. Monday was a professional development day. Parent-teacher conferences. And how many groups of parents did we see in 6 hours? 5-6. None of the parents that we really needed to see. The large bottles […]