Deanna Mascle
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deannamascle.bsky.social
Deanna Mascle
@deannamascle.bsky.social
Teaching writers/teachers at Morehead State (KY) since 2001. National Writing Project teacher (former site director) since 2008. LexPoMo since 2016. Founding leader of Write Across America and Rebel Cartographers (2020).
https://linktr.ee/deannamascle
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In 2025 I focused on teaching delight and that paid off for me and for my students. metawriting.deannamascle.com/2025-reflect...
What writing communities are important to you?

Writing In Community open.substack.com/pub/myact3/p...
Writing In Community
Writing marathons and forging bonds through writing
open.substack.com
January 27, 2026 at 10:01 PM
This invitation to write is about more than friendship but about who you want to be, what you want to do, and the community that supports those journeys. deannamascle.com/friendship/
Friendship
This week’s invitation comes courtesy of the Poetry For All podcast. I found multiple inspirations from this podcast episode, but the easiest are simply the writer Dinah Maria Mulock Craik (p…
deannamascle.com
January 27, 2026 at 7:10 PM
The logbook is the nexus of my pedagogy and practice as a writing teacher and that is why I love it. metawriting.deannamascle.com/logbook-love/
Logbook Love : Metawriting
A logbook (or log book) is a record used to record states, events, or conditions applicable to complex machines or the personnel who...
metawriting.deannamascle.com
January 27, 2026 at 5:37 PM
Have you ever participated in a movie challenge? I’m doing two (because I never do things by halves) and enjoying even more than I thought I would!
Watching In Community
In search of my pop culture sacred texts
open.substack.com
January 27, 2026 at 4:22 PM
Three weeks in and holding strong with all my book clubs? How many book clubs are you in? How many books do you read at a time?
Reading in Community
How many book clubs is too many?
open.substack.com
January 27, 2026 at 11:36 AM
My goal is to design a class that takes my students on a learning journey as humans, writers, and critical thinkers and my bottom line is for us all to survive that journey. metawriting.deannamascle.com/creating-a-j...
Creating a Joyfully Authentic Community : Metawriting
Final Update: This week is an active reminder of my liminal status as someone practicing for retirement but not actually...
metawriting.deannamascle.com
January 26, 2026 at 10:08 PM
The government tries calling Americans domestic terrorists but the people who know them describe people like Alex Pretti as kind and helpful.

pca.st/episode/a989...
Everyone Saw CBP Kill Alex Pretti
Once again, federal agents have shot and killed a legal observer in Minneapolis. Once again, the shooting is on video. And once again, the Trump Administration has closed ranks around the officers.…
pca.st
January 26, 2026 at 9:30 PM
How many Americans need to die before everyone is paying attention? This administration is against the rule of law and cannot be trusted to protect our constitutional rights.

youtu.be/j_rzb64HPG8?...
Watch the Video. Then Listen to Kristi Noem.
YouTube video by The Bulwark
youtu.be
January 26, 2026 at 9:07 PM
What are your thoughts about writing in community?

myact3.substack.com/p/writing-in...
Writing In Community
Writing marathons and forging bonds through writing
myact3.substack.com
January 26, 2026 at 7:37 PM
Have you ever participated in a movie challenge? I’m doing two (because I never do things by halves) and enjoying even more than I thought I would!

Watching In Community
open.substack.com/pub/myact3/p...
Watching In Community
In search of my pop culture sacred texts
open.substack.com
January 26, 2026 at 3:49 PM
What conversations do you want your students to start or join with their writing?
Inviting Writers : Metawriting
What’s Really New? I center authentic writing and prioritize living poets and writers, but yesterday when I used a new...
metawriting.deannamascle.com
January 26, 2026 at 11:36 AM
Is this the golden age of stupidity?

Bland colors, AI summaries, and declining literacy rates have lots of us worried that we’re losing our intelligence to the modern world. Can we get it back?

pca.st/episode/d82b...
Battling brain rot
Bland colors, AI summaries, and declining literacy rates have lots of us worried that we’re losing our intelligence to the modern world. Can we get it back? This episode was produced by Ariana…
pca.st
January 25, 2026 at 6:26 PM
When did your students last WOW you with their writing? My students delight me on the regular because we engage in authentic writing.
Why I Care About Authentic Writing : Metawriting
Inauthentic disposable writing assignments do not make writers and do not help students learn how to write. Authentic writing breaks that shameful cycle and shows students that writing matters and…
metawriting.deannamascle.com
January 25, 2026 at 4:22 PM
If you assign rote, meaningless work then who is really to blame if your students use AI to generate it?
Did you ever think it might be the assignment? : Metawriting
What’s Really New? As we head into the closing days of our What If unit I just conducted a quick census...
metawriting.deannamascle.com
January 25, 2026 at 11:36 AM
Three weeks in and holding strong with all my book clubs? How many book clubs are you in? How many books do you read at a time?

Reading in Community
open.substack.com/pub/myact3/p...
Reading in Community
How many book clubs is too many?
open.substack.com
January 24, 2026 at 6:46 PM
We play, experiment, and sometimes fall flat on our faces, but always celebrate and center our humanity because that is the only point of this thing we call life.
Centering Humanity : Metawriting
What’s Really New? As we begin our second unit and speed toward midterms I can already see my students hitting...
metawriting.deannamascle.com
January 24, 2026 at 4:22 PM
I cannot make the world or even our campus a more hospitable place for my students (or myself), but I can make our community of writers a safe space by lowering the stakes for all of us.
How Do You Lower the Stakes? : Metawriting
I have been teaching first year college writers for decades and things are grim in those trenches. College is more...
metawriting.deannamascle.com
January 24, 2026 at 11:36 AM
What conversations do you want your students to start or join with their writing? metawriting.deannamascle.com/inviting-wri...
Inviting Writers : Metawriting
What’s Really New? I center authentic writing and prioritize living poets and writers, but yesterday when I used a new...
metawriting.deannamascle.com
January 23, 2026 at 10:48 PM
Where are you finding or making grace in your praxis?
Graceful Praxis : Metawriting
What’s New? I’ve started working on my syllabi for the fall semester and thinking a lot about grace. As I...
metawriting.deannamascle.com
January 23, 2026 at 4:22 PM
When did your students last WOW you with their writing? My students delight me on the regular because we engage in authentic writing. metawriting.deannamascle.com/why-i-care-a...
Why I Care About Authentic Writing : Metawriting
Inauthentic disposable writing assignments do not make writers and do not help students learn how to write. Authentic writing breaks that shameful cycle and shows students that writing matters and tha...
metawriting.deannamascle.com
January 23, 2026 at 3:35 PM
What are you doing to make sure that you and your students land softly?
Landing Softly : Metawriting
What’s Really New? Today is the start of the fall semester – maybe my last fall semester and certainly the...
metawriting.deannamascle.com
January 23, 2026 at 11:36 AM
If you assign rote, meaningless work then who is really to blame if your students use AI to generate it? metawriting.deannamascle.com/did-you-ever...
Did you ever think it might be the assignment? : Metawriting
What’s Really New? As we head into the closing days of our What If unit I just conducted a quick census...
metawriting.deannamascle.com
January 23, 2026 at 12:01 AM
Phillis Levin reads "An Anthology of Rain," the title poem of her newest poetry collection. She guides us through the philosophical underpinnings of her poem, how it informs the book as a whole, and how the surfaces of things can tell us so much about their substance.

pca.st/episode/7007...
Episode 102: Phillis Levin, An Anthology of Rain
In this episode, Phillis Levin reads "An Anthology of Rain," the title poem of her newest poetry collection. She guides us through the philosophical underpinnings of her poem, how it informs the book…
pca.st
January 22, 2026 at 9:36 PM
What poems do you love to use to inspire writers?
Poetry in Comp Class? : Metawriting
What’s Really New? I mixed in a lot of new poetry this semester which really stepped up our writing and...
metawriting.deannamascle.com
January 22, 2026 at 6:07 PM
Do you find reading and watching in community enhances the experience?

Community/Text Talk About Sacred Practices
Community/Text Talk About Sacred Practices
Two book clubs, one movie challenge plus a countdown challenge, and a new community formed
open.substack.com
January 22, 2026 at 4:22 PM