There are so many great resources out there to help guide a shift to this approach, too. Maybe start with @biblioracle.bsky.social and @rebekahodell1.bsky.social and take it from there. 3/3

As well, I think we do kids a disservice with an over-reliance on templates and graphic organizers. Let's instead focus more on principles of effective communication, and use student-selected mentor texts to explore these principles. And then let kids write about topics that energize them. 2/3

I appreciate your thread here a lot. I sometimes wonder though, if we - English teachers collectively - don't often bring this grief upon ourselves. We too often traffic in literary analysis, where young writers are asked to compose in an impersonal tone, about content indifferent to them. 1/3

I've done something similar in the past using big rolls of brown craft paper and have students write the texts on the wall themselves. It creates a really satisfying graffiti effect. I found that students were respectful of the space, too, so I didn't have to deal with unwelcome contributions.

I walked by last week and thought of the episode. The location remains a Spirit Halloween. Shocking, somehow, that a spot you'd think might be coveted real estate remains unused for most of the year.

(And, I'm really looking forward to The Debaters show in Oshawa on the 16th.)

My best quarterbacking happens on Monday mornings.

Alas, Vladdy would never have hit in that situation. The Dodgers would have walked him to load the bases and instead pitched to IKF.