When we see young people like Amanda Gorman on the world stage, we are astonished by what she has to say and the way that she says it. But the truth is, there are so many people her age and younger around the globe to whom we should be paying more attention. For this week’s … Read more
For those of you inspired by Amanda Gorman to make some poetry of your own, here is an online Blackout Poetry Maker that makes it easy. Though that surely is not Gorman’s method for writing her verses, blackout poetry is one of many “gateways” into this medium that students enjoy. For some other methods, here … Read more
One of my favorite podcasts to listen to is, “The Moth Radio Hour.” It is a weekly compilation of autobiographical stories told by brave souls to live audiences. Last April I wrote about the Moth’s “Storytelling School.” All together, there are 32 lessons. Here is a link to their final one for 2020. For the … Read more
Adobe for Education and Wakelet are co-sponsoring a “Writing for Change Challenge” that runs from November 2nd through December 4th. To participate, teachers will guide students to develop responses in Adobe Spark to any of the ten challenges that are based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The challenges include questions such as, “Should we … Read more
I vividly recall taking out the record album for Disney’s Haunted Mansion and playing it repeatedly for the whole month of October when I was a kid. Unfortunately, I’m guessing that record got thrown away long ago when I moved away from home. So, when I went to the link Disney recently shared for its … Read more
Last week, I mentioned the book Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi. Reynolds is currently the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, and he has joined with the Library of Congress to make a series of short videos challenging children to authentically express themselves about different topics. The Write.Right.Rite. series … Read more