A Short Story I heard something the other day about flies: As soon as they land on food, they lay maggots. I’d always thought it was like the five-second rule, you had a few seconds to shoo...

I was reading Angie Thomas’ latest book last weekend, and a quote struck me between the eyes, “All these folks I've never met became gods over my life. Now I gotta take the power back.” As someone...

​Right before I started teaching, I was shared a blog post from "The Cult of Pedagogy" about finding your marigold. If you haven't read it, I will link it here. The writer talks...

I have been very blessed to serve the Iowa Council of Teachers of English over the last two years as President, and even longer as a member of the Executive Board. I wanted to take a moment to share some...

Bachelor Ducks You sit on mowed suburban lawns, fussing at each other or animatedly chatting— I can’t tell which Nestling together snoozing on a cool spring morning Sometimes two Sometimes...

THE COROLLA’S BAD ALTERNATOR I went driving with my daughter In my truck to see the man Who drives a wrecker, To see if he’d fix my car. On the shiney black of Bank Street’s asphalt We passed...

Censorship is nothing new. By creating morals, we have to live with the things that challenge our morals. The trouble is, everyone has a different threshold of morality and most people don’t understand...

The other day in my high school creative writing class we were talking about identity. I told my students that our identities are often determined by our place in society. I asked them to consider this...

Reluctant School Reader’s Lament: A Found Poem* Man, school’s a prison. No freedom to read what interests me. No purpose to English. It’s about NOTHING. Just going from assignment to...

There is strong support for teacher book talks, a practice I learned about from Nancie Atwell’s In the Middle and later in Penny Kittle’s Book Love. While I am totally in favor of the teacher book...

I believe in butterflies. Not a monarch, nor something that flitters by on a warm spring day.  But the awakening that happens in a student when he or she does “that one thing”. I teach high...

As I was driving home from another amazing ICTE Annual Fall Conference, I was reflecting on my weekend and my first few years of teaching. As per my usual, this reflection took place against the backdrop...