Pudd’nhead Wilson was my first introduction to Mark Twain, but as a freshman in High School I’m sad to say his brilliance was lost on me. I didn’t read any more Twain until I started Cannonball Read this year. I decided to read Huckleberry Finn. I really did like the book, but I hated the ending and I didn’t like how long it took to teach. So this is what led me to consider another work by Twain that didn’t feature Tom Sawyer. Don’t even […]
Reading in the Wild
With only a week to go until school starts, I’ve been frantically trying to prepare myself for the changes I want to make in my classroom. As I mentioned in my post about The Book Whisperer, I want to incorporate more reading in my classroom and make the assignments and assessments more authentic. Instead of teaching books to students, I want to teach the students through books. Thankfully, Donalyn Miller followed up her work in The Book Whisperer with a book that breaks down the […]
Like Summer Camp, Only Colder
Ice Bound by Dr. Jerri Nielsen, recounts the adventures of an ER doctor who decides to winterover at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole research center in Antarctica. The climax of the adventure occurs when Nielsen discovers a mass in her right breast. From there it’s incredible how people outside of Antarctica work to get her the medicine she needs and arrange a way to get her out before it’s too late. It’s an autobiography, and while I was engrossed in the story the writing style was […]
Where Was This Book Five Years Ago?
A book hasn’t whipped me into a fervor of action like Book Whisperer in quite some time. But I’m glad it did. And the thing is, it’s not like the author, Donalyn Miller, has presented me with some unknown truth. Instead, she’s asked some tough questions and challenged me to get down to the heart of the matter. To teach reading, students have to read. Truth bomb. Of course by now you’re thinking, Chancellor, that shouldn’t be a surprise. You’re an English teacher after all. […]
Where’d the Reading go?
Nancie Atwell was mentioned in several books on reading in the English classroom. She has done a lot of writing on reading workshops and how to get our students reading and falling in love with reading. My wife happened to have this book from her teacher preparation program days and a gladly lent it to me. I’ve really wanted to get my students to fall in love with reading again. It seems like there’s a sad break in reading in our national educational system. In […]
Poems about the Meaning of Life and What’s after Death
I don’t usually read collections of poetry, but since I’m going to be encouraging my students to read poetry, I figured I should get into the practice as well. Plus it will give me some recommendations to give them. And it doesn’t hurt to have a variety of books to review for Cannonball Read either. So far this year I’ve only read few of Wadsworth’s poems including my favorite, Evangeline and now Charles Wright’s latest poetry collection, entitled Caribou. If I’m being honest I didn’t […]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 63
- 64
- 65
- 66
- 67
- …
- 70
- Next Page »