"All this happened, more or less."

With a busy and diverse holiday season approaching, my creative writing students and I read and appreciated Alberto R í os's poem " November 2: Día de los Muertos ." After discussing the poem's craft and vivid imagery, we talked about how families celebrate, or do not celebrate, various holidays in their own ways. Students felt comfortable writing a poem of at least 15 lines (in honor of  R í os's stanza length) on a holiday of their choice in any tone and structure. I believe it is important to approach such topics with an inclusive attitude rather than the traditional "what do you love about Christmas?" approach. Since Halloween was on the horizon, I modeled the following writing process as my students worked on their poems. I have included my draft with revisions as well as the final product. I like to show them that writing is always a process, so they see me look at what I've written, make a face, take time to think of elusive words, and choose...

I’m going to break blogging protocol and begin with the admission that you probably aren’t about to read something you haven’t read before. So why will this post continue on with approximately 1,000 more words? It’s simple: the divide between English teachers who embrace workshop practices and those who don’t continues, and I want to add to the throng of voices who assure even the most adamantly opposed to workshop that it can, and does, work wonders. First, let me share a brief overview of my teaching experience. I taught pre-AP (Honors) English 4 for one year. That was a dream! With no standardized test to prepare for, I had the freedom to construct a curriculum that focused on creative and real-world writing. We read. We wrote. We reflected. We repeated. We became better readers, writers, and thinkers. Note two things here: 1.      I say “we” because I instinctively felt that I should write along with my students. Teachers of writing should write. 2. ...

Last year, I began moving away from the formulaic TPCASTT and Somebody-Wanted-But-So methods of poetry analysis in my AP course. I still teach those methods of analysis; any tools my students have for decoding poems that serve as potential pathways toward understanding are valuable, and I want them to have as many tools as possible! However, I found that by emulating mentor texts, my students were able to find all of the poetic devices and reach a deeper understanding of the author’s work. This is simply a natural by-product of analyzing which parts of the poem – diction, syntax, theme, repetition and other devices – that they would like to mimic in their own work. My students came up with some of the most beautiful and deeply personal work I’ve ever experienced – some of which they performed at a poetry slam that they organized at the end of the year. To that end, tomorrow we will read “Forgive My Guilt” by Robert P. Tristram Coffin and “Prayer to the Living to Forgive them for B...

This is a very general overview of the research I have been conducting on merging the writing workshop model with the AP Literature classroom. Choice in reading and writing are great, but can we give students ample choice and still prepare them for a rigorous exam? Why yes, yes we can! I would especially like to thank Amy Rasmussen, who began this inquiry long before I did and has applied the workshop model, to the benefit of her students, in the AP Language classroom. I couldn't ask for a better mentor and friend. My resource list is only briefly displayed. Please contact me if you would like a copy.