By Anthony Celaya The first time I turned off my classroom lights and played a spoken word poem (in this case, “If I Should Have a Daughter” by Sarah Kay), I wasn’t sure how my students would respond. At the very least, I hoped it would make our lesson on metaphors more interesting. After the…
By Tracey T. Flores & Iris Treinies “I have a dream, that for 11 years I’ve been dreaming to meet my son again. In darkness, I left my hometown…A few years ago, I realized I can do more if I accept my reality and work with our possibilities…Any family shouldn’t be apart for any reason.”…
by Alison Heron-Hruby, based on a study conducted by Annamary Consalvo, Ann David, Katrina Jansky, Alison Heron-Hruby, Marie LeJeune, and Amy Vetter When I (Alison) first decided to be a writer at the age of ten, it was because I loved Judy Blume novels. I wanted to create stories just like hers. Since then, I…
by Amy Vetter, Annamary Consalvo, Ann David, Alison Hruby, Katrina Jansky, and Marie LeJeune When I taught high school English, I became familiar with the dramatic moans and groans from some students after I said, We get to write today! Some students, clearly uncomfortable with this task, resisted by saying, I’m not a writer or…
By David Premont In my first year of teaching secondary English, a member of the journalism class, wanting to highlight the school’s new teachers, asked if I could respond to a few questions. One question inquired about my identity as a teacher—I responded that in my heart I am a writer. I knew and was…
By Danielle Filipiak, Nicole Mirra, & Antero Garcia Eighth grader Vaughn sits at a table with his peers, navigating between four browser windows open on his computer. He clicks on one of them and begins annotating an article about mental health issues in LGBTQ communities. He then migrates to another and reads in silence before…
