This One Time in Writers Camp…

What’s your why? “I don’t understand what that even means,” whispered a rising 2nd grader. He was one of a delightful group of summer campers attending the Young Writers’ Camp in July 2017. And that was our theme for two weeks. We explored activism, artivism, social justice…

Teachers Make Time

There are days when I LOVE what I do.

Why I Write

My 16-year-old daughter vomited all night with pain from her recently extracted wisdom teeth. My 13-year-old son needs blood work so we can start him on Accutane for severe acne on his back. This has to be done before breakfast and school and the oral surgeon can only see my daughter at 8:20am and the…

Why I Have Ferrets . . .

I am a teacher, ethnographic researcher, writer and parent. In short, I am an advocate for children and adolescents. While being with young people brings great joy, being a child advocate is work that requires a person to get up close and personal with some horrifying, heart breaking…

Why I Write: Lists

A couple of nights ago, my seven-year-old grandson was carefully writing a list in his school notebook. When I looked over his shoulder, I noticed that his list was a mish mash of things to do, things he wants, and people he likes. I inquired. His mother told me that making lists is how he…

Teachers Make Time (part 2 of 5): Flow

Earlier in the week, through the UNC Charlotte Writing Project, I had the opportunity to co-facilitate the second of five Makerspace workshops for teachers at a small school on the west side. As an opener, our facilitator Steve posted quotes about Flow and asked…

After attending the UNCC Writing conference I felt refreshed and excited about writing- just what I needed to bring back to my writing classes at Olympic.

My students are constantly coming to me when they are handed a writing assignment with endless questions consisting of: what to write about, when to write, how to format…