Wrapping up the “back to work” week left me feeling energized and excited for the new school year to start. I’m teaching two new preps, sophomores and AP Lang, and, whereas in the past looking a blank calendar spiked my anxiety, last week my mind danced with literacy possibilities. One point of origin for my …
Search Results for: Charles Moore
End of Year Musings
I’m amazed, sometimes, by how quiet this room can get. Lights dimmed, soft piano music playing, I slowly shift papers from one stack to another as I pour over the thoughts and words of this, my first class of students at my new school. Pausing for a moment, aware of the unusual peacefulness, I glance …
What I’ve read in 2019, So Far!!!
I’m not finding a lot of reading time this year. Maybe it’s graduate school. Or maybe it’s that I’m just really lazy. I’m up to 14 books in 2019. I’d say that’s a pretty respectable number, but what strikes me is the quality of books I’ve been able to enjoy as winter has moved into …
Revising and Editing with Jeff Anderson Part III
Grouped around a big table in the library, seven students looked at me as if they knew the next hour of their life would set the record for engaged boredom. These were students who volunteered their time to get one last push towards success on our state assessment. Like dental surgery, they assumed going in, …
Fine, Let’s talk Anchor Charts!
As she dropped her backpack onto her desk during a recent passing period, a student asked, “Mr. Moore, where are the walls?” “I don’t know. I haven’t seen them in ages,” I replied, as I tidied up my library shelves, shoving books back into their alphabetical order. “But they used to be right there, and …
Of Bugs, Boils, and Bards
There are few tasks in this life that I both do well, and love doing well. For instance, I love extracting, from a pot, a basket of crawfish, stuffed to the brim. I struggle to lift the forty, or more, pounds — shoulders creaking, eyes squinting from the pungent spices, mouth watering as those bright …
Revising and Editing with Jeff Anderson Part II
If you haven’t had the chance to see Jeff Anderson in person, and hear him deliver the gospel of editing instruction, be prepared…he’s very tall. He’s also funny, charismatic, and passionate. He has an ability to take something very difficult and make it seem accessible, even to an old ball coach like me. Also, he …
TCTELA ’19: Literacy Talk on the ‘Walk
Overcast skies and light traffic greeted me as I dropped off I-35 and wove through the surface streets of downtown San Antonio. The robotic directions from my navigation app contrasted with the view of a city whose facades resemble a city from a century ago. San Antonio, Texas, is a city from the past, reluctantly …
A Friendly Resource for Revising and Editing
The current version of my instructional practices, philosophies, and beliefs was born a couple of years ago. Word spread that our new curriculum coordinator was a “workshop” guy and, coincidentally, I was in a place where change was on my mind. Traditional “drill and kill” methods heavily supplemented with canonical whole class novels and their …
2019 New Year’s Resolutions!!!
Happy New Year!!! I’m so excited to enjoy the next six days of our winter break. So much love and laughter to be enjoyed along with morning daughter cuddles, football galore watched with my son, knowing looks shared with my wife when the kids do or say something intentionally or unintentionally hilarious. There is, however, …
Three Teachers Talk 