Four Reasons to Start Class with a Poem Each Day

I gravitate to ideas that help teachers use and promote the love of poetry in the classroom.  In my years of teaching, I noticed poetry was intimidating to many students.  I believe that sometimes students just haven't had enough time to explore poems, play with poetry, and write their own poems.

I found this article by Brett Vogelsinger (9th grade ELA teacher in Pennsylvania) where he lists four reasons for using poetry daily that will "rock your world!"  His four reasons for why this is a good idea: 1) poems are short, 2) Poems are intense, 3) Poems Connect (to Other Reading), and 4) Poems Inspire (Writing).

He makes a reference to an inspiration he received from Penny Kittle and the idea of using "Shake the Dust" as a model for a piece of writing for students.  When I saw Penny Kittle at the NTCTELA conference in 2014, she shared this same idea and it quickly inspired me to write my own poem.  I could see students (maybe more for grades 5-12) creating their own "Shake the Dust" piece of writing/poetry based on their life.  This is a must try idea for your classroom.

To view Brett's entire article, click on this link:  http://goo.gl/vSGzDc

North Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts (NTCTELA)

I attended NTCTELA with at least one teacher from every campus across Grapevine-Colleyville ISD on June 10th, 2016.  This was my third time to attend this conference and each year it proves to be highly informative with quality presentations.

The day started with Lester Laminack (author)(@lester_laminack) as the keynote speaker.  He inspired the crowd with ideas on being a better writing teacher!  I chose to learn from Nancy Motley (@nancymotleyTRTW) in her presentation titled Talk, Read, Talk, Write: A Practical Approach to Learning.  My final breakout session choice was Mark Overmeyer (@markovermeyer) - Thinking about Language in the Writing Workshop.

I captured a few notes from each presentation ... hoping to share some writing inspiration that I received!

NTCTELA Notes from Evan Payne

Journal of the American Revolution

Another great find while perusing Twitter over the summer.  This is a great resource for learning more about the American Revolution.  It is a place to easily get lost in so many stories, columns, featured articles, etc.

https://allthingsliberty.com/