Soon, my next book will be published. I am proud of it, but also awfully nervous to see it fly off into the world. See, it’s a little bit controversial. I am a die-hard Readers Workshop person. I believe in choice, and independence, and student centered teaching. That is my true north. And yet, in this book, I argue for the worth of the whole class novel, of every kid reading the same book for a chunk of time, some of the time. *

It was the last period of the last day of my first year teaching. My homeroom was noisily exiting after what I thought was a very rousing exit speech and Alicia was the last to leave. She paused. For a moment I thought she might apologize – for the violent outbursts, or the obscenities, or the general disrespect. Or maybe, I thought, she was going to thank me. She looked back and grinned. I smiled hopefully.

So one of the more embarrassing facts about me is that my wife and I are pretty committed Bachelor and Bachelorette watchers. In fact, we have not missed an episode in about ten years.

We take no pride in this, yes there is a good deal of shame. I’m sure you know people like us – reasonably intelligent people who spend 2-3 hours a week watching one person weed through 25 possible opposite-sex suitors to find “the one.” (Spoiler alert: rarely is this person actually the one.)

In the childhood story The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco, the Rabbit, new to the nursery, sits at the feet of the Skin Horse, a longtime companion and friend of the young boy. With a strong desire to make sense of his new world and role, the Rabbit seeks the advice of a wise mentor—a toy with experience, wisdom, and insight. The Rabbit asks,

“What is REAL?” The Skin Horse ponders for a moment and responds, “It’s a thing that happens to you.” “You become.”

We had similar moments on our road to becoming teachers

There is a saying: “When eating an elephant take one bite at a time.” Attributed to Creighton Abrams, we have come to use this phrase to help us understand that any task, no matter how challenging, can be tackled bit by bit. The quote also reminds us that when we try to do too much at once, we run the risk of failure — or a serious case of lockjaw.

There may be nothing more intimidating to a student than the experience of sitting down and trying to read a text that is way too difficult. And while most researchers suggest that in this instance the reader should stop, drop, and find a text they can read independently, there are times (especially in middle/high school) where this is not an option. Whether it is a tough nonfiction text in Social Studies, a high-stakes test passage, or a challenging article on a beloved topic, we want our students to be empowered to try and read that which feels unreadable.

Our son was throwing food on the floor. Constantly. Compulsively, even. It was a game and we were losing badly. Our interaction went the same way each mealtime:

Administrators, coaches, consultants, creators: Teachers need us to make their jobs easier right now.

Of course – many of us are, many of us have. But there is also a feeling lately that we should be back to normal, and everything should be getting back on track. Yes, things have stabilized a bit, but have they normalized? Are there even the same tracks to get back to?

Middle school is beautiful-and sometimes a bit messy. Young adolescents are in the throes of discovering themselves and how they relate to the world.

As a part of A Novel Approach, we wanted to include some tools that might help you as you encourage your kids to tackle complex texts more independently, and to offer more choice to your older readers. We designed bookmarks for you and your students that we hope can help capture some of the teaching in the book in a usable, portable form.

The culture of celebrity in education can do teachers a disservice, and I believe that most of the folks who share the same role as I do would agree. We love our job, and to do it well, we shouldn’t really be anyone’s rock star.

We had a chance to sit down and write some thoughts connecting our son's favorite (or is it favourite?) show and the trouble we have with, well, trouble. Check it out!

Check out a recent post on The Educator Collaborative Blog!

I had the pleasure of sitting down with my good friend Brett Whitmarsh on Facebook live over the past few weeks. These are short, focused discussions meant to zoom in on specific ideas in A Novel Approach. I will keep posting the links here as I keep barging into your newsfeed.

I recently escaped all of my family responsibilities (thanks Maggie!) to film a quick tour of my latest book, A Novel Approach

I am so proud to announce the publication of my latest book, A Novel Approach. I will be posting a bunch of videos, blog posts and articles here in the days to come, so stay tuned to join the conversation!

We have been developing a new website with our friend and web designer, Rachel Hsiung, over the past few months. We are thrilled with the results and can’t wait to share it with you!

With every chapter that ends, a new chapter begins. We are happy to announce that we are available to work in your school or district beginning Fall/Winter 2016. We offer a variety support, such as...

Goodbyes are never easy, and this one is no different. We have worked for the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project for a decade and change. Our work there has shaped us into the educators we are today...

In the spirit of all things DIY, we are currently filming a homemade video series for our upcoming publication, DIY Literacy: Teaching Tools for Differentiation, Rigor, and Independence. We gave an open call for your problems and did you deliver! Each week, we will field one of your questions and design a teaching tool to help address that problem in real time.

We need your help! (And your problems.) We are creating a video series here at indent about our upcoming book: DIY Literacy: Teaching Tools for Differentiation, Rigor, and Independence. In this 8-part series, starting in early April...