March 7, 2019
As much as we relish our adventures overseas we love our visits to schools right here in the good ol’ USA. A whole bunch of our work is repeat business and our friend Lisa the librarian has invited us to three different schools where she has graced the library with her enthusiasm. A couple times […]
March 6, 2019
Nobody told us the wheels were going to fall off of the plane in Amsterdam. Hopping a plane from Istanbul to Brazil is not the most direct way to get Campinas – but, it’s the route we accepted. Here’s where being a frequent flier comes in handy – we were able to rebook our flights […]
March 6, 2019
Our contact in Istanbul – George the librarian was one of the most thorough poet wranglers we have worked with in a long time. He had everything spinning in time with the whirling serenity of the Dervishes we saw turn-tabling just before we began our week at ENKA International School. Celebrating our love of reading […]
February 6, 2019
Sara and I love our visits to Ohio schools. We also love our travels around the country and the world – but our home state is still special to us, and the folks at Champion Middle sure made it easy to love this visit. This was one well prepared school thanks to our main poet […]
January 31, 2019
Sara and I are very proud of our new PD book From Striving to Thriving Writers: Strategies That Jump-Start Writing. And, we are more than humbled that one of our biggest influences on our teaching styles, Stephanie Harvey, has made significant contributions to the book. We feel that our philosophies meld nicely. I have attended […]
January 21, 2019
Poets have always been trouble makers – in many places they have been arrested for stirring the pot a little too vigorously – or in the “wrong” direction. But – even poets can be guilty of staying inside their safe boxes. Whether that box be the safety of tenured academia or a local “scene” […]
January 19, 2019
12 years – that’s how long Sara and I have been coming to Eastern Middle School in Greenwich, CT. We love this little public school with its art covered walls and rambling old building and we really do have friends here. Eastern used to be traditionally our last school of the year but overseas scheduling […]
November 21, 2018
My favorite sport is reading. Sara and I love going to the National Council of Teachers of English conference. We’ve been going to NCTE for a couple decades and each one has been an opportunity to connect with friends new and old and to learn and grow. This year’s iteration was especially fulfilling. We have […]
October 19, 2018
Ever have the feeling that you’ve been somewhere before? The Bahrain Bayan School was the very first international school we ever visited over 14 years ago! It was great to complete this big crazy circle with friends old and new. Our host with the most on this iteration was a force we met in Cairo […]
October 18, 2018
Some wilt in the heat some thrive. Universal American School in Dubai can be grouped with the latter as can their vivacious and voraciously read librarian Rhonda. Juggler of competing schedules between the lower and upper school, feeder of visiting crackpot poets – enthusiastic student advocate and literacy pusher Rhonda kept us on track from […]
