Category Archives: Middle School

March 5, 2024

American Embassy School – New Delhi

The American Embassy School in New Delhi walks the walk. Enriched by Diversity is not just a slogan on the high school building it’s interwoven within the fabric of the school. We had a wonderful two weeks working with teachers and students from pre-K through 12th grade. Librarians extraordinaire, Dr. Chris Fazenbaker and Wendy Guyer […]


May 9, 2020

Read, Write, Speak it – an introduction

So, Sara and I have been working on an iteration of this project for almost a decade. We are going to be rolling out this resource this Fall. Nearly 200 lessons ready with slides to project and teacher notes to guide instruction utilizing poetry, prose, mentor texts, language lessons, standards based, while still being fun […]


April 30, 2020

What we’re doing while we stay at home…

Well – our spring was cancelled. We will sorely miss all the places and faces we were looking forward to seeing. But, as we stay home as we try to flatten the curve Sara and I are not resting. We’re busy at work making face masks . Sara performed an autopsy on a mask we […]


February 12, 2020

Reading Recovery 2020

Reading Recovery teachers are hard core. Chatting with the folks around the Scholastic booth we learned that that the reps were very impressed with the engagement, questions and expertise of the attendees at the 2020 Reading Recovery National Conference. Sara and I have been fans for years, since even before presenting at the World Literacy […]


February 7, 2020

Eastern Middle School 2020 edition

Sara and I have been visiting Eastern Middle School in Old Greenwich, Connecticut for over a dozen years in a row now. They are easily our most visited school.   Why? Because we love them, and they love us.  We’ve seen these sixth-grade teachers through baby booms, blizzards, missed flights… you name it we’ve seen […]


September 5, 2019

Hilliard Heritage Middle School

Why You Matter. That was the theme of the day when Sara and I visited Heritage Middle School as our first school visit of the season. This 7th and 8th grade building had a multi-faceted approach to invite the students to explore what made each of them unique and important. They invited Sara and me […]


August 18, 2019

I know what you did last Summer.

Here comes another school year. How was your summer? Sara and I kept busy paying visits to educators across the country. We worked with principals In Ohio and Utah – giving keynotes and breakout sessions at their annual conferences – we unfortunately did not visit Iowa – and were therefor unable to claim the 4-letter […]


April 26, 2019

Singapore American School

It’s like New York City dipped in bleach. That’s how I describe Singapore when I am asked. Sara and I have a deep fondness and admiration for the city and the school there where we have spent so much time. Singapore American School truly is one of the elite educational institutions on the planet and […]


March 26, 2019

Carol Morgan School Santo Domingo DR

Head to the Caribbean in the middle of march from Cleveland? Why yes, thank you. Sara and I brought our style of writing instruction to the Dominican Republic for the first time. It was great to be working overseas with absolutely no jet-lag! It was also great to be working with such enthusiastic teachers and […]


March 12, 2019

Michigan Reading Association ’19, Grand Rapids, MI

So, Sara and I slept in the same bed as the President of France. Well maybe not the exact same bed – he did stay in the same room 38 years earlier they’ve probably replaced the mattress since then. Michigan Reading always treats us like we’re actually important, but they went out of their way […]


Testimonials

“Sara and Michael bring infectious energy and joy leavened with deep knowledge of best practices in literacy to their work with children and teachers.” Ellin Keene – Author of Mosaic of Thought and The Teacher You Want to Be
“Sara and Michael bring magic, and a contagious love of words to both students and teachers alike!” Georgia Heard - Author of Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School More testimonials...