Sometimes a passage or a line—whether it’s from a book, an article, a song, a reel, an image, or just an idea spoken to life—inspires my creativity, makes me want to write…something. I don’t always know what that something is until I start composing. But sometimes I know exactly what I want to write about.... Continue Reading →
Sometimes it’s easy to forget the joy of teaching amongst the constant grind. When I forget, it’s because of one main thing—I’m doing more “administrative” tasks than I usually do. At the end of the semester, the administrative tasks seem to pile on and steal, frankly, some of my joy. But I still feel the... Continue Reading →
My students walked into class one day this week talking about their 2025 Spotify wraps. I had never heard of this, probably because I don’t have Spotify. Once the students, in complete disbelief, explained to me what a Spotify wrap was, I couldn’t help but think I needed an NCTE 2025 “wrap” of what I... Continue Reading →
#NCTE25! What an event. We—myself (Holly) and Chris—had our session on our book, Joyful Literacies in Secondary English Language Arts,on Friday at 3:30, and I was predictably nervous about how it would go. As I talked more and more, I felt the nerves wear off, and the realization that I was around wonderfully engaged and... Continue Reading →
by Holly Sheppard Riesco My dear teachers, I have a confession: sometimes, sometimes, I find my own class boring. Gasp! I know! Terrible to admit, but it’s true. My students and I are grinding away at understanding how to develop commentary and how to synthesize different perspectives into our thinking and writing, and while I... Continue Reading →
A few summers ago, I (Katie) attended a conference of English educators where the hottest topic of conversation was the emergence of generative AI in schools. That year it wasn’t uncommon to pass groups of teachers sharing horror stories from the past school year that starred ChatGPT as the evil monster lurking in student writing... Continue Reading →
by Holly Sheppard Riesco I recently received a note from a student that he wanted to thank me for how intentional I had been in my teaching since he realized how it helped build him and other students toward the next English credit course. What a note to receive! (Even if I knew that the... Continue Reading →
Recently, I (Katie) watched Dazed and Confused, the 1993 cult classic directed by Richard Linklater, for the first time. I know, I know, I can practically hear you screaming at me from across the ether, “How are you just now watching this movie?!”, to which I’d reply, as I do when my friends ask me... Continue Reading →
As an English teacher, I always have the best intentions when it comes to reading over summer break, but I rarely get through the entirety of the list. But this summer is different, I swear! 😂 I have separate lists for what I want to read for my classroom library, for my teaching, for myself—I... Continue Reading →
Summer’s here, and I’m busy thinking and reading and writing my way through my backlog of ideas for school. Recently, another educator told me about a sidewalk chalk poetry assignment she observed students doing at a high school in Texas—specifically, she talked about the joy and authentic literacy of the assignment. I couldn’t help but... Continue Reading →
Joyful Literacies 