New Jersey celebrates Maternal Health Awareness throughout the month of January, and in honor of the events, NJEA recently published a blog post with related resources for educators. I was invited to contribute to the post to highlight some of my advocacy work as the Bergen County representative to NJEA’s Women in Education Committee.
“This issue addresses a variety of topics, including student-centered writing instruction, early childhood vocabulary acquisition, and fan fiction.” (Editors’ Note).
The issue features 8 articles and 3 poems related to the theme. Congratulations to the 15 writers whose work is included, and thank you to the reviewers and editorial board members for your contributions to this project. Special thanks to my co-editors, Susan Chenelle and Dr. Katie Whitley. We hope you enjoy this issue and share it widely! [ . . . ]Read More
When Season 2 of Amazon Prime’s Modern Love came out the summer before last school year, I knew I had to show my students the opening episode: “Strangers on a (Dublin) Train.” If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth your time. It’s an adorable Covid-era love story of a train ride meet-cute with just the right mix of humor, suspense, and romance. The episode stars the charming Lucy Boynton opposite Kit Harington (of Game of Thrones). Plus, I teach a course called Modern Fiction & Nonfiction, so it fit in perfectly as a supplemental text. [ . . . ]Read More
On March 15, 2023, Lauren Zucker gave a keynote entitled “Teacher-Writers & Publication” at a National Writing Project “Connecting the Network” event hosted by the Drew Writing Project (DWP). The keynote slides are included below.
Zucker has been a member of the DWP (formerly, the Digital Literacies Collaborative) since 2014 and serves as a NWP Teacher Consultant (TC), providing professional development through school partnerships. In her keynote, Zucker drew from her experience as a high school and college educator, teacher-writer, and editor of New Jersey English Journal. [ . . . ]Read More
Alternative grading methods including standards-based grading, going gradeless, and ungrading have gained popularity in recent years, especially in higher education contexts and in response to the pandemic. As NJ-educator Matt Morone warned me this summer, there’s a rabbit hole of online resources on these topics. After getting a bit lost down that rabbit hole, I found Point-Less to be a helpful introduction to alternative grading refreshingly written specifically for an audience of high school English teachers. Zerwin presents her approach clearly and flexibly, encouraging readers to take what works for them and ignore the rest. One suggestion that resonated with me is to have students write reflectively at the end of a semester or school year about their learning, citing their own classwork as evidence of their growth. [ . . . ]Read More
I am thrilled to share that next week, I’ll be moderating the first webinar in a three-part series on the topic of “Building a Family” developed for New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) members.
Each workshop features a panel of presenters including educators, NJEA staff, and New Jersey-based healthcare professionals and activists. The series is open to all NJEA members.
Here is the line-up of topics:
April 27, 2022
Overview of Resources for Pregnancy, Birth, and Parental Mental Health
May 4, 2022
Access and Maximize Paid Leave Options to Care for Yourself, a Child, and/or A Loved One[ . . . ]Read More
Since becoming a parent, I’ve ventured into some writing and advocacy work in the parental health realm. For this educator and literacy researcher, it’s been refreshing to develop my voice and leadership skills outside of my trained areas of expertise.
In honor of New Jersey’s Mental Health Awareness Week, I am sharing some of the work I’ve been involved with in partnership with New Jersey Education Association (NJEA). NJEA is working on several projects connected to parental health, including a “Building a Family” workshop series addressing important topics such as pregnancy loss, overcoming infertility, and the adoption/fostering process. Inspired by this workshop series, I’m working with the Lactation Rights Task Force to develop additional workshops on parental health topics. [ . . . ]Read More
When the NCTE convention’s unplanned shift to an all-virtual format resulted in the cancellation of many previously accepted sessions, the editors at Teaching/Writing put out a brilliant call for manuscripts to capture some of the ideas that couldn’t be shared at the conference. [ . . . ]Read More
Looking for a flexible, online teaching idea that reinforces students’ reading, writing, and discussion skills? Check out these tips for getting started with digital annotation.
My co-editor Dr. Emily Hodge and I are thrilled to announce the publication of the 2020 issue of New Jersey English Journal: “What’s Next? Embarking Upon a New Decade of English Language Arts.”
“This issue addresses a variety of topics, including Young Adult literature, social justice, artificial intelligence, climate change, and mindfulness. We are proud to share work from writers across the country, including pieces by first-time authors, graduate students, and early-career teachers” (Editors’ Note). [ . . . ]Read More
Are you interested in digital literacy? Would you like to do some professional learning from the comfort of your living room? Then read on to learn about 11 upcoming opportunities to jump-start your digital literacy knowledge!
Drew University’s DrewTEACH program is offering a full slate of free virtual professional development on digital literacy this spring. Learn about topics such as collaborative annotation, fake news, and ethical communities from the comfort of your couch by registering for the free series that begins January 21 and runs through April 7. [ . . . ]Read More
I’m excited to co-host NCTE’s monthly Twitter chat (#NCTEchat) this Sunday at 8 PM EST with fellow digital literacies enthusiasts Troy Hicks, Tom Liam Lynch, and Nicole Damico.
In the statement, authors share four beliefs to consider when integrating technology in ELA, with applications for K-12 teachers and students, teacher educators and students, and literacy researchers. [ . . . ]Read More
I’m thrilled to share my review of Tanny McGregor’s wonderful book, Ink & Ideas (2018), featured in the current issue of English Journal.
Ink & Ideas is an indispensable guide for any teacher looking to introduce or enrich sketchnoting (aka visual notetaking) in their classroom. Read the full reviewfor several examples of how McGregor uses visual notetaking to enhance “engagement, comprehension, and thinking” across P-16 classrooms and subject areas.
Here’s an quick excerpt from my review posted on Twitter:
To learn more about my experience teaching sketchnoting and to access my favorite instructional resources for visual notetaking, check out the following posts:
Special congrats to Kendall S. and Emily B., whose notes were chosen by sketchnote extraordinaire Mike Rohde to be highlighted in their blog post. Head over to the Sketchnote Army website to read the featured post. You can also read more about my journey as a sketchnoting educator.
Join the Sketchnote Army
Experienced and amateur sketchnoters alike will find ample resources to choose among on their site, including their blog, newsletter, podcast, and Slack channel. They also organize annual festivities for January’s World Sketchnote Day!
*****
Special thanks to Mike Rohde and Sketchnote Army for sharing our work!
Congratulations to rising senior Brianne K. for being selected as a winner of The New York Times annual poetry contest! Her blackout-style poem, “Triggers,” is prominently featured on the NYTimes website, alongside the other winning selections.
My high school students all wrote beautiful poems, and they were especially proud to see a classmate’s entry selected as a winner. For more information about how students crafted their poems, see this post.
Brianne’s powerful and timely poem (pictured below) reads, “to be in a School is to survive algebra, social studies, and gun violence.”
The NYTimes also published the following author’s note about the inspiration for her poem:
As a tribute to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting tragedy, my poem is 14 words to symbolize the day that innocent students, sons, daughters, teachers, and friends lost their lives and loved ones on February 14th, 2018.
Image by Brianne K.
Congrats to Brianne on behalf of her teachers and classmates!
The activity fit perfectly into our modern and postmodern fiction course— students noticed the “fragmented” nature of the found poetry exercise, and also commented on the modern feel of their short but powerful poems. I also timed our poetry writing day to coincide with state testing, so the exercise itself brought a welcome change of pace.
Here’s an example of a poem we read for inspiration:
When all three of my classes had completed their poems (and submitted photographs of their work to the New York Times contest), one class suggested that we create a hallway display. That class worked together to first mount the poems against white paper, and then arrange them on a large bulletin board in a high-traffic hallway.
“Blackout Poetry” bulletin board featuring poems by 11th and 12th graders at Northern Highlands Regional High School. Board designed by Lauren Zucker’s period 2 students.
Here are some fantastic student examples (shared with permission):
“This mother is abandoning her young daughters for another woman and freedom.” Blackout poem (“Midlife Crisis”) by Matt S. (11th grade).“Civilization has been morons who dictate what we should debate. social media.” Blackout poem (“Social Savages”) by Olivia R. (11th grade).“to be in a School is to survive alegbra social studies and gun violence.” Blackout poem (“Triggers”) by Brianne K. (11th grade).“During the somber hours before dawn, He smiles.” Blackout poem by Ryan P. (11th grade).“Who kept it all together? / someone who most probably wouldn’t recognize the real star the beating heart / The single best thing that ever happened writers.” Blackout poem (“The Real Hero”) by Nick O. (12th grade).“8:45 am bombs shattered 200 people / The attack left blood, limbs and heads.” Blackout poem (“Blasts Kill” ) by Kristen S. (11th grade).
How did you celebrate April’s National Poetry Month? It’s not too late to get your students involved in this contest! All entries must be received by Thursday, May 9.
In the piece, we describe our chance meeting on Twitter that inspired a collaborative learning experience between our high school and higher education classrooms. We detail our use of KAHOOT! as a teaching tool to review MLA format and academic integrity, reflecting on the value of play and games in the classroom. Additionally, we discuss the benefits of collaboration across grade levels and institutions, sharing opportunities to facilitate such collaboration through professional organizations and virtual networks.
The spring issue of JoLLE also includes podcast interviews with all of the issue’s authors. In our podcast, we discuss topics such as the role of technology in the classroom, the value of games and play, and professional uses of social media.
We really enjoyed the process of working together—first by connecting our classrooms, and later as collaborative writers of this piece—and we hope that our authentic joy comes through in the podcast and the article itself.
Join me on March 30 at the New Jersey Council Teachers of English (NJCTE) Spring Conference, “Doorways to Teaching in a Digital World.” Check out the full program scheduleand register here. Featured speakers include authors Ibi Zoboi, Georgia Hunger, and Nora Raleigh Baskin.
If you can’t attend in person, join the conversation virtually with the Twitter hashtag #NJCTE19, or by following @NJCTENews.
Write for New Jersey English Journal
I will be presenting with Dr. Emily Hodge in our new roles as Co-Editors of The New Jersey English Journal (NJEJ). Our session, “Reflecting on Your Practice: Write for The New Jersey English Journal” (10:35 am – 11:20 am, Learning Commons), will provide information about the 2020 call for manuscripts, as well as workshop time for attendees to brainstorm and begin drafting submissions. We hope to see you there!
The theme for the 2020 issue of NJEJ is “What’s Next? Embarking Upon a New Decade of English Language Arts.” Access the full call for manuscripts, here.
NJEJ welcomes single and co-authored submissions from both veteran and early-career teachers, and we especially invite new writers, pre-service teachers, and graduate students to develop submissions. (Please note: Writers do not have to live or work in New Jersey.)
Review for NJEJ
One of the best ways to develop your own voice as a writer is to serve as a reviewer for a journal. Anyone interested in serving on the review board can fill out this brief survey. Please spread the word about this opportunity to your ELA colleagues across grade levels and institutions.
Sneak Peak at NJEJ’s New Digital Platform
Behind the scenes, we’ve been working on a new digital platform for NJEJ. In partnership with Montclair State University, we’ll be hosting the journal on their digital commons. Here’s a sneak peak at our new site, which should also streamline the submission and review process.
We’ve uploaded the latest 2019 issue, and are in the process of archiving back issues. We hope you like it!
High school students in Lauren Zucker’s Honors Modern Fiction & Nonfiction class recently created sketchnotes for two texts written nearly one hundred years apart: Franz Kafka’s classic novella, The Metamorphosis(1915), and the latest release from Netflix’s popular Black Mirror series, the interactive film, Bandersnatch(2018).
Zucker first introduced students to sketchnoting by using excerpts from Rohde’s The Sketchnote Handbook, a YouTube video of Rohde’s “Sketchnote Mini-Workshop” (that allowed students to draw along with Rohde), and McGregor’s Ink & Ideas, a sketchnoting book for educators.
Zucker suspected that Kafka’s highly descriptive and visual text—in which the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, famously transforms into an insect—would lend itself to beginner sketchnoting. Though Kafka himself did not want readers to draw the insect, even Nabakov ignored Kafka’s wishes, doodling a rendition of the bug in his personal teaching copy of The Metamorphosis.
After showing students several ways to structure sketchnotes from The Sketchnote Handbook (e.g., modular, vertical, radial), Zucker suggested that students organize their notes for The Metamorphosis in three sections to match Kafka’s three-part structure for the novella. For a more detailed post about Zucker’s introduction to sketchnotes, see here.
Students were given the option to complete their work digitally or on paper. About two-thirds of her students created sketchnotes digitally, while about one-third opted to take notes on paper.
Depicting Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch
When the class viewed Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch, students were instructed to take notes while viewing the film; though visual notes were not required, many students elected to take sketchnotes. This might be due to the story structure itself—a choose-your-own-adventure style narrative path determined by the viewer’s decisions.
Bandersnatch sketchnote by Cameron H. (11th grade).
Here’s a pair of sketchnotes that depicts all of the narrative paths in Bandersnatch. [Note: Major spoilers ahead!]
Bandersnatch sketchnote by Reed S. (11th grade).
World Sketchnote Day “Daily Doodle” Activity
To celebrate World Sketchnote Day, which coincided with this series of assignments, Zucker’s students did a variation of the Sketchnote Army’s “daily doodle” activity, in which participants spend one minute sketching the word of the day on a post-it note—anyone interested can participate on the Sketchnote Army Slack Channel.
Students poised to draw a “daily doodle.”
In Zucker’s class, students had one minute to depict a topic (related to Bandersnatch) on a post-it note: technology, mirror, or adventure.
Zucker’s students’ Bandersnatch-themed daily doodles displayed at the front of the classroom on World Sketchnote Day 2019.Close-up of Bandersnatch-themed daily doodles.
Since completing these tasks, several students have opted to continue taking visual notes in Zucker’s English class.
See the slideshow below for examples of these talented high school students’ Metamorphosis sketchnotes!
Are you a teacher using visual notetaking in your classroom? Comment below with your feedback and ideas!
Lastly, see below for Daisy L.’s (11th grade) Metamorphosis sketchnotes drawn in OneNote. Scroll down (or zoom out) to view them in full.
After three years of experimenting with digital badges with both high school students and adults, I’m still exploring ways to integrate and share them.
For those new to badges, here’s a simple definition I wrote in an earlier post. To access additional introductory, intermediate, and advanced resources I’ve curated on digital badges, see this slideshow.
In a nutshell, badges are digital ways of recognizing accomplishments or skills. Open badges are tied to evidence of learning and designed to be shared, so recipients can showcase their skills across digital platforms (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn).
Image by Kyle Bowen, used with permission. CC BY-SA 2.0.
Currently, my students are thinking about what kinds of badges could showcase skills that college admissions officers and potential employers might value.
Here are four options for sharing their badges online that I’ll tell them are worth considering:
Mozilla announcedthey’ve be encouraging Backpack users to migrate over to Concentric Sky’s (@ConcentricSky) Badgr (@Badgrteam) platform. After creating a free account, I found the platform to be very easy to use.
Badgr’s features for sharing/displaying badges: [ . . . ]Read More
Get your flair pens and styluses ready! This Friday, January 11 is World Sketchnote Day!
What is sketchnoting? According to Tanny McGregor, the simplest definition is “words and pictures.” Want to know more? See my post on visual notetaking (aka sketchnoting).
How can you celebrate World Sketchnote Day? Here are some suggestions from the Days of the Year website, courtesy of Sketchnote Army(see below):
…Start by using social media as the grounds for sharing your work. Submit your notes to the Sketchnote Army and see if they like your work. You can also post your notes on social media using the hashtag #worldsketchnoteday and explain to people why you use the visual sketches in your notes to remember ideas.
This Friday, there’s a Pass the Sketchnote project (@PTSketchNote) that groups participants into teams to create collaborative sketchnotes throughout the day. Sign up, here. I might be brave enough to join in on the fun!
I recently came across Sketchnote Army, an international group dedicated to all things sketchnoting. I’ve just scratched the surface with their resources, but they have a blog, a podcast, and a very active Slack channel for group messaging.
The Sketchnote Army Slack channel includes a forum for daily doodles: quick, 20-second doodles on post-in notes that respond to a given prompt. I might adapt the “daily doodle” concept in my English classes to celebrate World Sketchnote Day. We may also begin a collaborative draft of a blog post on our recent sketchnoting of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis.
However you celebrate, don’t forget to post your sketchnotes on social media with the hashtag: #worldsketchnoteday
When I returned from a recent conference with boxes of books and swag, some of my colleagues asked how they could score their own free books for course consideration.
Several publishers will provide educators with free copies of their books to examine and consider for adoption in a course or curriculum. Many books are sent by mail, but some are offered as e-books. Publishers have their own requirements, but many require that educators sign up with a school email address, and some require that books are sent to a school address.
See below for ways that high school and college instructors can request free (and significantly discounted) examination copies. Happy hunting, book lovers!
High School Teachers
W.W. Norton & Company offers free examination copies for high school teachers, searchable by subject area. There are many more gems under their “instructors” tab—especially the section devoted to English. Norton’s regional sales representatives can help teachers navigate their catalogue and find new materials.
Penguin Random House offers low-cost booksas examination copies for high school teachers: $3.00 for any paperbacks that retail for under $20, and 50% off for any hardcovers or paperbacks that cost over $20.
K-12 Staff Developers
Guilford Press offers free examination copies to staff developers who conduct trainings for K-12 teachers.
Thank you to Six-Word Memoirs for selecting my Honors Modern Fiction and Nonfiction class as their Classroom of the Month! Their feature article describes our use of six-word stories as an ice-breaker activity on the first day of school. (For additional information on this assignment, see “Even Reluctant Writers Will Love Six-Word Memoirs.”)
Here’s some student pieces highlighted in the article. Click the stories themselves to see the full compositions published on the Six-Word Memoirs site:
The NCTE Convention is consistently one of the best professional development experiences of my year. But a conference of this size can be difficult to navigate–especially for new attendees–and unfortunately, not every interested teacher is able to attend.
Here are 12 ways to enjoy the convention, even if you can’t attend in person:
P.S. I am so excited about next month’s conference that I drew sketches (below) to accompany my tips. (Educator and author Tanny McGregor inspired me to start sketching at the 2016 NCTE Convention.)
If you can’t attend in person (and even if you can):
Join the conversation on Twitter with the conference hashtag (#NCTE18). You can’t attend every session, but the Twitter feed will expose you to ideas that are resonating with others. And many presenters will post their slides and materials.
If you can attend in person (lucky you!):
Leave room in your suitcase for goodies snagged at the exhibit hall, or plan to ship a small box home from the convention center’s shipping store. Check the program for the schedule of author signings, which take place in the exhibit hall.
Take a lightweight bag that fits your favorite notebook and/or computer, pens, charger, water bottle, and a snack. Wear sensible shoes for long walks or sightseeing between sessions.
Bring healthy, portable snacks with you–nuts, protein bars, fruit–to fuel your mind between sessions. If possible,
make coffee or tea in your hotel room [ . . . ]Read More
Six-word memoirs were a quick and excellent way to get students writing, revising, and crafting digital texts.
At the start of every school year, I look for a fun way for students to introduce themselves to each other and to me. Last year, I asked students to craft visual autobiographies on Padlet. This year, since I’m teaching a course for 11th and 12th graders on Modern Fiction and Nonfiction, I also wanted a quick activity to get my students writing their own modern stories. Enter the Six-Word Memoir! (Just in time for the National Day on Writing! #WhyIWrite)
An invitation originated by Smith Magazine, everyone from NPRto Oprah has invited writers to pen their own stories in exactly six words. This activity turned out to be an easy way to get students back into writing mode after the summer break. As a bonus, the legendof Hemingway’s six-word story (“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”) was a perfect way to begin a conversation about modern writers.
I asked students to introduce themselves to the class in six words. “It doesn’t have to capture your life story,” I reassured them. “It just needs to reveal something about who you are.”
They got right to work. They wrote at different paces, so I encouraged students who finished early to write additional stories, while allowing more time for those who needed it.
Towards the end of the shortened, first day class period, we had barely enough time for each student to say their name and read their six-word story aloud.
The next day, I projected my own six-word memoir that I had published on the Six-Word Memoirs website.
I joked that the open-source image I paired with my story didn’t exactly look like me.
Then, I talked about my challenges as a writer and enlisted their assistance in revision. I wanted to capture a tension between being content in the present and itching to make progress, I explained. We played around with my verb choice. (We were already talking about diction and copyright on the second day of school!)
All-in-all, six-word memoirs were a quick and excellent way to get students writing, revising, and crafting digital texts.
I gave them a chance to revise their stories, talking with a partner about what they were trying to accomplish through language. Some students asked to draft new stories, which I happily allowed.
After writing their stories, students enjoyed pairing them with images and posting them on the Six-Word Memoirs website. I later realized they could embed their stories into their first posts to welcome readers to their class blogs.
Here some examples of their six-word memoirs (posted with permission by eager volunteers):
A few students were interested in the website’s monthly writing contests, especially when I pointed out that with the right six words, they could boast that they’d won a national writing contest. I hope to announce the contest topic each month (October’s topic is “Secrets to Take to the Grave”) to encourage participation.
For a relatively low-maintenance writing assignment, the six word memoirs yielding great rewards. It helped us introduce ourselves to each other without having to share a recycled “fun fact” about ourselves. In just a few minutes, students were able to see themselves as writers and talk about our writing choices. And we were all able to have fun with a digital publishing without the pressure of a graded assignment.
I’ll leave you with several student examples. If you decide to try this out yourself (or in your classroom), feel free to comment with additional ones!
Special thanks to Lindsey Caruso for feedback on this blog post–especially for your suggestions for the conclusion.
High School Teachers
