Category: Literacy

Reading – Everyone’s Assignment For The Summer

The children are home, and the summer activity routine has taken over. The day is full of driving to baseball practice, swim lessons, and trying to fit in some fun time at the beach as well. […]

When Your Child Doesn’t Like to Read

“I just can’t get her to read!” I often hear protests like this from parents when I suggest that their child read more for fun. Because it’s an important lifelong habit that I want my students […]

Why I Love The Library

The worst year of my life was the year I was in eighth grade. I was fourteen, had braces on my teeth, and was, according to our grumpy and insensitive doctor, ‘chubby’. I found boys baffling […]

How Minecraft Can Foster a Love of Reading

More and more educators are finding success using gaming for education. Minecraft, in particular, has shown its ability to be a game that’s both engaging and potentially educational. For starters, the game allows players to think […]

Word of the Day — Akin

The following is adapted from Episode 32 of the Word of the Day Podcast. Akin, an adjective, means “like or similar to,” and is perfectly suited for making comparisons between things. The etymology is pretty interesting. […]

Word of the Day – Cumbersome

Hey! It’s me, Jamie, of the Word of the Day podcast. It’s the show where we take useful (but sadly underused) words and explain how awesome they are, and why it really isn’t too tough to […]

The Secret to Learning a Language

When I lived in New York I would go to Georgia each year to visit my dear friend, Jenn. She and I had met in theater class and had done a few shows together. We got […]

Appreciating What, Where and How Boys Read [Infographic]

Unfortunately for many boys, what gets in their way of reading for pleasure are very well-intentioned adults who try to steer them in the “right” direction. That’s why the greatest gift we can give boys this […]

Teaching “Invisible Man” While the Apocalypse Occurs Down South

Today after yoga class, Stephanie, the beautiful woman who once cherished my infant son while I used the gym told me she had six relatives die in the hurricane. I stare into her high-cheek boned face […]

Why You Shouldn’t Shrug off Your Son’s Reading Habit this Summer

Summer is right around the corner here in the United States bringing with it both good feelings and worry. For boys, summer equals a long vacation to do what they love every day: nothing, play video […]

The Word of the Day Podcast—A New Way to Inspire Language Learners

To expand on a popular saying: Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll pass a fishing test and then forget how because he wasn’t all […]

Marbotic Smart Letters and Numbers Review: Tech Toys With A Soul (and Major Fun Factor!)

The Product Marbotic offers wooden letters and numbers that work with six apps (free with the purchase of the letter and number blocks), which together allow your child to practice number- and letter-recognition, addition, subtraction, tens […]

The 6 Reading-Habit Initiator Personalities (Hint: Only 1 Transforms Boys into Readers)

There was a time early in my 20+ year teaching career when I didn’t plan ahead or think about what aliterate preteen/early teen boys needed from me to become self-directed readers. I truly believed that if […]

The Four Components of a Student-Driven Classroom

All learners deserve the opportunity to own their learning. They take this ownership when they have input into the what or the how of instruction. The more choice you offer students, the more they will embrace […]

A Thousand Stories—Make Every Word Count

Don’t talk grades. You’re not supposed to talk about grades during Open House. Just keep pushing parents to the projects and work on the walls. But, that’s not why most parents show up. They don’t care […]

Writing Letters Home Helped Me & My Students Connect to Real and Literary Experiences

During my second year of a Masters Degree program in Fiction Writing at Brooklyn College I completed my second novel and learned the importance of connecting content with intent or, to be concise, how to communicate […]

Inviting Aliterate Boys to Read: The Slippery Slope of Recommending Books

Recommending books to boys seems like it should be pretty straightforward. A boy needs a book to read. A parent asks an expert other—teachers/librarians/reading specialist—or book recommendations or reads blogs/articles/books touting the best books for boys. […]