Category Archives: Uncategorized

February 6, 2017

International School of Kenya

You could almost smell the wood burning as they set to the task. They were having fun, they were close reading the text, they were writing, they were employing poetic elements, cognitive dissonance was running rampant. I had a ball.


February 6, 2017

International School of Tanganyika

We worked on extended metaphor, personification, and memoir and the students and teachers were super receptive. For extra-added excitement we participated in a practice lockdown and hid amongst the books in the library stacks while Courtney was assigned the role of prowling the school and shaking the locked doors knobs.


January 9, 2017

Poetry, pupils, pedagogy and perspective.

Today Sara and I continued on our writing with cops and kids program. We met with Libbie Royko’s 7th graders and we completed the fist have of a guided writing clinic on conflict. We wrote an example piece together comparing a staged almost fight with a thunderstorm and then we brainstormed details for a personal […]


January 5, 2017

Another case against standardized high stake tests

Teachers are also trying to survive as they are tasked with teaching kids how to take these tests, which they do by digging through past tests, posted online. Forget joy of language and the fun of discovery in poetry, this is line-by-line dissection, painful and delivered without anesthetic.


January 4, 2017

Poetry, police, pedagogy and perspective.

So, Sara and my latest project involves students and law enforcement officers. It’s something we have been talking about for a long time but never had the chance to implement. We’ve had a couple false starts over the years but we’ve finally got our foot in a door. We’re just starting out and we will […]


December 3, 2016

Singapore American School

We will be putting up a full post later, but in the meantime here’s a video from our latest visit.


November 27, 2016

Sekolah Adiwiyata Nasional, Gianyar, Bali

Enter two crackpot poets from Cleveland Ohio! Tada – Sara and I became the focus of a spectacular extravaganza orchestrated by the staff and the entire 900 members of the student body. We were led in to cheers, fed delicacies and test-drove those seats of honor as the kids ran through their routines.


October 12, 2016

Here we go again!

Sara and my school year kicks off for earnest tomorrow with a visit to McKinley Elementary School in Elyria Ohio. This is on the heels of our visit to Bellingham Washington – just North of Seattle – and our presenting at and attending of Western Washington University and Pomelo Books amazing Poetry Camp. Shout out […]


May 19, 2016

Eastern Middle School – Greenwich, CT

We are so excited to work at Eastern that one year Sara had us show up a week early – we peered into the dark hallway from outside noses pressed against the locked doors like ragamuffins in a Dickens novel until the realization that the school was on Spring break finally dawned upon us.


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...