Back in college, an older Latino gentleman asked me, “When you have kids one day, are you going to raise them as Mexican or white?” The question threw me for bit because of how out of the blue it was, but I answered, “I’ll probably raise my kids the same way I was raised.” He immediately responded,...
Many adults forget teens are experiencing a lot for the first time—friendships, love, heartbreak, and peer pressure. Sometimes these experiences lead to poor decisions, addiction, changes in behavior, or legal issues. In high school, every grade counts toward their future aspirations. That’s a lot...
Your Bow Tie Literacy Guy Michael Guevara is showcasing his favorite book pairings! Add these titles to your classroom library and download an accompanying ELA lesson. Happy reading!
No cap, I have the worst singing voice in the world. Birds have dropped dead out of the sky upon hearing it. My children used to fall fast asleep just to stop any lullaby I started. Glassware has broken from the notes I’ve hit—granted people threw that glassware at me, but the fact stands: I have a...
The best part of my job is the gift of diversity and the stories I get to prompt students to produce in a creative way through narratives, short stories, digital media, and art. As a teacher, it allows me to broaden my horizons and understand our world a little more.
It’s not a secret that people compare American schools with other countries’ schools, and Chinese schools are known as some of the strictest in terms of exams—particularly their college entrance exams called gaokao. In Kelly Yang’s book Parachutes, this topic is introduced right away. We find out...
In Yolk, author Mary H.K. Choi portrays a pair of estranged sisters. They’ve grown apart following their childhood in Texas and now both live in New York City separately. June is three years older, very successful in her vile finance job, and Jayne is in college and a bit egregious and...
Like lots of others, I didn’t discover Amanda Gorman until she graced the country with, well, her grace, her presence, and her poetry at the inauguration ceremony of President Biden.
Leaves caked my front yard, suffocating the burgeoning grass below as I sat on the couch and told myself only one more episode of Law & Order and then I’ll get up and tackle the task waiting for me outside my front door.
Scads of English teachers have shown the movie Dead Poets Society in class to either begin their poetry unit or to try and inspire an appreciation for poetry. I technically showed the movie to teach media messages as constructs, but residual poetry appreciation was always an added bonus and hope.
