I am of the stubbornly unshakable conviction, backed by years of first-hand experience, that writing is fun, and children love it.

I adore revisiting the stories that always have something new to offer, even after reading them as many times as I have. Just when I think I have reached peak enjoyment of a novel with a particular class, the following year’s group always shows me something else that can be understood from a close reading of the same old, beautiful words.

Some winter roses I have enjoyed during our holiday break.

Robert Frost is the greatest poet of the 20th century. While there are several other contenders, Frost’s work rises to the top. Balancing expert use of form with a masterful command over the English language, all of Frost’s art is suffused with the tender tone of a sensitive heart.

This “word dump” allowed my students to just get all of their thoughts out and be okay with organizing them later.

After the crazy fun of Halloween, the month of November feels like a happy, cozy, cold month, and I like to lean into that feeling in my classes.

Life is life, regardless of size.

By encouraging this personal connection, we bring the values of some of literature’s most admirable heroes right home to the hearts of our students, and it makes them stronger.

A few anecdotes from the past week or so.

What goes unnoticed at many other schools, and in a lot of discussions about education, is the boundless value children gain on a spiritual level when they read great literature. You cannot quantify this value—but you can see it in their eyes when they light up over a book they're reading.